Show CO SCRIP THE tae recent raid of the collector cf of internal revenue ravenna upon several of the operative cooperative co institutions in this territory and the required pay ment of amounts aggregating in the theburn bum sum of about afif thousand dollars as tax upon the notes or due bills issued by them have caused cau be d a great deal of comment in the community we think the course of collector hollister will not be condemned by thoughtful people when all the circumstances cum stances are understood no man is rightly to be blamed who conscientiously discharges his duty and errors resulting from zeal to illi fill a position honorably are far more pardonable than neglect and indifference to anything but drawing drawling a salary saia eala ry faults which are not altogether unknown in olli officers cers of the government and some other the law of the land IL in relation to this matter was enacted in 1875 and xe yonda adaus aa follows sec 19 that every person firm association other than national bank associations and every corporation state bank or state banking association associations shall pay a tax of ten ton per on the amount of their own notes used for circulation and paid out by them sec 20 that every such person firm association corporation corporations state bank or state banking association and also every national banking as shall pay a like tax of often ten per on the amount of notes of any person firm association other than a national banking association or of any corporation state bank or state banking locia association tion or of any town city or municipal corporation used for circulation and paid out by them s this was in addi addition tion lion to or cation of the internal revenue laws already in torce force it irwill will be found on referring to the them mAhat that the notes specified in the above section are such as are calculated or intended to be used as money and as such received and paid out by raa rag regular ular banks and banking associations see united states revised be statutes sec the scrip or due bills iss issued eed ded for instance by the brigham city operative cooperative co institution are only intended in tended foe lor use by the tle employees ot of the corporation to facilitate the exchange of the commodities manufactured man u fractured or produced by themselves it is not redeemable in money it does not circulate as US money it could not be deposited in nor paid out by any bankas bank as money cash ia exceedingly scarce inthe in the community where chispa this paper has been used the people engage in different in branches of industry and some kind of paper is almost essential to their continuance as alieff a seif self supporting society to keep accounts of all the dafler ent varieties of barter batter and exchange involved in their system would require an army arny of clerks and a battalion of olf managers manager and would involve the concern in confusion and difficulty we are aware of course that this has nothing to do with the law if it applies to the tho case nt at issue ue but we are of the opinion bat that this is still an open question and while we would not counsel resistance to the requirements of any constitutional enactment we think it might be profitable to test the matter in the courts to p prove ra ve whether a law jaw evidently ini tended to tax paper in general circulation cu as money applies to due bills only redeemable in dall vatI cies cles produced by the industry of the people who issue the note notee |