Life, 1909-06-03 · page 25 of 56
Life — June 3, 1909 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page critiques income tax proposals through satirical argument. The main essay argues that wealthy people ("them that hath") oppose direct income taxes despite claiming to support transparency, preferring indirect tariffs that hide the cost from workers ("the goose is plucked with minimum of squawking"). The author notes that ultimately, working people fund government regardless of tax method, since wealth comes only from actual labor. The cartoon below shows a humble worker ("Mr. Grub") joking he'll buy an airplane next season—satirizing how workers bear all tax burdens while the wealthy enjoy luxuries. The small illustrations on the right appear to be unrelated humorous sketches. The page's core message: income taxes fairly represent who actually pays for government, contrary to wealthy objections rooted in outdated Biblical ideas about wealth distribution.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Income Taxes NE objection to an income tax is that it runs counter to the old Biblical idea: To them that hath shall be given and from them that kath not, etc. Whatever the benighted may think of this idea, it is still wnadulterated gospel among them that hath. Inas- much, therefore, as the government is in the hands of them that hath, the like- lihood of an income tax is somewhat remote. Another objection is that an income tax is too plain, too direct; that it would make for that publicity which we stand for in theory, but do not take the trouble to practice. By the indirect tariff method, the goose is plucked with the minimum of squawking, which is the desideratum. To be sure, in either case, the ultimate source of the taxes is the same; it is paid by the people who are doing real work. There is no other way to get things from Mother Nature ex- cept by real work. Mother Nature docs “One foot on sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never, not yield to the blandishments of the promoter or the hot-air merchant Neither are office-holders willing to ac- cept promotion stock in liew of salaries. No. When wealth is needed, sori body has to go through the motions of digging and growing and molding and trimming and refining and conveying it and all that. Then somebody gets it, presumably, for services performed And then government throws its col- lective protective arm about the whole business, and that in itself is a service for which somebody has to pay; hence, taxes. Many think that a government ought to be paid for by those who get the protection. If so, an income tax would be all right, even in spite of the old Bib- lical idea. Ellis O. Jones. OME women think they are buying a pair of shoes when they are really buying a pair of pinchers, Mr, Grub: 1 RECKON I'LL HAVE AN AEROPLANE MYSELF, SON BE ABLE TO NEXT SEA- comicbooks.com