Chapter XXVI: “flabbyism” and the Income Tax

Now, be it well understood that there is no attempt made, in commenting upon the article on the editorial page of the New York _Sun_, to disparage in any manner that worthy and eminent journal. It represents one part, or side, of that incongruous party, called the Democratic party, which presents phases as worthy of observance by the curiosity-seeker in the political field as the Populist party. On one side, Protection, endorsed by the New York _Sun_; Free Trade, endorsed by the New York _World_; a graded income tax, endorsed by the New York _World_, and even the suggestion of an income tax, dubbed by the New York _Sun_ as “flabby talk.”

Noah Webster defines flabby to mean, “soft, yielding, loose, easily shaken.” Well, if the will of eleven million voters, as heard in the verdict rendered by the majority November 8, 1892, be “soft, yielding, easily shaken,” then the talk of an Income Tax _is flabby_, then the talk of a Graded Income Tax _is flabby_. The will of the majority of the said eleven million voters made possible the election of Grover Cleveland and the other nominees of the Democratic party. Possibly the will of the people, so expressed November 8th last, may be “flabby”; but there will be another and fearful story to tell unless the will of the people, as expressed, be executed by their servants selected November last.

The New York _Sun_ does not astonish the people--the plain “Common People”--of America when it announces a predilection upon the part of the privileged wealthy classes to commit perjury. The “Common People” of America have become accustomed to associate in their minds the worshipers of “caste” with every kind of crime which is consistent with their assumed superiority. It is only necessary to quote an article which appeared in one of the leading journals, to give evidence that, even under the present system of a tax on personal property, the inclination of these sham aristocrats, the would-be nobility of America, is to commit perjury. So worthy is the article of attention that it is given in _extenso_, that the people may judge of the animal they are chasing, and that the weapon, Grover Cleveland, may duly appreciate what efficiency is necessary, upon his part, as the weapon in the hands of the huntsman to destroy this beast of “caste” and accumulated wealth in our land:--

“Ever since the Comptroller and Tax Commissioners of the city
declared war upon Lawyer H. Charles Ulman for issuing his famous
circular, offering legal services to those whom he believed to
be grossly wronged by a wilfully corrupt administration of the
personal tax laws, the enterprising counsellor has been hard
at work accumulating evidence in support of the very critical
attitude he has assumed.

“Mr. Ulman is a hard fighter and is determined to prove to the
entire satisfaction of the public that the serious allegations he
makes against our Tax Department officials are all true.

“Yesterday Mr. Ulman notified me that he had completed the
compilation of a few statistics which he desired to submit to the
HERALD for publication. I found him ready with his statistics and
loaded to the muzzle with hot shot for the Tax Commissioners in
general and Tax Commissioner Feitner in particular.

“‘Let us get right down to business,’ were the words with which
Mr. Ulman supplemented the regulation greeting. ‘I have recently,
as all New York is aware, challenged the methods of our Tax
Commissioners as to personal property taxation. I now reiterate
the challenge and desire to submit to public judgment a few
figures taken from the personal tax records recently opened for
inspection. These figures conclusively prove that our richest men
are assessed for ludicrously small personal properties, so small
and palpably unfair as to establish the conviction that falsehood
and fraud are at the bottom of the ridiculous valuations. Here is
the list:--

Assessed for
Personal Property
to the
Value of

Jay Gould $500,000
George J. Gould 10,000
Russell Sage 100,000
Wm. Rockefeller 50,000
C. P. Huntington 150,000
Henry Hilton 100,000
E. S. Jaffray 100,000
Morris K. Jesup 75,000
Eugene Kelly 100,000
George Kemp 100,000
Luther Kountz 10,000
Augustus Kountz 15,000
Andrew Carnegie 150,000
Addison Cammack 100,000
William Astor 500,000
W. W. Astor 4,311,400
Henry Villard 25,000
Jessie Seligman 50,000
James Seligman 50,000
I. Wormser 10,000
S. Wormser 10,000
D. O. Mills 50,000
Henry Flagler 25,000
John H. Flagler 10,000
R. P. Flower 150,000
Ogden Goelet 150,000
Robert Goelet 150,000
F. W. Vanderbilt 100,000
G. W. Vanderbilt 100,000
W. K. Vanderbilt 200,000
C. Vanderbilt 200,000
T. A. Havemeyer 100,000
H. O. Havemeyer 120,000
Wm. F. Havemeyer 15,000

“‘Now,’continued Mr. Ulman, ‘whether every one of these
individuals appeared in person before the Commissioners, or
whether the amounts were placed by the Deputy Commissioners, I
cannot say.’

