144. The colonists looked upon the common law as a bulwark of individual freedom. Edmund Burke, in one of his speeches, mentioned as a significant indication of the colonists’ familiarity with the common law the fact that almost as many copies of Blackstone had been sold in America as in England. The Declaration of Rights adopted by the First Continental Congress in 1774 spoke of the colonies as entitled to all the provisions of the common law.
145. Where may these laws be found? Statutes passed by Congress are printed in the Statutes-at-Large, one or more volumes for each session. State statutes are printed in volumes known as Session Laws, or simply as Laws of Pennsylvania or Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts. From time to time, usually every ten years, these state laws are revised, rearranged, and consolidated into one general compilation, usually published as the Revised Statutes or Revised Laws. A similar publication is issued periodically containing the revised national statutes. City councils enact legislation by means of ordinances, which are put together in a volume of Revised Ordinances. When all the national or state laws relating to a certain subject (for example, criminal law, or civil procedure, or municipal affairs, etc.) are brought together into one compilation this is usually known as a code. Thus we speak of the Criminal Code or the Code of Civil Procedure or the Municipal Code.
146. In general, equity applies only to certain classes of civil actions and never to criminal cases; its procedure is simple; a jury is not ordinarily summoned to hear the facts; evidence in writing may be submitted; judgment is given by the issue of an order or decree and not by awarding a certain sum in damages. A further explanation may be found in the Cyclopedia of American Government, Vol. I, pp. 673-675.
147. Courts of law, in addition to awarding punishment in criminal cases and damages in civil cases are empowered to issue writs. Writs are orders or decrees commanding certain things to be done or left undone. They are addressed to other courts, or to public officials, or to individuals. The best-known of these writs is the writ of habeas corpus, an order issued to a jailor or other custodian commanding him to produce a person in court and show why he is held in custody. If the court finds that the person is wrongfully held in custody it orders his release. Another common writ is the writ of mandate (mandamus) issued to public officials to compel them to perform some duty which is imposed upon them by law. A writ of error is issued in order to carry a case from a lower to a higher court.
149. These objections are called challenges. The judge decides whether they are well-founded. Both sides are usually allowed a certain number of peremptory challenges, that is, objections for which no reason at all need be given.
150. There are two or three things which you ought to remember when going on the witness stand. Tell what you know about the case simply and briefly; tell only what you actually know, not what you think, or what somebody told you. Don’t venture your own opinion unless you are asked for it. When you are being cross-examined, think over every question before you answer it. If you answer everything quickly and without thought you will probably fall into a trap and appear to be contradicting yourself. The opposing lawyer is playing a game of chess with you. Watch his moves and take your own time in making yours. If you make any slip, correct it there and then; don’t let it pass with the idea that it will never be noticed. The witness stand is a place where a man needs to have his wits about him.
151. If the case is not very serious the prosecuting attorney sometimes recommends that there be no further trial and the accused person is then freed.
152. For example, where the jury has disregarded the judge’s instructions on points of law or where the jurymen have reached their verdict in some improper way.
153. A prisoner was once charged with setting fire to his own home and burning it down, thus causing the death of his father and mother. The prosecuting attorney first put him on trial for the murder of his father; but the jury acquitted him. Another jury was then summoned and the attempt was made to place him on trial for the murder of his mother. The prisoner’s counsel argued that this was placing him on trial the second time (or in second jeopardy as it is called) for the same offence. The prosecuting attorney argued that it was a different offence, the murder of a different person. Which was right?
154. After the Revolution the different states claimed vast tracts of western lands but they ultimately surrendered these claims to the national government. The lands were surveyed and offered for sale at low prices. Many years later Congress adopted the homestead system by which actual settlers might get lands for almost nothing.
155. It is said that if all the available water power of the United States were put to use, it would take the place of all the coal that is now being used in supplying industries with power. “White coal” it is called, and there is an abundance of it.
156. In early days the slaughtering of cattle was done locally, but the use of refrigerator cars has led to the centralizing of the meat industry at a few great centers.
157. We have had a striking illustration of this in recent years. During the World War the prices of all agricultural products rose enormously and they continued high for a short time after the war came to an end. Then they dropped quickly to a low level and by so doing left the American farmer in a hard situation. Labor and supplies cost him nearly as much in 1921 as in 1919, while he received in some cases only half as much for the products of his land.
