Actually, Mr. Justice Holmes's gem words of wisdom carved in stone are not on the U.S. Treasury building at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue (next to the White House), but a few blocks down and over on a platband above the entrance to the headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service at 1111 Constitution Avenue. The IRS is a very very major activity of the Treasury Department (so major that it has its own separate headquarters building), and is, in many respects, the tail that wags the dog.

And, of course, the word on the IRS HQ building is spelled "civiliZed" to conform with the spelling conventions we use over here. [The explanation once given to me was that during the Colonial period when Ben Franklin was busy setting printers up in business in the various locales, the printer's type, being manufactured in England & Germany, was scarce over here, so printers had to choose their letters very carefully (there is absolutely nothing to suggest that the shortage was exacerbated by some type shipments being accidentally cast into Boston Harbor along with the tea).].

-- Kenneth H. Ryesky, Esq.
[Former IRS attorney]