ABSTRACT
The memories of the early experiences with the advertising agency cluster and concentrate around the year 1868. In that year the writer had attained to the mature age of thirty, and after it had come to an end he was so little informed upon the ways of the world as to believe that because the government had passed a law authorizing the collection of a tax on incomes, it was on that account incumbent on him to respond to the requirements set forth and actually to put in his report, and be prepared to pay that tax. Figuring it out was easy enough. Admitting that the capital in the business, which apparently increased day by day, was as great on the last as on the first day of the year, it was evident that whatever money had been withdrawn from office earnings within the twelve months was income. It appeared to figure up a respectable sum, somewhat exceeding $54,000, and upon that sum the government would exact something more than $2,500 as an income tax. It was as bad business policy to hand in a report, as it generally proves to be for an incoming passenger on an ocean steamship to fill out the declaration of what goods are in his trunks upon which duties ought to be paid. It would have been cheaper to allow the officials to make their own estimates and arrive at their own conclusions.