158. A large part of our nitrate supply comes from Chile, but owing to the lack of shipping during the war not much could be brought from that quarter. The United States government built a huge nitrate-making plant at Muscle Shoals, Ala., but it did not get into operation before the close of the war. It has now been offered for sale to private capitalists. There has been some discussion of the possibility of making nitrates by the electric fixation of the nitrogen which is in the air, using water power to generate the electric power cheaply. It is an interesting fact that certain types of bacteria gather nitrogen from the air at the roots of leguminous plants (peas, beans, alfalfa, etc.), and in order to ensure the presence of these bacteria the seed is frequently inoculated before planting.
159. An investigation of the exodus from Ohio farms a few years ago showed that as many as 60,000 men and boys left the rural districts in a single year, while fewer than 9000 went from the cities and towns to the farms.
160. There is a somewhat similar situation in Europe today. The various new states which were created at the close of the war all have their tariffs, their rivalries, and their jealousies.
161. They did it, sometimes, in this way: Suppose A and B are towns of about equal size and about the same distance from Chicago, or that A is a little further away.
A railroad desiring to build up A and make it an important industrial center would merely give it lower freight rates to and from the western metropolis, despite the greater distance.
162. The act further provides that all net profits above the rate of six per cent upon the valuation of the railroads, as fixed by the Interstate Commerce Commission, shall be divided in equal shares between the railroads and the government. The share received by the government is to go into a fund for the benefit of those railroads which are not able to earn the normal net income.
163. Of the nine members three are representatives of the railroad owners, three of the railroad employees, and three of the public. This board has its headquarters at Chicago, which by reason of its location may properly be termed the railroad capital of the country. When the board hears both sides in a labor dispute it makes its recommendations but has no power to enforce these recommendations. It is believed, however, that the pressure of public opinion will give sufficient force to its decisions.
164. Canal transportation, which declined after the railroads were built, seems now to be gaining a new lease of life. The State of New York is improving the Erie Canal and proposals have been made to enlarge the canals between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of St. Lawrence so as to permit through traffic from Europe to the Lake ports.
165. The general course of American tariff policy may be marked off into four main periods. The first, which extended from 1792 to the close of the War of 1812, was a period of relatively low tariff duties. The duties levied during these years did not greatly hamper imports. While the United States and England were at war, however, some new industries were established in America, and it was deemed advisable to afford these new industries protection against English competition when the war was over. Accordingly, a more strongly protective policy was adopted in 1816, and this action ushers in the second period, which lasted till about 1842. During the earlier part of this interval the duties on imported manufactures remained relatively high. The high duties created strong opposition, however, especially in the Southern states, and in time a reaction took place with the result that the rates were gradually lowered to a general level of about twenty per cent in 1842. From this date until the outbreak of the Civil War the duties remained low, so that the third period saw the virtual abandonment of protection in favor of a tariff for revenue only. Then the outbreak of the Civil War changed the situation. The need of a great increase in revenue became imperative, and high duties on imports seemed to be a ready way of obtaining national funds. A series of tariff measures put the rates higher and higher. When the war was over the high rates for the most part remained and they have remained relatively high throughout the fourth period, which carries us to the present day. Since 1865 many tariff measures have been passed by Congress; some have raised the duties, while others have lowered them. In 1913 duties were considerably reduced by the Democrats; in 1921 they were put up again by the Republicans. The question of tariff rates has been an issue at many national elections. But, with all its ups and downs, the tariff has remained protective both in its purpose and effect.
166. In 1920 Congress enacted two important measures to aid the revival of foreign trade. One of these measures relieved foreign trade from some of the anti-trust restrictions; the other authorized the lending of government funds to exporters.
167. Many of the commercial treaties which the United States has concluded with other countries contain what is known as the “most favored nation clause”. This is a provision that if either of the treaty-making countries should grant to a third nation any special trading privilege, this same privilege shall at once accrue to the other treaty-making country. For example, if the United States and Brazil conclude a commercial treaty containing the “most favored nation clause” and Brazil should subsequently grant to Mexico the privilege of shipping oil into Brazil without payment of duty, the United States would become forthwith entitled to the same privilege or favor.
