ROCHESTER, Minn – Rep. Ron Paul frequently calls for repealing this law or eliminating that federal agency in his stump speech for president. The Texas Republican went further on Saturday, calling for the elimination of a whole year.

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, shows 2-year-old Piper DeYoung, how to wave to the crowd during a campaign stop Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, in Rochester, Minn. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Mr. Paul, appearing at a campaign rally in Rochester, Minn., singled out 1913 for his ire, garnering loud applause from a standing-room only crowd of more than 300 at a high school here.

“I would like to repeal the Federal Reserve charter, but I’d really like to repeal 1913. We could get rid of the income tax, and the Federal Reserve and the foreign policy,” Mr. Paul said, his comments drowned out by the cheering crowd.

His focus on 1913 owes to the fact that two key targets of his campaign speech – the Fed and the federal income tax – came into being that year. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 created the current central bank system, the same year the 16th Amendment allowing the federal government to levy a tax on incomes was ratified.