TaÌˆgliche Omaha tribuÌˆne. [volume] (Omaha, Nebr.) 1912-1926, 1917-10-11
THE BLIND
LEADING THE BLIND,
Our Big Corporations and then
Leaders have Failed to Adjust
Themselves to the Signs
of the Times.

The wall Street Journal i:
dissatisfied with the tax bill as
it passed the Senate. The "WaH
StreetJournal" finds that toe
OF the burden Of taxation
was laid upon the rich;
1t is deplored in some guar
tiers that the consumption tax
on coffee tea, cocoa and sugar
was rejected by the Senate.
Many persons in Wall Street
profess to see political motives
in this action. 1t is estimated
that 60 per cent. OF the annual
increment Of wealth in this
country goes to the lower
classes in the form Of wages,
What are the facts Of the
case? DR.. King, Of the Univers-
ity Of Wisconsin, who has made
the most thoroughgoing inyesti-
cation on the subject, finds that
65 per cent. Of the wealth Of the
country is in the hands Of 2 per
cent. of the people. The other
IS per cent. of the people must
be content with the possession
Of IS per cent. OF its wealth.
That was the situation before
the war. Who has been getting
rich during the war? For an ans
wer look at the growing dis
satisfaction of labor, the terrific
increase in the cost Of all the
articles Of the common mans
consumption; contrast these
things with an estimated in
crease of 81, 000,000,0D in the
profits Of corporations in 1917,
with the last peace
year. The Senate is taking 3lH
per cent. Of those excess wal
profits, and IS levying on the in
comes Of the rich rates less than
one-half OF those that are in
force in Great Britain.
Much Of the leadership that
now prevails in the corporation
world is blind. Instead Of com
planning about the taxes levied
upon corporations and rich men
in the Senate bill, these people
ought to be apologizing for the
bill and seeking to have il
changed, so that they might rem.
der to the government a decent
share of the profits which the
war has brought them.
The corporations would be in
a differnt position to-day-and
in the future-if Mr.. Gray, Mr.
Schwab and the other leaders
had frankly recognized the obi.
CATION which lies upon them as
heads Of our industrial world
Immediately after our entrance
into this war they should have
ISSUED a statement setting forth
that their corporations had
grown great and prosperous I'm
der the protection of the govern
n1ent, that they recognized the
obligations that were a corollary
Iof these privileges and that ~es.
pecially in the matter Of wat
finance, they wanted to Offer
their war profits upon the ALTA
of the country. Such an an.
nouncement would have set thc
corporations right in the eyes
of the government and th'
people. 1t would have resulted
in a different sort of tax bill
than the Senate has framed-i'
would have resulted in a bulge.
raising over S6,OO0,O00,OO in
stead Of less than S4,0OO000OOO
The corporations simply can
not afford 10 grow rich from
this wal while the people ar,
growing poor by the sacrifice Q
the lives that are dearest Il
them. All this corporation talk
all this opposition to a conscrip
ton of war profits has con
Icerned itself-remember that
only with a scheme for taxint
the extra wealth which the wa.
is bringing to corporations. NJ
Ione proposed to touch thei
normal profits.
Blind leadership
! New Yoxk Evening Mail