168. In the days of wooden vessels, propelled by sail, America had natural advantages in shipbuilding, particularly in the abundant supply of ship-timber. Many such vessels were built and the once-famous American “clipper ships” carried our commerce to all parts of the world. During the period from 1815 to 1860 the American merchant marine reached its zenith in size and prosperity. In 1860 it was second to that of Great Britain and served not only to carry the entire commerce of the United States but the trade of other countries as well. The Civil War interfered greatly with the progress of American shipbuilding, however, and with the advent of iron vessels, propelled by steam, the United States began to drop behind in the construction of ships for ocean service. European countries, particularly Great Britain, forged far ahead during the period from 1865 to 1900. Of the tonnage which cleared for foreign countries from the seaports of the United States in 1900 less than one-fifth was American. This decline in the size of the merchant marine inspired the government of the United States to stimulate the construction of ships by the grant of subsidies, but no great success attended these efforts. The shipbuilding industry did not make renewed progress until it received a great impetus from the World War.
169. As a means of facilitating commerce the national government also maintains various aids to navigation. It provides lighthouses, buoys, landmarks, and lifesaving stations. It has made surveys of the coasts and furnishes charts for the use of navigators. It trains and licenses pilots and makes rules to ensure the safety of vessels entering or leaving American ports. Much money has also been spent by the national government in the deepening and improvement of harbors. Mention should likewise be made of the greatest enterprise ever undertaken by any country for the promotion of maritime commerce, namely, the building of the Panama Canal, which connects two oceans and cost the United States more than three hundred and fifty million dollars.
170. In illustration of this it may be mentioned that in all the years from 1000 A. D. to 1750 A. D. there were only three inventions of remarkable value or interest; namely, printing, gunpowder, and the steam engine. But what of the period since 1750? The railroad, the steamship, the telegraph, the cable, the telephone, radio communication, the electric light, the electric motor and the trolley, the submarine, the airplane, the cinematograph, the phonograph, the internal combustion engine and motor vehicles of all kinds, the X-ray, and so on. These, moreover, are only the landmarks of mechanical progress, which is a relatively small item in the sum-total of human advance.
171. The customary par value of a share is one hundred dollars, but it may be fifty, ten, or five dollars. Occasionally shares of no par value are issued.
172. The stockholders in the original corporation received “trust certificates” in place of their shares.
173. During the presidential campaign of 1896 there was a good deal of popular outcry over the asserted failure of the government to “curb the trusts”. When Mark Hanna, chairman of the Republican National Committee, replied, “There are no trusts”, he was laughed at from one end of the country to the other. But he was right, for most of the trusts had been converted into holding companies.
174. In the long run this action did not amount to much, however, for the companies reorganized in a way which kept them within the letter of the law.
175. In order to evade the provisions of the Sherman Act many large corporations resorted to the plan of “interlocking directorates”. While forming no combination, merger, or holding company, they merely arranged that the various companies should elect the same men to their respective boards of directors, thus placing control of the companies in the hands of the same group of men. To put an end to this practice Congress in 1914 enacted the Clayton Act, which provided, among other things, that no person may serve as a director in two or more large competitive interstate corporations except banks and railroads, these latter being under separate regulations.
176. The Federal Trade Commission is made up of five members, each appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of seven years.
177. For those who are willing to look at the matter in this light, bearing in mind the old adage concerning the kindliness of fate to those who help themselves, the following helpful books are suggested: Frederick J. Allen, A Guide to the Study of Occupations (Cambridge, 1921). A survey of all the best literature on the subject. Frederic M. Giles and I. K. Giles, Vocational Civics (N. Y., 1920). A brief, interesting account of the opportunities in different occupations.
178. The employer, in fact, was often a corporation with neither body nor soul. The factories were in charge of managers whose function was to earn profits, not to look after the well-being of the employees.
179. In America the unions also serve as schools of citizenship. They gather together into their membership men and women of all races and creeds, and they encourage their members to become American citizens.
180. The labor union movement began in England because it was there that the Industrial Revolution first brought in the factory system. At the outset the formation of unions was bitterly opposed by the employers and laws were enacted declaring such organizations to be illegal. In the closing years of the eighteenth century any English worker who joined an organization, in order to secure better wages or fewer hours of labor, was liable to be arrested and punished by the courts. In due course the labor organization movement spread to America, where also it encountered strong opposition during the first half of the nineteenth century. Attempts to secure better wages by forming labor associations were held to be conspiracies in restraint of trade and those who openly took part in the organization movement were frequently imprisoned. After 1830, however, the opposition began to grow less intense and by 1870 it had become generally recognized that labor organizations were here to stay. In one state after another they began to receive legal recognition and today the right of the workers to organize for the promotion of their own interests is not denied in any part of the country.
