people of the
United States submitted to this severe taxation on their domestic
productions, was a matter of surprise, not only among our own
people, but in European countries. In 1867, accompanied by Mr.
Adams, our minister to England, I had the pleasure of breakfasting
with Mr. Gladstone at his official residence, and he referred to
the ease with which we collected, without complaint, taxes so
burdensome as ours then were. He asked me if it was true that we
had collected $1,600,000 annually from a tax on matches. I told
him that we not only did so but that I had never heard a word of
complaint, and the quality of matches was vastly improved while
their price was actually reduced. He threw up his hands and said
that the people of England would not submit to such tax and if any
ministry would propose it, it would soon be out of power. Strange
to say an administration of which Mr. Gladstone was at the head
did subsequently propose such a tax, but it was so severely arraigned
that it was at once abandoned.

The income tax, varied somewhat in terms from year to year, continued
in force until 1870, when it was proposed to repeal it as no longer
necessary. By the terms of the then existing law it expired in
1872. I urged as strongly as I could its retention at least until
the time expired, but it was repealed. I then believed, and now
believe, that a moderate income tax, levied on all incomes above
the sum of $1,000, or above a sum that will supply the ordinary
wants of an average family in the United States with the necessaries
of life, should be levied, according to the exigencies of the public
service. In the present condition of affairs, I doubt the expediency
of such a tax, especially in view of the decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States recently rendered.

The distinction made by that court between incomes from the rent
of land and other incomes seems narrow and technical. A tax upon
the value of land is a direct tax, and must be apportioned among
the states according to population, but it does not follow that a
tax on incomes from land is a direct tax. An income means that
gain which results from business, or property, of any kind, from
the proceeds of a farm, the profits derived from trade and commerce,
and from any occupation or investment. In common language the word
income applies to money received from any source. It may be
qualified as gross income and net income. It may be limited