“The fact remains the same, that among all our very rich men
there is but one--W. W. Astor--who pays taxes on anything
like the amount of his actual personal property. Either the
deputies charged with making the examinations have committed
‘larceny,’ or the wealthy citizens above mentioned have appeared
before the Commissioners, ‘swore off’ as a matter of form, and
been ‘whitewashed’ as a matter of course upon due exercise of
‘influence.’

“‘Let me tell you something that will surprise the public. The
ladies of the city are its heaviest tax-payers. Every one of them
who has personal property has an assessment levied upon her to the
full amount of her possessions. In her case there are no votes
to be considered, no political influences to be placated, and,
as a result, no deductions are made, no scaling or estimating is
allowed, but every dollar possessed is taxed. I have, practically,
but just inaugurated this crusade against the corruption existing
in the Tax Office, and I believe that a careful examination of the
public records, backed by the logic of facts and figures, will
enable me to expose a degree of rottenness more startling even
than that of the old Tweed ring.’

THE BLAME.

“‘Who is to blame for the state of things in the Tax Office?’ I
asked.

“Mr. Ulman pondered this question for some minutes before he
replied, as though hesitating to convert his general charges
against the Tax Department into a direct personality. But once
having made up his mind, the counsellor sailed into the senior
member of the Tax Commission--Mr. Thomas L. Feitner--with
surprising vigor, handling him without gloves, and winding up with
the suggestion of an appeal to Mayor Grant for his dismissal.

“‘The fact of the matter is,’ said the counsellor, ‘Mr. Feitner
is the entire commission. The two gentlemen associated with him
are comparatively new to the department, and are pushed into the
background and kept there, by this all-wise Pooh Bah.

“‘The Chief Justice and his associates on the bench of the Court
of Appeals have had occasion to chide Feitner in their decisions,
but Feitner will tell you that the Court of Appeals does not
understand tax laws, and that its rulings are not good law.

“‘Special capital is his special prey just at this time. Under
the laws of New York it must be contributed in money and the
amount advertised. This renders Mr. Feitner’s raid upon it a
matter of very simple procedure, and he levies his assessments
upon it whether the status of the property in which the capital
is invested is in Spain, Africa, or New York. Nor does it matter
if the money is invested in imported goods in original packages,
although, by the constitution of the country, such goods are
removed from the jurisdiction of the State’s taxing powers.

“‘But this does not trouble Feitner. He puts his assessments upon
capital so invested, compelling the owner to submit to a taxation
of from ten to fifteen per cent. of his money or go into court by
certiorari and obtain a release at an expense of more than the
amount of illegal tax.

“‘If Mayor Grant desires an equitable and proper administration
of the Tax Office he will dismiss Mr. Feitner and appoint a man
to fill his place who, to say the least, has a knowledge of
commerce, the needs of business, and can understand the plainly
written law when he reads it.

“‘There is another point in this matter which furnishes food for
reflection--namely, the very small number of persons in this city
who are assessed for taxation--less than thirteen thousand out of
a taxable population of nearly one hundred thousand.’”

After reading the above--and presumably it is correct--let us stand in holy astonishment that Jay Gould should suddenly have acquired over $65,000,000 of personal property, according to his will, since this schedule and assessment of personal property was filed, because this late lamented Gould was the possessor of personal property only, with the exception of his residence. Therefore it is obvious, since he swore to possessing only $500,000 of personal property, that he must have acquired, in some miraculous manner, more than $65,000,000 of personal property, which he bequeathed to his children, according to his will, recently filed in the Surrogate’s office in the city of New York.

Mr. George Gould swears that he has only $10,000 in personal property. Now who believes it? Mr. Russell Sage has only $100,000 in personal property! and the Vanderbilts each have from $100,000 to $200,000 worth!

Poor men! Let the commiseration of the masses go forth. These gentlemen, who are accredited with the possession of millions, and who, when they die, find themselves suddenly possessed of the millions with which they are accredited by the public, are poor men while they live, and have to pay taxes!

Right you are, New York _Sun_; an income tax would lead to perjury! Of course, not upon the part of the gentlemen named--for “Brutus was an honorable man”--but we will agree with you, after reading this schedule, that an income tax would lead to perjury. But let us suggest that we, the people, have elected a man as chief executive of the nation, who represents us, the “Common People,” and will see to the execution of the laws of the nation--Grover Cleveland. To be an honest man and fulfill the expectations of the people, he will see that those who should pay the expenses of the Government by an income tax shall make honest returns concerning their possessions, and pay that sum of money to which the Government is entitled.