181. Most writers use the term “trade union” to include only such labor organizations as are composed of men and women who work in the same trade or occupation; but some employ the term to include all labor organizations whose object is collective action in the interest of their members.
182. Although this program does not contain anything that savors of violence, or of arbitrary control of industry by the workers, or of dictatorial methods towards the public it sometimes happens that individual labor organizations or their leaders are guilty of these things. While professing disapproval of violence, the labor leaders have on occasions (though not as a rule) tolerated it. Labor leaders, moreover, in some cases have exacted money from employers under threat of calling men off their jobs; the Brindell case in New York City is a recent illustration. On some notable occasions labor leaders have been convicted and sent to jail for resorting to organized terrorism against employers. All this, however, does not condemn the program of labor organizations as a whole. No body of men, particularly when it numbers several million members, can in fairness be judged by the wrongful acts of a few.
183. It should be borne in mind that not everyone who desires to work at a particular trade is entitled to membership in the trade union. He must apply for admission to membership and the initiation fee for membership is often as high as a hundred dollars or more. Moreover, he must satisfy the union that he is properly skilled in the trade, if the trade requires skill. Some unions, commonly called “open unions,” take in practically all who apply; but these unions exist, for the most part, in unskilled trades only.
184. In New Zealand, for example. For a time it was looked upon as a great success in that country, but in recent years it has not prevented numerous strikes.
185. This was the sequel to a strike on the part of the Kansas coal miners, which threatened to leave the people without fuel for the winter. When the strikers refused to return to work a call was sent out for volunteers and men of all occupations came forward to work in the mines. When the emergency was past the legislature decided that the rights of the public ought to be protected in the future against both employers and workmen.
186. These include all industries affecting food, clothing, fuel, and transportation.
187. “The children were kept working for fourteen, and even sixteen, hours a day; they were beaten for the slightest mistake or offence; and sometimes they were tortured by the overseers, who would tie them to a beam close over the whirling machines by way of teaching them to hold their feet up, or would rivet irons on their ankles and hips to teach them not to try to run away. Locked in the factory while they worked, and in neighboring barracks while they slept, these pitiful martyrs were as absolutely abandoned by their kind as though they had been adult convicts on the way to Botany Bay, or negro slaves on the middle passage.” G. H. Perris, The Industrial History of Modern England, p. 207.
188. Congress has established a Bureau of Child Welfare in the Department of Labor with the duty of encouraging the enactment of laws to protect children.
189. The Supreme Court has decided that this action also is unconstitutional.
190. Robinson and Beard, Outlines of European History, II, 640.
191. Many sorts of merchandise have been used as money at one time or another. In early times cattle often served as the standard of value. This was undoubtedly the case among our Indo-European ancestors, as is shown by the survival of certain words in the English language at the present time. The word “pecuniary,” for example, comes from the Latin “pecunia,” meaning money, which is in turn from “pecus,” cattle. The word “fee” is merely a rendition of the old German word “Vieh,” which also means cattle.
192. The Chinese use copper money, which they call “cash.” The coins have a hole in the center so that they can be carried on a string like beads.
193. That was what had to be done in the old days before gold and silver were stamped into coins of known weight and fineness. You remember the Scriptural story of the patriarch Abraham’s weighing out the four hundred shekels of silver to pay the sons of Heth for Sarah’s grave. If not, read it in Genesis, xxiii, 2-19.
194. The weight of the gold dollar, as fixed by law, is 23.2 grains of pure gold.
195. Anyone may take gold to these mints and have it coined. Pure gold would be too soft for use as money, however; so an alloy of silver is mixed with it. The mixed metals are then heated and rolled into strips. These strips are next put into a stamping machine which forms them into so many little gold cakes, ready to be placed in another machine which stamps an impression upon them. In the case of gold and silver coins the edges are “milled” to prevent their being clipped or scraped by dishonest people. In the United States this is in the form of a raised and serrated edge; in European countries an inscription is often printed on the edges of the coins. The German twenty-mark piece before the war had the legend, “Gott mit uns,” in this form. The silver, nickel, and copper for American currency is bought by the mint and made into coins at a profit. This profit is called seigniorage and it is sufficient to make all the mints self-supporting. The amount of metal in a nickel, for instance, costs only a fraction of five cents. When coins are lost or destroyed—by shipwreck, fire, etc.—the government is just so much to the good, and a great many coins are permanently lost or destroyed every year.
