The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1917-05-16
DEBATE ON WAR TAX
BILL CLOSED YESTERDAY
after LONG DISCUSSION
Flood of Proposed Changes Probably
Will Be Offered to Revenue
Measure.
GENERAL DEBATE ENDED
Attacks Yesterday Centered Largely
Upon Second Class Mail Matter
Section.

nue. bill closed tonight after five DAYS
OF discussion and Democratic Leader
Kitchin predicted final vote would
be reached some time Saturday.
The bill will be open to amendment
under the five-minute speech rule and
flood Of proposed changes probably
will be offered.
Vigorous fights will be made
against the excess profits, income and
automobile taxes and the proposed in
crease rates on second class mail.
Postal Rate Increase.
Debate on the measure again TODAY
centered largely upon the second
class mail matter section. Represen-
tatives Johnson of North Dakota,
Mondell of Wyoming and Young of
North Dakota, spoke against the pro-
posal, declaring it unfair to publishers
generally. Representative johnson
proposed substitute plan to tax
newspapers a fiat rate of five per
cent on their advertising returns.
Representative Young said that if
the government would pay for the
free advertising given by newspapers
the papers could afford to pay first
class mail rates.
Says 1t Is Inequitable.
Representative Lunn of New York
assailed the bill as inequitable, par
ticularly in regard to the excess pro-
fits tax section.
Public hearing on the war revenue
bill before the Senate finance commit
tee were concluded with statements
by the list of more than one hundred
representatives of industries heard
since Friday.
Nearly all Of the witnesses agreed
that they were willing to assist the
government in every way possible,
even to surrendering their entire prof
its, but objected to the rates in the
bill as confiscatory and ruinous. To-
days session were devoted largely to
further hearing of the protests of
newspaper and periodical publishers
against the proposed increase in Sec
ond class mail rates and the tax on
print paper
Says Amount is Excessive.
A delegation Of New York and Chi
cago business men, headed by Sol
Wexlcr, protested that the amount
proposed to be raised from taxation
was excessive and called attention to
the depression in business which fol-
lowed introduction of the bill in Con-
gress.
Mr.. Wexler urged that the Inter-
state Commerce Commission be per-
mitted to grant all public utilities
under it's control an increase in rates
equal to 30 per cent of their present
gross receipts and that out of this
increase they be required to pay to
the government 10 per cent of their
gross receipts, thus leaving a net in
crease of II per cent.
Endorse Resolution.
Amos Pinchot, representing an or
ganization known as the American
committee of war finance, said many
organizations, including farmers and
the United Mine Workers, had en-
dorsed the committees resolution pro-
viding that the war should be financed
from receipts of the income tax.
A. 0. Adams, speaking for coffee
importers and grocers of New York
and New Orleans, explained that no
effort was being made to evade the
tax on this import. He recommended,
however, that substitutes for coffee
be included in the tax proposal.
Print Paper Tax.
Frank P. Glass, chairman of the
paper committee of the American
Newspaper Publishers Association,
and George McEnery, of the New
York Times, were recalled when the
committee took up the section levying
10 per cent tax on print paper.
"Under your direction" said Mr..
Glass, the Federal Trade Commission
spent months in an exhaustive inves-
tigation of the conditions of the print
paper manufacture in this country.
That body has only recently made a
report to the Congress declaring that
there was a combination among man
ufactprers, establishing the fact that
there were abnormal profits in that