Making Tax-dodging Odious

it is a matter ior eongratuiawon tnat the Standard Oil Trust and the Sugar Trust have joined in the protest against the Income-Tax Law. Their claim of exemption is made under an india-rubber stretch of the ruling of the npreme court. They maintain that their products come from the ground and are in the nature of rent, and that income from them is therefore not subjected to taxation under the constitution. Anything more far fetched and Strained than this claim it would be difflcult to imagine. But lawyers are equal to everything in the way of h airsplitting, and they frequently flnd judges to accept their sophis tries. Nothing could do more, however, to make tax-dodging odious than to have these and other grasping and oppressive join in it. The largest owners of real estáte in this city, who are the chief local ■beneficiarles of the decisión, did not, to their credit be it said, join in the asBault upon the law. The money to fight the case was contributed, is is said by several large trust companies and other corporations. The encouragement given by the result has led other aggregations of wealth and misérjy millionaires to seek to avoid the payment of an equitablo share of the expenses of the national government. The people are not blind to these manifestations of selfishness. They remember that congress under plutocratic direction, has repealed in swift succession every tax levied upón wealth to meet the extraordinary expenses of the ■war, until now the entire burden of the support of the govemment rests on consumption. Of these taxes the poor pay greatly more in proportion to their ability and to the benefits which they enjoy than do the rich. When, therefore, a common scramble in tax-doging nnitcs the great trusts and the sordid and stingy millionaires the lesson is not iikely to be lost in future legisltion. In making tax-doging odious the shirkers are rendering it more difficult herenter.- N. Y. World. me j-ionaon limes, tiian wüicn tnere Í6 no English Journal that inore accurately portrays Enghsh public sentiment, has discovered great admiration for the United States supreme court. It even regrets that England has no court with similar powers. The occa. ion for these remarks was the recent decisión of the supreme court on the income taxlaw. That the Times should find any thing to admire that is not English, is most surprising and that it ahonld actually commend a feature of the American government which makes eo wide a departure from that of England is astonishing. For confession of admiration for the supreme court must, to be consistent, carry with it, approval of a fundamental difference between our constiution and theirs. They can havo no court of like powers, because of the fact that their constitution is un■written and is just what parliament ees fit to make it. That is parliament is supreme and whatever laws it places on the statutè books must stand. Theie is no fundamental law that is higher and by which it has to be judged as to its consitutionality. The majority in parliament might pass an act depriving the people of some cherished righf, but there is no auttfority competent to pronounce it invalid, outside of the people themselves, by means of a change in the majority in parliament or by revolution. It is not surprising, therefore, that the greater security under our system, of those rights and liberties which are, in all free governments, recognized as fundamental, should be' noted and admired by those who have not such eecurity. But the recognition of this goes a long way toward the admission of the advantages of a written constitu. tion over au unwritten one. Por some years there has been a growing sentiment among the various colonies of far away Australasia in favor OÍ federation - something af ter the fashion of what all are familiar with in Canada. The idea has recently taken on new ímpetus and the time is probably not far distant when there will be formed in the distant Southern seas a new but great and powerful nation, af ter the similitude of the Great Republic, "with law and religión as well as language to all intents and purposes identical with our own. Last Februaiy a conference of the Premiers of the j Onies was held at Hobart and in the ' doings of the body which have but ] Tecently been made public it is declared ' that "federation is the great and pressing question in Australian politics. The plan proposed for bringing it about is a convention composed of ten representativos froni each colony, eleoted by the people and charged with the duty of forming a federal constitntion which shall be submitted to the electorate for its approval or disapproval. If the constitution is adopted by the people of three or more colonies, it is then to be snb mitted to the Qneen byan address f rom the various colonial parliaments asking for an enablng act. The desirability and advantages of such confederation are so great that the near future will see it an accomplished fact. The building of this nation cannot fail to be of deepest interest to Americans, and all who believe it to be the destiny of the English speaking people to give directión to the worlds future through its civilization. At last terms of peace have been made between Japan and China. According to the latest report the amount of indemnity to be paid by China in money is 200,000,000 taels, which is èqüal to about $150,000,000 in gold. The Island of Formosa is to beconie the permanent possession of Japan. The Japanese are also to occupy the Liao Tang península up to the fortieth degree of latitnde, thns securing to her control of the fortress of Port Arthur and some of the immediate surrounding territory. Whether this is to belong to the Japanese in perpetnity however is not stated. Pekin and four tiew ports are also o be opened to commerse. The result of this concession will be, no doubt, to open up China to modern methods in all lines. Of course whatever commercial privileges are granted to Japan will have to be conceded to other nations also. The result will be greatly advantageous to all. China is centuries behind the age and if she is obilged now to submit to a' Japanning with all that that means, the J result will be Lthe vitalizing tand euergizing of a wonderful f orce which will mean a great deal to China and the rest of the world as well. If as a result of the war China becoires modernized, it will have proved an advantqge to her both morally and materially. "Disguise it as we may, " says President Cleveland in his letter to the Chicago cornmittee, "the line of battle is drawn between the forces of safe currenoy and those of silver monometalism. ' ' That this is the whole trnth of the matter there can be but little doubt. The president has done wisely, therefore in sounding a note of warning as to the neccessity of presenting the sound money side of this question to the people. The currency question will certainly rovershadow all others in the presidential campaign of next yeai-. It is highly important, therefore, that there be a campaign of education on the issue. The American people can be depended on to settle it aright when they once understand it in all its phases. To get it settled right then it must be discussed by the friends of safe money as well as by the friends of cheap money. Let the concerted and aggressive action of the friends of sliver monomealism be opposed by equally determined action on the,! part of those who favor safe money. "What is nowneeded more than anything else is a plaiu and simple presentation of the argument in favor of sound nioney. In other words, it is time for the American people to reason together as members of a great nation which can promise them a continuance of protection and safety only so long as its solvency is nnsnspected, its honor unsullied and the soundness of its money unquestioned. These things are all to be exchanged for the illusions of a debased currenoy and the groundless hope of advantages to be gained by a disregard of ' our financial credit and commercial standing aniong nations of the world. - President Cleveland. The great difference between the Michigan man who lived without auy brains and some of the members of flfty-third congress is that the Michigan man talked with great difficultv. -