ALAIN (1868-1951). Autograph manuscript signed of Propos d'un Normand, [1909]; 2 pages in-8 (pencil typograph marks). On taxes. Propos published in La Dépêche de Rouen on October 4, 1909. Alain quotes a reader's letter concerning sumptuary taxes... He adds: "If I exercised the smallest political mandate, then I would have the concern to determine the doctrine according to which I would act. But I only meddle with stirring up ideas, sometimes here, sometimes there. [...] And if my readers sometimes get in the mood, so much the better, it wakes them up. [To return to the question, I say that the progressive income tax and any similar tax on inheritance seem to me to be far superior to individual taxes on necessities. Only, as these great reforms meet for the moment with strong resistance, and as, singularly, the party of the rich seems to accommodate itself very well to sumptuary taxes, I believe it is useful to push vigorously in that direction...