Omaha daily bee., 1915-10-29
ESTABRO0K MAKES
PLEA FOR BUSINESS
Cconintued IRON PAGE ons1

purchaser pays the entire tax, although
he may not be aware OF II. These
answers were formerly Bryans stock in
trade. Do they strike you as persuasiveH
If tariff is inherently wicked. why not,
on high moral grounds abolish all tariffs ?
II high tariff is grand larceny why
compromise on petit larceny? To my
notion a tax on the privilege of trading
with an alien rather than with your
neighbor is just and righteous tax.
Trade implies equality. The value Of the
things traded or exchanged is based
largely on the labor cost of producing
them. An unskilled lsborer who in Italy
receives, 30, 20, so cents day no sooner
lands on American soil than he receives
$3.50 to $3.50 a day. This must be so or
the very devil would be 10 pay. Our
government has among its several states
and territories the largest free trade of
any nation in the world but II is a trade
based on an equality of cost production.
on American standards of compensation.
Nor do see how building a fence around
a garden determines the quality of the
fruits and vegetables grown In It OF the
moral character of the gardener who
works in 1t so long as II keeps out the
chickens. And that is just what the
tariff is-a barbed wire fence-a pecu-
liarly American invention under which no
foreign sheep my crawl without leaving
tuft of wool sticking as a memento Of
his trespass
Tariff on Wheat.
What do you accomplish when you
reduce the tariff on wheat, for example,
IN
can farmer. OF course because he sells
at Wholesale and so completes with all
the world but you do not cheaper tho
price of a loaf Of bread one iota. The
infinitesimal reduction which, in theory
should be allocated to loaf of bread
or even 10 a barrel of flour, is either re
tanned by the seller or absorbed by the
middle man. The retail buyer sees none
of it. And the same statement applies
to sugar or any other product of our
country.
II do not believe that n policy adopted
by our government at the very beginning
OF things, which has served not only to
raise our revenues but to develop our re-
sources; TO which all our standards have
been adapted-prices. wages, rentals to
which also our institutions are so thor
oughly adjusted; with whose machinery
we are so familiar and wonted by Gus
tom; policy which has nodded the very
| temperament Of our people and their ways
, of llvng-I do not believe, l say, that a
policy so basic, so intrinsic, so indigenous,
so lnveterate, may suddenly be abrogated
without causing panic and confusion and
all the evils mothered by them. Nor do
/ believe that our normal prosperity will
| ever be restored until our tariffs are re-
stored or more scientifically graduated.
1T was known. of course. that under
existing schedules there would be a
tremendous slump in revenues-though
the slump has far exceeded the estimate;
to compensate for which there has been
! levied an income tax. My contribution
under this levy is not large enough TO
warp my judgment regarding the tax it
! self; II consists principally OF an annual
brainstorm induced by an effort to make
up my report How anyone less gifted
than my law clerk ever succeeds In doing
| IL, God or McAdoo only knows. But /
cannot imagine myself so poor that l
could ever glorify the tax or reckon its
/ pecuniary benefit TO me the equivalent OF
my humiliation in accepting such a bene-
! fit. As an expedient II is clumsy costly
and inquisitorial The vast and compll-
( Gated machinery through which the taxes
are gathered into the treasury ahsorbs
much OF the tax in the expense Of main
/ tenance-like one OF these institutional
charities that charges you so per cent OF
/ your donation to get the remaining %
I per cent into the hands OF the beneficiary.
widows Pensions.
/ II am not opposed to confessional OIL
eleemosynary legislation. II we wish tC
create widows pensions. old age pen
| sions. disability pensions. and such like
let's do it! But let everybody chip In ir
proportion TO his estate. That meant
| that you may be richer than l. but moi
a bit more independent! With any CLAUSE
OF exemption IN II, or any difference Of
ratio. the income tax law u unequal
unfair and un-Americanl As devised
the tax is also a double-barreled tempta
| ton TO perjury; for the man who hal
TO pay is tempted to swear that he own
less than he does. while the man whC
wants the credit OF an income Il
tempted TO swear that he owns mor'
than he does.
But the income tax, egregious as 4
is, has not proved adequate for the pur
poses OF revenue and so. heaven hell
us. we have the war tax! With NOR
machinery!
! Would Il not strike an efficiency ex
pert that the creation OF so much ma
chinery. sim retaining all the old ma