Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1916-08-09
people as possible.

people as possible.
The decision to double the present
tax rather than lower the exemption
to say $1,000 and $4,000 upon unmar-
ried and married men, respectively
was prompted by politics pure and
simple II was reasoned out in the
Ways and Means Committee room and
later frankly admitted on the floor
Of the House. that it would be unfor-
tunate for the political party respon-
sible for lowering the present mini
num- To do such thing, it was
argued, would be to invite the mill
tant opposition Of the income taXpay-
er who was hit.
It matters not to the Democratic
| leaders that the preparedness pro-
gram for which the new tax was lev
led was intended to protect all citi-
zens alike. It mattered not that this
expense and the other expenditures
authorized by this Congress should be
as widely and eQuitably distributed as
possible. It mattered not that all
other countries having an income
] tax system fix the exemption far be-
low tn. $4,000 mark 1t mattered not
that Republican Congress- after
the Civil War, when the country was
more or less impoverished, had the
courage to fix the minimum at 5000.
The Democrats of Congress-, ignoring
these circumstances, resolved upon a
double tax upon the larger incomes
and stood pat upon the $4,000 eXemp-
ton.
This is not all. War munitions were
conceived to be an appropriate thing
to tax. II was decided at the meet
ing of the Ways and Means Commit
tee ATTENDED by majority members
only that the people would applaud
any reasonable levy upon the NUM-
tons makers. Munitions" is a vague
term but it is associated in the pOpu-
lar mind with enormous war profits,
therefore, it was found to be a safe
source of Federal income
Perhaps the most extraordinary
feature Of the omnibus revenue bill
I is the provision placing a protective
tariff upon dyestuffs. The startling
phase of this is that It originated in
Democratic councils. Nobody ques-
tions the wisdom of protecting the
infant dye industry. It was founded
to meet an emergency. A dye famine
prevailed in the United States during
the first year of the European war.
Germany was the only source of this
product and the British blockade
closed it. Government officials plead
ed with American interests to engage
in the domestic manufacture of dyes
and finally few enterprises were
launched with the understanding, APP
parently, that the Administration
would use its influence in behalf of
a dyestuff tariff which would save the
industry from strangulation, when the
war is over.
Bitter pill though II was to the tar
ih-for-revenue people of the Kitchin
type. President Wilson forced them to
swallow the dye protection provision.
But they did it with wry faces and
with profuse apologies. In the de-
bate which followed the introduction
of the bill, Kitchin and his followers
confessed that they had executed a
! flip-flop on dyestuffs but served no
tice that they yielded under pressure
of an emergency and not as a matter
Of common justice to an enterprise
that had gambled bravely in order to
meet national necessity. incidentally,
they added. that this lapse" does not
foreshadow any break in the funda-
mental opposition Of the Democratic
party to a protective tariff system.
The creation of a nOn-partisan tariff
commission in the revenue bill man
ifestly is the most praiseworthy fea-
ture Of that measure. Moreover. this
tangibly signalizes the surrender OF
the Democratic party TO a principle
which it has long and obstinately OPP
posed. It remains to be seen whether
this party is acting in good faith in
legislating upon this important mat
ter.