196. With a dual system of coinage the ratio at the mint must be exactly that of the open market, otherwise the metal which the mint overvalues is the only one which will come in to be coined. If mine-owners who produce silver, for example, can get more gold in exchange for it in the open market than they can get dollars for it at the mint, they will naturally exchange it in the open market. But it is difficult to keep the legal ratio in exact accord with the market value because the latter fluctuates somewhat from year to year.
197. In this same year a severe commercial panic took place and the action of the government in demonetizing silver was blamed for it. Hence the frequent reference in later years to “the crime of 1873.”
198. Provision for the coinage of silver on a limited scale was made by the Bland Act (1878) and the Sherman Act (1890). These acts merely provided that the Treasury should buy so much silver each year and coin it, a very different thing from free coinage.
199. Curiously enough there was another financial panic in 1893; but this had nothing whatever to do with the stoppage of silver coining.
200. The paper money is made at the Bureau of Engraving in Washington, not at the mints. Every working day in the year this Bureau turns out a million dollars or more in notes. A special kind of paper, made by a secret process, is used, and in the manufacture of this paper small strands of red silk are imbedded in the fabric. The notes are printed from mechanical copies of engraved plates, the originals of which are made by hand. It takes several expert engravers a whole year or more to make one of these originals, with its portrait, seal, symbols, and myriad of fine lines. All these precautions are taken to prevent counterfeiting. On its way through the presses the bills are counted and checked many times to make sure that none go astray or are pocketed by employees. So carefully is this done that only once in the last twenty years has a single bill been unaccounted for. When a paper note is permanently lost or destroyed after being issued Uncle Sam is very much the gainer, for it costs him, on the average, only about one cent to print a dollar bill. If the bill is only torn or partly destroyed, the government will redeem it. Full face value is given if at least three-fifths of the original bill is presented, or half the face value if two-fifths is handed in. If less than two-fifths of the bill is presented, it will not be redeemed except by proving the circumstances under which the rest of the bill was destroyed. When bills get dirty or worn the banks send them back to the Treasury. Some years ago the practice was to burn them in the furnace; but there was a rumor that charred pieces of the bills were in the habit of flying off through the chimney to be found by people who presented them for redemption. Now the worn money is put into a macerator or chewing machine, which masticates them to a pulp at the rate of about a million dollars a mouthful.
201. The German paper mark, for example, depreciated to less than one-fiftieth of its face value in gold; the Austrian crown depreciated even more. Even more striking has been the depreciation of the Russian paper rouble which has fallen more than a thousand-fold.
202. Money which, according to law, must be accepted in payment of debts, is called legal tender. Gold coin, silver dollars, and certain notes are legal tender up to any amount. Half dollars, quarters, and dimes must be accepted in payment up to the amount of ten dollars. Nickels and pennies are legal tender to the amount of twenty-five cents only.
203. The establishment of this second bank led to the raising of a very important constitutional question. The constitution, as has been said, contains not a word about banks. Hence the power to establish banks might be assumed to remain entirely with the states in view of the rule that powers not delegated to the nation by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. Congress having gone ahead, however, and established a bank, the State of Maryland proceeded to levy a tax on the bank’s paper money. This tax the cashier of the Baltimore branch of the bank, McCulloch, refused to pay, whereupon he was held liable by the courts of Maryland and appealed to the Supreme Court. The latter tribunal went into the whole issue thoroughly and rendered one of the most important legal decisions ever given in this country.
The decision in McCulloch vs. Maryland was that Congress, having been given by the constitution the express power to collect taxes, to borrow money, and “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers,” was thereby vested with implied authority to establish banks as a means of facilitating the collection of taxes or the borrowing of money. This being so, the Supreme Court decided, no state can be permitted to interfere with an instrumentality through which the national government is legally carrying on its work. They must not interfere by taxation or otherwise. “The power to tax involves the power to destroy,” declared Chief Justice Marshall in rendering this decision. If the states could tax one agency employed by the national government in the execution of its powers, the chief justice explained, they could tax every other one. They could tax the post office, the custom houses, the forts, the ships of war. By taxing these things heavily enough they could cripple the national government and eventually drive it out of existence altogether. The court was unanimous in affirming that Congress had the right to establish banks and that with such action no state could interfere.
204. Trust companies were established to act as trustees or guardians of funds belonging to widows, orphans, and others who could not look out for their own investments. Then they began the practice of accepting deposits from others and paying interest on these deposits, whereas national banks and most of the regular state banks usually paid no interest to their depositors. Gradually the trust companies became banks in every sense of the term, and they have gradually increased in number during recent years. As a rule they can do a wider range of business than is permitted to national or state banks.
