Volume 0007 Number

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY CIRCULARS Pub/is/ied witA t/~e approbation of tAe Board of Trustees VoL. VIJ.—No. 64.] BALTIMORE, MARCH, 1888. [PRICE, 10 CENTS. SCIENTIFIC NOTES. On the Assyrian Writing. By PAUL HAUPT. syllables containing this sibilant. The number of syllabic signs employed for the phonetic rendering of Assyrian amounts to about 250, yet we meet [Abstract of a paper read before the University Philological Association, January 20, more than twice as many configurations in the cuneiform texts, since for 1888. This paper will appear in a fuller form In the April number ofHebraice, 1558, Yol. IV, No.3.] some frequently recurring ideas the old ideograpldc manner of writing was preserved down to the latest period. The cuneiform script was not invented The script in which the Assyrian texts are written is called cuneiform by the Assyrians but by the non-Semitic aborigines of Babylonia, the Ham- or wedge-writing because of its constituent elements: the horizontal, ver- ito-Cushite tribe of the Samero-Akkadians from whom the Assyrians adopted tical and oblique wedge. Like the other species of cuneiform writing the the writing along with numerous religious ideas and Cultur institutions. Assyrian runs from left to right. Jn the earliest period, however, the Lagarde thinks it not impossible that there existed prehistoric relations inscriptions were not written in horizontal columns, but from the top down- between theAkkadians and the Chinese. Some of the cuneiform characters ward, beginning at the right and thence proceeding towards the left in bear a striking resemblance to the oldest Phoenician forms of the Semitic parallel vertical columns. The wedge was not a characteristic of this alphabet whence all our modern alphabets were derived. It seems quite species of writing atfirst, but developed in the course of time out of a simple probable that the Phoenician alphabet is not based on the Egyptian hiero- line. The wedge seems to be but the regular development of the incision glyphics as is commonly asserted, but on the Mesopotamian wedge-writing. of the chisel on the stone, or the impression of the stylus on the soft wet It is well known that Pliny, vii, 192, says: “Litteras semper arbitror Assyrija clay which was used in Mesopotamia for writing purposes. It is generally fuisse, sed alii apud Aegyptios a Mercurio, ut Gellius, alii apud Syros repertas supposed that the Assyrian scribes used bronze styles with a sharp three- volunt.” edged end, but no such instrument has been found. It has, therefore, been suggested that when a cuneiform scribe wished to write, he simply took a piece of straight-grained wood, split it to a convenient size and smoothed it Abstract of the Report on Taxation in Maryland. to his liking. Indeed on certain tablets we can often see quite plainly little By RICHARD T. ELY, Member of the Maryland Tax Commission. lines crossing the more slanting part of the wedge, and the only opinion that can be formed is that these lines are the impression of the grain of the The fundamental idea in the present system of taxation in Maryland is wood. that everybody should contribute to the support of the government in Cuneiform script was originally a linear picture-writing. These pic- proportion to capacity, and tha.t capacity is determined by one uniform tures, however, were gradually obscured beyond recognition. In the Neo- tax on the assessed value of all property, of every description whatsoever. Assyrian tablets we can hardly discern a trace of the hieroglyphic origin. This system, doubtless in vogue in nearly every civilized nation at one time On the extant monuments we meet the script in two principal styles, viz., or another, has been abandoned in all countries save the United States, and the Assyrian and the Babylonian. Both species are again sub-divided into even here there is a growing dissatisfaction with it and a constant inquiry Old Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian on the one hand, and Old Babylonian and for better financial methods. Neo-Babylonian on the other. The Old Babylonian characters stand closest When this system was introduced, the wealth of the country consisted to the original hieroglyphic forms; yet they are by no means found exclu- almost exclusively of real property, and of such personal property as would sively in the oldest texts, but occur as an ornamental style on the latest come under the head of visible, tangible chattels. Landed property, on inscriptions as well, for the same reason that makes us occasionally adopt account of its comparatively small value and uniformity could be classified the old black-letter type. Hence it follows that the writing of an Assyro- easily, and each class assessed at one uniform rate. But as the classes of Babylonian cuneiform tablet furnishes no sure criterion for determining wealth have become more numerous, and the differences in the value of the date of the text. Neo-Assyrian cuneiform writing is but a simplified, articles in the same class more important, there has arisen a demand for more cursive form of Old Assyrian; and Neo-Babylonian bears the same a system of taxation which will adjust the burdens more accurately and relation to Old Babylonian. Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian, however, fairly. The fact that a vast amount of easily concealed property, such as are independent developments of the primitive linear picture writing. bonds, stocks, etc., escapes assessment is an added cause of dissatisfaction. Cuneiform script is not alphabetic but syllabic, i. e., there are no signs for The endeavors to improve upon actual methods have been frequent, but the consonant s, e. g., but merely configurations of wedges which express they usually prove fruitless or render a bad matter worse. The truth is, 42 JOHNS HOPKINS [No. 64. the existing system is so radically bad that the more you improve it, the Nature seems to have made provision for the growing municipal expendi- worse it becomes. Stated in a word the trouble with our present system is tures in those pursuits which may be classed as natural monopolies. Per- this: it is found in practice to be an impracticable theory, for a large por- manent competition between natural monopolies cannot be secured. It is tion of property escapes taxation; and that the property. of those best able best, therefore to recognize this fact and act upon it. I recommend that the to bear the burdens of government. Personal property is sometimes dis- Legislature hereafter refuse to grant a charter to any private corporation, covered in its entirety, but it is then nearly always the property of the to supply any municipal corporation in the State with gas, or water, or elec- comparatively helpless. tric light, but that such undertakings shall always be public; further, that That such a system does not work well the experience of Ohio, Georgia, municipalities be encouraged to purchase existing private gas works when Wisconsin, West Virginia, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut and favorable opportunity to do so occurs. Maryland testifies. Where public sentiment will not warrant prohibition, I recommend that Turning from actual experience we ask whether there are any reasons in the number of places where liquor may be sold be limited; that the muni- the nature of things which make experience what it is. It is not sufficient cipalities and counties be divided into liquor districts accordingly, and that to show that a certain tbing has not been done, it is necessary to show that the right to sell liquor in each be sold to the highest bidder under heavy it cannot in all probability be done. penalties for violation of the various laws relating to the sale of liquor. It should first be remembered that any single American commonwealth In municipalities I would prefer quarterly payments of taxes, to assimi- is not an industrial unit, but simply a part of a larger whole. It will thus late direct to indirect taxation as nearly a.spossible in point ofconvenience. be seen that the normal returns ort what is known ascapital of a high degree I would recommend that mortgages, promissory notes, book accounts, of mobility are determined by general conditions in the United States, and simple contract debts, and other private securities be not taxed. Those over these we as a State have little control. If our tax laws operate to kinds of personal property which usually escape, and which are paid for depress the returns on floating capital far below what we may regard as the the most part only by the unfortunate and extremely conscientious, I would normal level, a considerable portion of our capital will leave us to our own exempt altogether. For not only would the conscientious and the helpless detriment. An exemption, on the other hand, of this sort of capital makes be relieved of the present injustice done them, but the gain from legal the flow of capital to us easier, and the benefits are diffused throughout the exemption would be great, far outweighing the loss, the returns of this sort community, but such diffusion is general only when the practical exemption of property being very small. is legal. It is a just grievance that many who can amply afford to bear a part of It must benoticed also that it is almost impossible to avoid the use of non- the burdens of government do not participate in them, while they do derive taxable Federal bonds, over which the States have no control, for purposes inestimable benefits from the existence of government. There is one way, of evading taxation. and only one, to remedy that evil, and that is, by an income tax.

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