By Mr. Brigham, H. 152. An act to amend section thirty-one of chapter twenty of the General Statutes, entitled "Of the support and removal of paupers, and the relief of the insane To the Committee on the Judiciary. By Mr. Wires, poor"; H. 153. An act to amend sections nineteen and twenty of chapter one hundred and nineteen of the General Statutes, relating to circusses ; To the General Committee. By Mr. Skinner, of Derby, H. 154. An act to incorporate the Wells River Lumber Company; To the Committee on Corporations. By Mr. Prout, H. 155. An act to incorporate the Otter Creek Marble Company; To the Committee on Corporations. By Mr. Putnam, H. 156. An act to pay the town of Middlesex the sum therein mentioned; To the Committee on Claims. By Mr. Walker, of Ludlow, H. 157. An act in amendment of an act entitled "An act to establish the Vermont Agricultural College," approved November 22, 1864; To the Committee on Education. By Mr. Bemis, H. 158. An act to incorporate the Stamford Manufactur ing Company; To the Committee on Manufactures. By Mr. Carter, H. 159. An act to protect fish in Monkton Pond; To the General Committee. By Mr. Purinton, H. 160. An act to amend an act in relation to fees of town grand jurors; To the Committee on the Judiciary. By Mr. Hopkins, of Vergennes, H. 161. An act to pay Carlton S. Dean the sum therein mentioned; To the Committee on Claims. By Mr. Cobb, H. 162. An act altering the name of Mary Jane Sherman, and constituting her heir-at-law of Edward F. Hooper and Helen M. Hooper; To the General Committee. By Mr. Clark, H. 163. An act to amend section seventy-two of chapter thirty-four of the General Statutes, relating to trustee process; To the Committee on the Judiciary. By Mr. Paul, H. 164. An act to amend an act entitled "An act in addition to chapter eighty-three of the General Statutes, in relation to grand list," approved November 22, 1864; To the Committee to make up the Grand List. By Mr. Foster, of Montpelier, H. 165. An act amending the first section of an act entitled "An act to incorpopate the Montpelier Hotel Company," approved November 22, 1864; To the Committee on Corporations. Mr. Nicholson offered the following resolution : Resolved, That without unanimous consent, no bill shall be introduced for the consideration of this House after the present week, except by report of some committee of the House; Which was read and adopted. Mr. Foster, of Montpelier, presented the petition of Alonzo Redway, praying the General Assembly to enact a law authorizing the Auditor of Accounts to draw an order on the Treasurer of the State in favor of said petitioner ; Which was referred to the Committee on Claims. Mr. Barlow offered the following joint resolution : Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives, That the Curator of the Cabinet be requested to acknowledge in suitable terms the receipt from N. P. Bowman, Esq., of a sample of the products raised on a Southern plantation by the freedmen, under the superintendence of a Vermonter, and to place the same in the Cabinet for preservation; Which was read, and adopted on the part of the House. Mr. Skinner, of Derby, offered the following resolution : Resolved, That on and after Monday evening next, evening sessions of the House of Representatives shall be held, commencing at seven o'clock. The question being, Shall the resolution be adopted? on motion of Mr. Rounds, of Chester, it was Ordered to lie. Engrossed bill entitled H. 19. An act to amend section thirty-two of chapter one hundred and twenty-six of the General Statutes, relating to fees of sheriffs and constables ; Was read the third time and passed. A message from the Senate, by Mr. Lamson, their Assistant Secretary, as follows: MR. SPEAKER: I am directed to inform the House that the Senate have considered House bills entitled: H. 4. An act laying a tax on the county of Essex; H. 117. An act authorizing the St. Albans Hotel Company to issue bonds; And have passed the same in concurrence. The Senate have considered House bills entitled H. 63. An act to legalize the grand list of the town of Stockbridge for the year 1864; H. 68. An act to legalize the grand list of the town of Lemington for the years 1864 and 1865; And have passed the same in concurrence, with proposals of amendment, In the adoption of which the concurrence of the House is requested. The Senate have considered House bill entitled H. 7. An act enlarging the jurisdiction of justices of the peace in certain criminal cases; And have not passed the same in concurrence. The Senate have considered House proposal of amendment to Senate bill entitled S. 13. An act to confirm certain decrees of the court of chancery; And have adopted the same in concurrence. Mr. Hebard, from the Committee of Ways and Means to whom was referred House bill entitled H. 5. An act in amendment of section six of chapter eighty-three of the General Statutes, taxing the income of United States bonds, &c.; Submitted the following as the report of a minority of said committee: To the House of Representatives now in session: The undersigned, being