New Britain herald., 1918-09-23
lONERGAN WANTS
 TAXES REDUCED
Strongly Urges Revision Of LeYies
 on Pistols and ReVOlVerS

District spoke in favor of a more equitable tax on pistols and revoIv- CTS in the House of Representatives Thursday.
 His remarks follow:
 Mr. Speaker, the revenue bill un-
 der discussion, Title TX, section 300, paragraph II, imposes a tax of 25 per cent. on all pistols and revolv- CTS sold by the manufacturers other
 than such as may be sold during the
 present war to the United States, po-
 litical subdivisions thereof or allied
 nations, as against a tax of 10 per
 cent on rifles, shOtguns, shells, and
 cartridges.
 Obviously this is discrimination
 against the manufacturers of pistols and reVOlvers, who should be taxed
 only so much as the manufacturers
 of shOtguns and rifles
 There are five large manufacturers
 of pistols and revolvers in the United States, of which the Colts Patent
 Firearms Manufacturing Co.,, of Hartford, Conn.,. is the largest. The Colt company has devoted 99 per cent. of it's products to the service of the Nation since the opening of the war, and will so continue as long as the war lasts. It has postponed and will continue to postpone deliv- cries on commercial orders. Of the small product delivered on commer- cial Orders 99 per cent. hass been sold to municipalities and for the protection of essential plants. The same is practically true of the other manufacturers.
 The Colt company now has com- mercial orders aggregating $62s,- 991.81 awaiting delivery after the ter imitation of the war. Thee orders were accepted at fiat rates. Hence the tax, proposed, can not be trans ferred to the purchasers. These or ders, more than S5 per cent. of which were accepted prior to the declara- ton of state of war; have not been filled, because at the outbreak of the war the Colt company, from patriotic motives and at loss, immediately de- voted it's entire plant to the produc- ton of arms for the United States and it's associates to the exclusion of commercial business. Because of this patriotic action the Colt company will become liable to a special tax of $157,247.95 on these postponed or ders, if the bill passes as it now reads.
 | IT, of the Hearings before the Com mittee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, on the proposed rev enue act of 1918, the expressed de- sire of the author of the bill origin ally proposing such a tax Is the re- duction in the sale of revolvers and pistols. All the great nations of the world will be equipped to manufac- ture firearms at the close of the war. Hence a very heavy tax on reVOlvers and automatic pistols manufactured in the United States will result inevit- ably in the substitution of foreign makes in all foreign markets. The industry in the United States will naturally be discouraged and the result will be to put the United States at a disadvantage in the event of an other war.
 The present war is being fought in France because Germany was pre- pared and England and France were not. The great German works at Essen had plants, machinery, equip ment, carefully trained organizations, l and experienced operators all ready f for the immediate production of l arms in huge quantities. In France 1 and England, as in the United States it was necessary to build factories, | create machinery, form new arsenal :! organizations, and train ballistic en- 1 gineers as we'll as mechanics before l quantity production could be devel- ! oped. As @ result some of the best l troops of England and France were | sacrificed and the cause of freedom 1 jeopardized during the time prepara- l tions, long delayed, were made to | meet iron with iron and gun with | gun. This must never be allowed l to happen again.
 If it were not for the splendid or 1 ganizations built up by the revolver 1 and pistol manufacturers in the cOun- 1 trv prior to the outbreak of the war, 1 the country, with no similar factories l under Government Jurisdiction, would | have beex in a bad way. indeed, pro- curing such products.
 It is to be hoped that this will be l the last war. History, however, tells 1 us not to be too sanguine in our | hopes. Other nations than Germany | have in the past set out to conquer | the world Clearly it is the part of 1 wisdom from now on to be prepared. 1 Reasonable preparedness demands | the provision of adequate factory ] couiDment and trained organizations | for quantity production of munitions. Only by encouraging, rather than dis couraging such manufacture can this preparedness materialize and con- tinue.
 A measure designed primarily as a police measure should not, of it's very nature, be incorporated in meas ure to provide revenue. The proper place for such propositions is the leg islative bodies of the several States. The constant carrying of concealed [ weapons is undesirable and is limited in substantially all civilized States. But the purchase of rovolVers by re- citizpnS is leSira hln