Joe's Daily U,.S. History lesson -- June 16

JUNE 16 -- 1909 Pres. Taft makes proposal for 16th Amendment; 1884 America's first roller coaster opens, Coney Island; 1738 Happy Birthday Mary Goodard; 1965 Bob Dylan records Like a Rolling Stone

1909 – President Taft makes his proposal on the 16th amendment...

...which would read “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. In simple terms, doesn’t matter where it comes from as long as it’s income that doesn’t need to be shared with other states, and can’t be used as a basis for distributing taxes on the people of America. .  Income tax in America began probably during the Civil War, when the federal debt was already at around $90M, and citizens not fighting the war were filling out today’s equivalents of W2s and 1099s to be taxed 3-5% on income, a tax that would end in 1866, when the federal debt had risen to $2.7B.

During the next 40 years, over a billion dollars was paid off, and interestingly enough, political tensions were getting hot in Europe by 1913.  It was on this day in1909 when Taft called for 2% federal income tax on corporations by way of an excise tax and allowing the original income tax of the Civil War. Key word in that sentence: excise, and instead of defining a fine line between that and property tax, creates a grey cloud.

Here in America, in the case of Pollock vs Farmers’ Loans and Trust, it was held that a tax upon gains, profits, and income was unconstitutional. So, to what extent is privileged gains considered excise?  Many would argue that the income tax crushed the middle class while benefiting the corporations. The 16th amendment would be passed in February 1913, just in time for President Wilson’s inaugural speech, where he admitted “No one can mistake the purpose for which the nation now seeks to use the Democratic Party.”

Exactly what he meant by that could be answered by some of the folks that would meet at Jeckyll Island, JP Morgan, Nelson Aldrich, A.Piatt Andrew, Henry Davison, Arthur Shleton Frank Vanderlip, and Paul Warburg –  to plan the creation of the Federal Reserve, and what some would call the bank responsible for financing the upcoming Great War to begin all wars.

1884 – First roller coaster in America opens. …The original roller coaster was located in the Russian Mountains in the late 17th century, and as usual, American took the concept and perfected it in Coney Islander in Brooklyn. Known as a switchback railway, it was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson, travelled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride.

It was an instant hit and by 1900s there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country. These days, the residential portion of the Coney Island peninsula is a community of 60,000 people in its western part.

Coney Island is well known as the site of amusement parks and a seaside resort. Its popularity peaked in the first half of the 20th century, with the exception of the Great Depression and WWII when people didn’t have extra money for entertainment. Legend has it the hot dog was invented at Coney Island in 1867 by Charles Feldman.

Every year there’s a hot dog eating contest held each Fourth of July. My man Taker Kobayashi set a new record when he ate 53.75 hot dogs with buns in 12 minutes.

1738 – Happy birthday Mary Katharine Goddard, …patriot printer, publisher and postmistress. She’s most famous for publishing the first version of the Declaration of Independence to include all of the Congressional signatures. Folks, that’s a big deal. If your name is on that document, you’re declaring of treason against your established government and if you’re ever caught by authorities you’ll be executed. Goddard and her brother were heavy in the printing press, but in 1765 William got into politics. Mary ran the Maryland Journal and the Baltimore Advertiser. She was also the first female postmaster in colonial America. Being both postmistress and a newspaper printer made her the center of the information exchange.

According to nwhm.org, while the Founding Fathers went on to the fame she literally thrust on them, Mary Katherine Goddard sank into obscurity. Brother Williams was never able to become successful at any occupation and was jealous of his sister’s success. Historians agree that in 1784 William most likely forced his sister to quit; there is record of her filing five lawsuits against him at that time.

She died in 1816, having been a trailblazer in both printing and postal services, and you can find a copy of the Declaration of Independence printed by her at the Maryland Hall of Records.

1893 – Happy Birthday Cracker Jack. …Frederick William Rueckheim came up with what very well might be America’s first yummy junk food on June 16, 1893. He presented it to the public at the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the first world’s fair.

The name was a commonly spoken word in those days. A crackerjack was something of excellent quality. In 1899 Henry Gottlieb Eckstein developed the Waxes sealed package for freshness, known then as the Eckstein Triple Proof Package, a dust, germ and moisture proof paper.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game; a song written by Jack Norworhth and Albert Von Tilzer, gave Cracker Jack free publicity when it was released in 1908 with the line, buy me some peanuts and cracker jack. But in 2004 the Yankees replaced Cracker Jack with Crunch n Munch, but quickly changed it back when fans got justifiably upset.

1965 – Bob Dylan records Like a Rolling Stone. …Critics have called this song revolutionary in its combination of different musical elements and transformed Dylan’s image from folk singer to rock star. At an auction in 2014, Dylan’s handwritten lyrics to the song fetched $2 mill, a world record for a popular music manuscript.