Republican farmer., 1918-08-23

alysis of income tax returns.
 In addition thousands of small con- cerns in a great variety of industrial and commercial classifications made profits ranging from 100 to 5000 per cent, above their normal profits for pre-war years, which even then were considered high.
 Detailed information on the extent of war profiteering has been given congress recently in compliance with a resolution requesting it and the Federal trade commission is under stood to have obtained considerable information from the income reports in preparation of it's criticism of the meat packing industry.
 In citing certain industry or com nerce classifcations as containing the largest percentage of profiteers, the treasury has made 1t clear that not all individual businesses in these groups have gathered in swollen earnings This is true particularly of coal oper- ators, some of whom made enormous profits, often several hundred per cent. higher than good earnings of former years, while others made bare ly enough to pay justified dividends.
 With few exceptions manufacturers of clothing and shoes reported DIE profits This was true of most con cerns holding government contracts many of which were let early In the war when the government felt com pelled to stimulate production of the vast quantities of supplies needed by the army. Scores of income reports from suit, shirt, underclothing and shoe manufacturers showed earnings Of from 30 to 100 per cent. in invested capital.
 Lumber production, stimulated by the sudden enormous demand from cantonments and other government onerations. netted forest and saw mill owners as well as distributors profits several times above those of normal years.
 oil producers made enormous prof its, which they claimed justified by the rapid depreciation of property and the extra financial hazard of their business.
 Despite high cost of labor and oth- CT factors entering into mining the treasury analysis shows that very few iron, copper or aluminium mines failed to make tremendous profits for their owners, under the government policy of stimulating production Produc- CTS of silver, gold, platinum and oth- er precious metals profted to a less extent.
 Automobile and motor truck manu- featuring was highly profitable, aI- though income returns show that earnings of different plants were far from uniform, some making as high as so per cent. on investments, and others less than ten per cent.
 Meat packers, flour millers anl canners apparently stood at the top oI the list of food profit takers, accord ing to income returns. Farmers alsc made money heavily last year, but no enough of their returns have beer analysed to justify a general state ment of their profits, officials say.
 Profteering was by no means con fined to big business in these. Smal scale producers in thousands of case reported profits to the exceeding az gregate of from five to ten years earnings before the United States en tered the war.
 More than 300 clerks of the inter national revenue bureau have beel employed in tabulating income re turns for the last six weeks an transmitting these in weekly or bi weekly installments to the senate where the reports now are being pre- pared for examination by the senat finance committee in connection wit its consideration of the new revenu bill.
 Names of individual companies ar not reported since these by law mus be considered confidential unless tn President specifically authorize their publication.