The Washington herald., 1917-05-20
KITCHIN SCORES
REVENUE CRITICS
Upholds 5 Per Cent Tax on
Electricity, Gas and Heat.
Provision Adopted.

A proposal to eliminate from the enor-
nous 81, 800, ,OOO. 900 war revenue bill the per
cent tax on electric light, gas, and heat
in the home led to a debate yesterday
in which Claude Kitchin. the Democratic
House leader, attacked the critics of the
Administrations measure.
I'm 1852, when the Confederate armies
were looking toward this Capitol, and
every man. woman, and child was tremb-
ling at their advance, a tax measure was
introduced here to raise money for an
army to check the Confederate advance" I"
said Kitchin. I'm that bill there was a
tax as large as this one, on tallow can
dies. which were the only lights the poor
people of the country had They took
the place Of the electric light and gas
of today. There was a tax on candle
manufacturers. and an ad valoTem tax
of per cent on candles.
There were demagOgues then. even
when they stood within the shadow Of
the Confederate bayonets. They got up
on this floor and had the assurance to
ask members to vote against that tax.
They said 1t was a tax upon the poor
man. They made the same argument
then as is made now in favor of the Len
root amendment.
Had Courage and Nerve.
But there were men then who had the
courage and nerve to allow their patrio-
tism to stand in front of that demagogic
movement. They voted for that tax and
for every other tax in that bill. They
raised an army and defended this Capt.
tol. And they saved this Union. And
thank God that they did!
You know that this Is not a tax upon
real property. You know that $19 out
of every $40 will be collected from men
like you and me. There is not a poor
man in this country. nor a small family
that the tax will cost more than 10 cents
a month. 1t will cost men like you and
me maybe from a dollar to two dollars
extra And we should pay this without
complaint"
Congressman Lenroot had offered an
amendment to strike the tax from the
bill. He said it would bring but $50, on. 900
anyway. However, the House by vote
of 116 to IS refused to cut off the tax
A committee amendment was accepted
making the tax on weekly-payment life
insurance policies under 500. 10 per cent
of the first weeks payment, instead Of
cents on 800.
Reduce f 1press Tax.
AnOJner amendment adopted during the
day was a reduction of the tax on ex-
press shipments from 10 to per cent.
Representative Mann, the Republican
leader, offered the amendment, and
Kitchin accepted it.
The Ways and Means Committee prob
ably will adopt change in the proposed
postal rates. This is a bill by Repre-
sentative Randall and specifies that rates
on secOnd-Class matter, including news
papers and magazines. shall be l cent per
pound, except that in all zones except
the first and second, advertising matter,
if exceeding 20 per cent of the printed
space, shall be charged parcel post rates.
The Senate Finance Committee will
hold daily meetings and consider the bill
before it comes over from the House,
which probably will be about next
Wednesday.
There is proposal in the Senate Com
mittee to insert a provision prohibiting
the use of grain for alcohol manufacture.
This is similar to the CUmmins amend
ment, which was stricken from the es-
piOnage bill after being once inserted.
Curtailment of tobacco acreage which
would mean more land for the growth of
other crops, is also considered by the
committee.