Lincoln had implemented a federal income tax in 1861 to pay for the Civil War and an income tax was collected during the 1890's.
The 16th Amendment was passed in 1913 to clear constitutional issues with such a tax and the first 1040's came soon after.
The features of the income tax that we know today were quickly part of the system. This early 1918 article warns people receiving money from others that their payers would be telling the federal government about that money. The IRS Form 1099 was the culprit.
County newspapers played a big role in preparing citizens for the sacrifices needed to fight World War I and to sustain support for the war. Neutrality had been a strong political force keeping the U. S. out of the European war. Wilson ran for re-election largely on the slogan, "He Kept Us out of War!"
The Federal Food Administration imposed price controls on many products to prevent businesses from ripping off consumers as the war made many commodities and other products scarce and subject to sharp inflation.
Nebraska Senator Gilbert Hitchcock made this pitch for buying was stamps to his niece in Omaha:
"A Nickel a Day wins the War" might be the point of this pitch.
The U. S. time in WWI was relatively short so the sacrifices of Americans paled before the experiences of Europeans.
This Harvard business aimed to win the war with chickens.
The major incubator business in Clay County was the Old Trusty Company in Clay Center where M. M. Johnson employed more than 200 people sending incubators and other poultry products across the country.
Emil Ochsner manufactured a smaller number of incubators in Sutton and we've found evidence that the wife of Sutton tavern owner Tim Hartnett made a few of them.
And we found a newspaper item that the B & H Incubator Company in Fairfield had shipped a 120-egg incubator to Greece. B & H were fellows named Bayles and Hayes.
Here we have the ad of Higgins Hardware in Harvard though there is no indication that this product was also manufactured in Clay County.
This article appeared in The Clay County News on January 14, 1993, an except from the Freeman (South Dakota) Courier from about one year earlier.
This article appeared in The Clay County News on January 25, 1968 marking the anniversary of the King Newspapers in the county.
H. C. King and his son Roy King published The Edgar Sun, The Clay County Sun, The Harvard Courier and The Fairfield Auxiliary at various times before consolidating all of the county newspapers into The Clay County News.
This article also relates the King family's version of an episode with a competing paper, the Clay County Leader.
And, not to be picky, but my math would suggest to me that the Clay County News was completing its 22nd year at this point and entering its 23rd rather than the statement in the headline.