the minority of the Committee of Ways and Means to whom was referred House bill No. 5, in relation to taxing the income of United States bonds, stocks, and other securities, ask very briefly to state their views: The majority of the committee have presented a report that is ably prepared, and very carefully considered, and for the most part adopt a line of argument on the general subject of taxing those bonds and securities, to which we yield our assent. It is the conclusion at which the majority of the committee have arrived, or the statement of that conclusion, from which we dissent. The only provision in the bill to which any importance is attached, is in the concluding sentence, which provides that the income of such bonds, stocks and other securities shall be taxable, and shall be set in the grand list. This presents two considerations. One is, as to the soundness of the proposition; that is, whether the income of such bonds and other securities are subject to being taxed, and set in the grand list; and the other is, if such income is liable to be taxed and set in the grand list, do the existing laws of the State in relation to the manner of making up the grand list, make all necessary provisions for that object. If so, then the passage of the proposed bill might be regarded as unnecessary, but not necessarily therefor unconstitutional. What is meant by the term income? The sense in which it would be and is understood by the intelligent masses in community, we apprehend is the true sense. Interest is what is paid for the use of a given sum of money for a given time, and is therefor the income of that sum of money for that given time. The income arising from these bonds is that which is secured by the coupons attached to them, and paid upon them, annually or semi-annually, by the Government for the use of the money expressed in the bonds; and it makes no difference by what name it is called, whether we term it the interest of these bonds, or the income of them, or the products of them. The law of Congress under which these bonds are issued, expressly exempts the bonds from taxation by the State laws-it does not exempt the interest or the income from taxation. If the money with which these bonds were purchased had been loaned to a private person, and a note taken, that note, by the laws of the State, is subject to being set in the list and taxed, together with all the accumution of interest upon it, whether paid or unpaid. The law of Congress enacts that "all stocks, bonds and other securi ties of the United States, held by individuals, corporations or associations, shall be exempt from taxation by or under State authority." The bonds, or, in other words, the money expressed in these bonds, are exempt from taxation, but to hold that the interest or the income arising from these bonds, by the law of Congress, is entitled to any immunities from taxation any more than the interest or income arising from any other species of property, seems to us to be unwarranted. Neither the wisdom nor the folly of the law of Congress calls for our praise or our censure. It is enough that we find it the paramount law of the land, but it is not to be disguised that it is a law so fraught with inequality in proportioning and distributing the burdens of supporting the Government, as not to entitle it to such a liberal construction, as will give it a force and construction beyond its clear and well defined provisions. The undersigned would not willingly yield to any others in their devotion to existing laws, and would not willingly or knowingly participate in any measures that would be either an infraction of those laws, or a violation of the good faith that is implied in the observance of them. The majority of the committee in their report say that "the income of bonds, or the interest becoming periodically due, is part of the original contract, and is identical with it"; that "the taxing of one is evidently as much of an interference with the operations of government as the taxing of the other, -no matter whether such interference be direct or indirect.”" This, we regard, is what the logicians would denominate a non sequitur,—that is, the premises do not warrant the conclusion, or what lawyers sometimes denominate a petitio principii, or "begging the question," that is, assuming that to exist which has not been proved. The interest when paid, or when due, is no part of the contract. The obligation which compels the signer of the note or bond to pay the interest, is a part of the contract, and without such contract, expressed or implied, no obligation to pay interest exists, and the payment of the interest is in part performance of the contract. When a contract has been fulfilled by the payment of the principal and interest, then the contract is ended and no longer exists; and if it would be unconstitutional to tax the interest or the income of these bonds, because the bonds themselves could not be taxed, we think it might be said with more consistency that the money expressed and denominated in these bonds, after the bonds |