205. The locations of these twelve federal reserve banks are as follows: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco.
206. A further addition to the banking facilities of the United States was made in 1916, when Congress inaugurated the federal farm loan bank system. This is under the control of a federal farm loan board composed of the Secretary of the Treasury and four other persons appointed by the President. Two systems of lending money on mortgages are provided under the supervision of this board, one working through twelve farm land banks situated in different parts of the country and the other through joint stock land banks. Provision is also made for the forming of farm loan associations composed of farmers who wish to borrow money on the security of their lands. See also p. 348.
207. Retail prices represent prices of the principal articles of Food; wholesale prices include articles of all kinds.
Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
208. For this reason it is often said that gold is not a good measure of deferred payments. For example, if somebody were to give you a note for a thousand dollars, payable five years from now in gold coin, the amount of goods which you will be able to buy with the proceeds of this note when it is paid may be much greater, or much less, than what you could buy today. Thus you would get your money back, but it would not have the same purchasing power, and purchasing power is what counts. To determine the actual purchasing power of gold at different dates, figures known as “index numbers” are compiled by various economic organizations. Index numbers are compiled in this way: Take a certain amount of various things which are in common use, say a barrel of flour, ten pounds of butter, a bushel of potatoes, so much steel, leather, lumber, and other commodities,—make the list long enough to cover the general range of prices. Add together the current prices of these things today and you have an index number. Ten years from now, if you take exactly the same amounts of exactly the same commodities and add together the prices, you will have another index number. By comparing them you can say that the purchasing power of money has gone up or gone down, as the case may be. The index number more than doubled during the years 1914 to 1919; that is to say, the purchasing power of money was cut in two.
209. People are in the habit of thinking that the high cost of living is due largely to “profiteering” and monopoly. To some extent, no doubt, this is true. But the three most important factors in the high cost of living are: (a) the inflation of money and credit; (b) decreased production; and (c) heavy taxes. It is these things that give the profiteers and monopolists their opportunity.
210. Bonds are promises to pay a certain principal sum at the expiry of a certain term of years. They are issued by governments and by business corporations. They bear interest annually or semi-annually. In the case of registered bonds the name of the bondholder is inscribed on the books of the government or company and a check for the interest is sent to him. Coupon bonds, on the other hand, are payable to bearer and small tickets or coupons must be cut off by the holder and presented on each interest date. Stocks are merely shares in a business corporation and do not carry an obligation to pay a definite sum at any given time. There are two kinds of stock, preferred and common. The preferred stock is entitled to a stated dividend; the common stock takes what is left of the net profits if there are any.
Bonds, as a rule, yield a smaller return than preferred stock, because the security is better. The man who holds common stock takes the greatest risk of all and for this reason expects the largest rate of dividend. When you invest money the income which you get from it is proportioned to the risk which you take. An absolutely safe investment like government bonds brings in only four or five per cent annually; the preferred stock of railroads or industrial corporations may yield six or seven per cent; the common stock of some companies pays as high as eight or ten per cent. When you find that an investment promises a large income you may be sure that the risk is proportionately large. All sorts of “get rich quick” schemes are placed before the public by promoters who promise high rates on “safe” investments. Such investments are not safe; if they were, the banks and large capitalists would put their money into them. To protect the public from these frauds, some states have passed “blue-sky laws,” which require that every stock-selling concern shall be investigated by the state authorities before it is allowed to take money from the people.
211. If anything, this estimate is probably too low. In 1921 the tax commissioner of Massachusetts estimated the tax burden in that state to be $117 per capita.
212. The cities spend a great deal more than the rural districts and the per capita burden there is consequently much heavier.
213. In the case of some heavily-taxed forms of merchandise, such as tobacco, more than half the price is made up of taxes.
214. There are some cases, of course, in which the tax cannot be shifted; for example, taxes on vacant or unimproved land, or taxes on fixed incomes and salaries. But all this is a small element in the total tax bill.
215. Many public services which are now paid for out of the general taxes were at one time supported by charging only those who made use of them. Many of the first macadam roads were built by private companies, which collected a few cents in toll from every person using them. Toll bridges were not uncommon a generation ago and they still exist in some places. Fees were charged in many places by the schools, so much per pupil. Before regular police forces were established, well-to-do people hired watchmen to patrol the streets around their property, the poorer sections of the city being left without any protection at all.