If he do not so, he is faithless, and the people will hold him accountable. The power of the Government will be in his hands--both branches of the Legislature. And should the National Legislature, selected by the people, deem it wise to furnish revenue for the Government, and pass an income tax graded according to the incomes received, then it will devolve upon Grover Cleveland, as trustee of the nation, to see that the will of the Legislature is executed. He has the power to appoint such officers as may be necessary to properly execute the laws of the Federal Union, and we, the “Common People,” will expect a ratification of all the promises made by him to the people of the Union. The people of the nation, trusting and relying upon his honesty and integrity, selected him for the high office of Chief Magistrate of the GREATEST NATION ON EARTH. We have placed in his hands the power of the majority, and we shall expect the execution of such laws as the will of the majority may dictate; _the foremost of which will be an income tax_, whereby may be eradicated many of the evils of which the masses, the “plain people,” complain.

Should perjury be committed--and it would not be astonishing, because the “plain people” of America are not apt to be astonished at anything vile that may be done by the sham aristocracy and worshipers of “caste” in our country--then let Grover Cleveland, as Executive of the nation, having the power of the people behind him, supported by the mighty voice of the broad democracy of our land, prosecute, by means of the officers of the Federal Government (paid by the people to punish crimes of the character indicated by the New York _Sun_, such as perjury), and, upon conviction, let the glorious sight be afforded to us plain “Common People,” of a millionaire working in a shoe shop at Sing-Sing; let us see the stripes of the criminal adorning the backs of some of these good, my lords, the barons, who swear to lies and perjure themselves about their incomes; grab a dozen of them; convict them of perjury; make them appear before the people as criminals, as the people believe they are. One batch of a dozen going to Sing-Sing and Auburn--one batch of a dozen would-be Patricians breaking rock for the good of the public, would be a sight that would delight the very souls of the “Common People.”

The people make the laws! Now, you millionaires, obey the laws; and a transgression against those laws, though you be worth $100,000,000, will not be excused. The people believe that an income tax can be collected in spite of the perjury predicted by the New York _Sun_, because of the PUNISHMENT that the PEOPLE WILL INFLICT upon the perjurers.

The people have had enough, a surfeit, of this cry of immunity from the consequences of crime because the criminal happens to possess wealth. We are weary, tired of it. And the people have made up their minds that the wealthy criminals shall be brought to the bar of justice along with the poorest, pilfering thief of a penny loaf. There shall not be in our land one law for the rich and another for the poor. If these wealthy criminals perjure themselves with regard to their incomes, they must be punished, and the people will expect the punishment and penalty to be inflicted by and through the administration of Grover Cleveland.

To cry out, with the New York _Sun_, that “If you pass a law requiring the citizens of the American Union to swear to the truth and record their incomes, it is but offering an inducement to perjury, and, therefore, is undesirable,” is to admit that our Government is a failure, that a Republic is a failure, that the will of the majority shall not rule, that the American Constitution is a farce and a fraud, all of which the “Common People” will not believe to be the case. They demand the law! The enforcement of it rests with the Executive of the nation. The punishment rests upon the integrity and honor of the judiciary of the Federal courts. And there has been no evidence yet of a lack of honesty in the members of the Federal judiciary. The perjurers can and should be punished. If the Legislature of the nation, the Congress of the United States, will pass a graded income tax, as the people desire that they should do, the people believe that the law will be executed under the wise and honest administration of that Executive chosen by them November 8, 1892--Grover Cleveland. The people believe that, should any be accused of perjury and false return of their incomes, they will be prosecuted by the officers of the Federal courts, who will be honest, being appointed by Grover Cleveland, the representative of the people; that, when so charged, perjurers brought to trial will be prosecuted fairly and ably by the representatives of the executive department, selected by the people November last, and, when so tried, the people, by twelve of their number, the jury, will decide whether the accused be guilty or innocent, and, if guilty, the people believe that the wealth and position of the accused will not enter into the consideration of the Magistrate representing the Federal Government, but that he will sentence a guilty man, even though he be worth a million or a hundred million, in the same manner as he would the commonest counterfeiter or petty larceny thief in the land.

Believing thus, the plain people of America see no good reason or argument in the cry that an income tax will be productive of perjury and that it is a sufficient reason to prevent its passage. And, therefore, a graded income tax becomes the most desirable measure possible to introduce for the advantage of the people who elected the incoming administration, November 8, 1892.