Evening journal., 1918-07-02

Revising the revenue laws now o.
postponing that revision IS a matter
OF deep Importance. 1t Is importan
because there Isn't an Industrial con.
Germ, there isn't a business house
that can work out its financial prob.
lens in the dark as well as il car
IN the light. No more can an indi.
vldual. II men and Institutions dc
not know what taxes they are 20 pay
for this year in which they are work.
ing they cannot properly prepare "a
pay those taxes. They cannot salts
Iactorlly and soundly conduct their
business and do their work.
Since the taxes which are TO be paid
IN the spring Of 1919 are TO cover the
earnings Of individuals and corpora
tons in 1918, these individuals and
corporations must, In the management
or their current affairs, be al sea
until they know what their taxes are TO
be and how they are TO apply, be,ause
until they do know these determlnat-
Ing factors they cannot know how 10
spend and otherwise use their in
comes.
But in this necessity Of providing
funds with which to light the war
there Is a matter OF stlll greater i'm
portancet-the taxation Itself.
II the war IS to go on for any length
OF time, everybody IS face to face with
al 1.-The taxes that anybody and any
thing can stand Now, to come point
blank to this greatest question OF all.
how much can we stand? Why, Just
as much as there can be LEFT over
from the national production, after
the American people have fed them
selves out Of that production, have
clothed themselves out Of that pro-
duction, have warmed their houses
out OF that production, have main-f
tained schools for their children out
Of that production, have kept their
cities, towns, and villages sanitary and
healthful out Of that production, have,
in a word, lived as they must live out
Of that production.
To meet the huge expenditures OF
this war that production IS all there
is TO tax over and over again-na-
tlonal income-as the taxes must be
gathered over and over again II the
war goes on. It doesn't make any
difference whether 10 Is a rich man
or a poor man, whether it is a corpor-
alton earning excessive profits or a
business only making a bare living,
there can never be extracted from the
one or the other any more than there
Is TO be extracted.
Now, where is the vast production |
of this country-estimated at some |
si0OOOO00.OOO a year-largely distrib- |
uted? There is a political inciior who |
rants that It all goes to the few. There |
is a political imbecile who thinks that
you can get enough taxes out Of "'big /
incomes" TO pay for this war.
The hard. cold facts are that il the |
government does not get the taxes to /
pay for this war out of the general |
public it will not get them at all, for |
the very reason that the great bulk |
OF the nations income goes to the
many. Nothing better illustrates this
actual division Of income as between
the few and the many than the pay
rolls Of the railroads.
on those payrOlls there are q little
short Of 100000 workers from presi-
dents and general managers down to
track walkers. II II is conceivable that
railroads could be properly operated
without presidents or general mana
gers or superintendents or treasurers |
or secretaries, then 10 is conceivable /
that all the money paid to them in sal
aries could be saved to the railroads
or perhaps converted as taxes into the
government treasury. But, as the re-
cent report Of the Railroad Wage Com
mission shows, II the salary OF every
'allway "onlcial" receiving from SoOOO
20 100000 a year were wiped out or
into the treasury for war
unds. the whole amount would not be
" % Of the total payrolls Of the roads.
Under the new railway wage scale
he nearly 100000 men Will receive
.pproximately two and a quarter BILL
lion dollars of wages and salaries a
'ear. II, then, the government TOOK
very penny from every single official
low getting in the railway service
3 900 a year or more, the treasury
would have from that source for
Whole year about s30,OO0,OOO That S3O,-
400 OOO-the total income Of all the OF
lcials in the railway service gettlns
,boye $1,000 a year-wOuld pay the eX-
nenses Of our war, as they are now
and they are to run much
three-nfths Of a day.
But with a total payroll Of two and a
1uarter billions a year, only 10 per
cent. OF that payroll would amount to
some s225,OOOOOO.
These hard. cold facts are no more
true as TO railroads than they are
true as to any other industry or busi-
ness. The average corporation or firm
doing siC)00O0 Of business year
would be very lucky to get out Of 1t
100000. The major part Of all the rest
would so TO labor, directly and indi-
'ectly.
The annual productIon-the income