The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-03-14
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
nv Charles H. Tayener.)

Washington, March 9.-Instead of
taxing sugar nearly two cents a
pound, place a tax on wealth.
The democratic House of Repre-
senttives has announced this as a
part of it's program to bring about a
reduction in the cost of living.
Now get ready for the old cry of
"You can't do it; it's unconstitution-
al" Whenever it is proposed to tax
wealth instead of poverty, wealth
raises the question of constitution
atty, accompanied with the charge
of "radicalism." An income tax is
not radical Every tirst-class nation
on the earth's surface-except this
country-raises part of its revenue
to meet the expenses Of the govern
ment by taxing incomes, among be-
ing Great Britain, Japan, France,
Germany, Holland, Austria, Den
mark, Switzerland, Australia, New
Zealand and many more.
Under our present fiscal policy the
expense of maintaining the army and
navy, building PUBLIC buildings and
running the government, is not by
taxing the things the people must
have in order to live. Practically all
revenue is derived through the GUS
toms houses and internal revenue Of
fees. with the exception of a COM
raratively small amount derived
from a corporation tax, which was
recently passed as cheating substi-
tute for an income tax. While the
hat, coat and shirt of the masses are
taxed almost II per cent under this
Gco,1 cvctop, PNo1xnfal1or Mnroan
and other millionaires are not asked
by the federal government to pay
any tax whatever on their swollen
fortunes. Thus poor man with a
family actually pays more toward
running the government than mil
lionaire bachelor.
The democratic plan is to place
sugar on the free list. This will re-
peal a tax on the breakfast table,
now borne by the American people.
Then the present corporation tax
will be extended to include individ-
uals and co-partnerships having an
income of $4,000 year or more.
The excess O. incomes over $4,000
will be taxed l per cent, bringing in
to the treasury between S50,00O,OOO
and $6O,000,0O0 a year, which will
more than cover the $50, 100000
now derived annually from the sugar
tariff. The price of sugar to the
consumer, it is estimated, will be
reduced about IL cents pound.
Those who scout the idea that an
excise tax bill can be so drawn as to
may be referred to the opinion of one
of the country's leading lawyers,
William Howard Taft, as follows:
GIN my judgment an amendment to
the constitution for an income tax
is not necessary. l believe that an
income tax, when the protective sys-
tenn of customs and the internal
revenue tax shall not furnish in
come enough for government needs,
can and should be devised which un-
der the decisions of the Supreme
Court will conform to the cOnstitu-
ton"
''Protecting'' the Children.
Nothing in the history of Ameri-
can tariff making has SO thoroughly
demonstrated the fallacy of the high
protection principle as the testimony
of the Lawrence, Mass, mill strikers.
In the same room where Carnegie
and Schwab told how they had Jug
gled millions, the Rules committee
of the House heard fathers, mothers
and children tell how whole families
were forced to live on IS and Sc a
week paid by the highly protected
Wooden Trust. The witnesses told
how they were forced to work ten
hours a day; how they had to use "a
sort of molasses" as substitute for
butter; how children had to go into
the mills at an early age in order to
keep the family from actual starva-
ton, and how the constant demand
of the mill owners was for more and
more speed and less and less pay.
In the committee room sat some of
the mill children, fresh from the
mills, and mere glance at them told
more than spoken or written VOL
umes could tell. All had pinched
faces. All were poorly dressed, some
of them having only cheap sweater
in lieu of a coat and overcoat. Most
of them had dull, expressionless
faces, in which there was no trace Of
color or animation. All of them,
moreover, were more or less deaf,
because of their work amid the fear
full clatter of the mill machinery, so
that at times the committee mem
bers almost had to shout to make
themselves heard. All the children
looked worn and old, as though they
had been speeded up beyond the linn
it of endurance.
These children revealed. as moth
ing else could reveal, that both they
and the American people are being
cheated by Schedule *" They
stood as living proof that the manu-
facturers, after once getting the
privilege of levying heavy tax on
wooden goods, are not willing to
divide their enormous profits with
the workers in the wooden industry.
Under Schedule tx" the people are
being tariff-taxed for the sole benefit
of few millionaire WOODEN trust
magnates, and not for the benefit Of
the workers in the WOODEN industry.
Now that you know the truth, Mr.