Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-07-26
PROFITS OF THE PRoFITEERS

partmcnt. on matters of finance.
PROFITS OF THE PRoFITEERS
They Are Needed for the Pushing oi
the War.
| Literary Digest.
privation and suffering will bt
horne patiently by Americans at homo
as they do their bit behind their mcr
on the allied firing lines. but they will
not tolerate profitccring in industries
| that affect their daily life ana tho
conduct of the war. This is the tenor
OF much of the press comment on tho
| report of the Federal trade commits
sion. which charges that the profitccrs
have taken advantage of "thc ncccs-
SiticS of the time, as evidenced in tho
war pressure for heavy production.
while some Of IL is attributable ia
inordinatc greed and barcfacpd fraud
| The report was submitted in response
to resolution of the senate follow
ing President Wilson's assertion that
the government has evidence of pro-
titccring. we read in Washington
dispatch to the Chicago Tribune, and
the evidence is expected to warrant
an increase by congress of war taxes
on excess profits and individual and
corporation incomes. The principal
Industries charged with profitecring,
we are told. are those engaged in
handling meat, -four. steel. leather and
leather goods. salmon. canned milk,
copper sulphur; Trs iS--65its.tIS t.i1 and its
produclsI coal and lumber. The re-
port cn'tGes also that reappraise-
'heh's OF iproflts were made by great
3hc''rnstwhcn it became evident that
the government would fix prices on a
basis OF return on investment, and
salaries. allowances. and expenses
were In many instances padded to
show increased costs of conducting
business. One firm paid salaries run
ming up to 100000 and 100000 n
year. According to the report, the
profits of the meat packers and those
allied with them and of the flour mil
lcrs stand foremost. despite the fixing
of prices by the government. The Fed
cral trade commission lifts into plain
view conditions "scandalous in the ex-
trcmr." according to the Brooklyn
Eagle. which holds that the corpora =
| tion or individual making more than n
fair profit under wartime conditions
is "coining wealth from the perplcXi-
ties of the government and the neccs-
stiles OF the people as multiplied by
the pressure of n great emergency
and incalculable human suffering.
Something must and will he done. and
the Eagle cites the recommendation OF
the commission that excess profits be
heavily taxed. and adds:
THAT has been done in England
with excellent results. Such policy
would increase the revenue of the
government. check the tendency toward
initiating prices. and. in some measure
at least. diminish the burdens put
OF small or moderate means. We have
as yet discovered no satisfactory
method of price fixing. If satisfac-
tory method could he found it would
accomplish more than an excess
profits tax: hut II is idle to talk OF
price fixing unless congress Is ready
to extend it to cover all the necessi-
ties. including food commodities. In
the production of which agricultural
interests exercise control with which
congress has yet not the slightest
disposition to interfere"
Expressions in favor Of war profits
taxes are found in other journals
among them the New York Globe
which reminds us that the British
government has worked out n system
under which prices are stabilized at n
level stimulative OF production by CIV
Ing the poorly located or badly equip
ped business institutions a chance
and then. by a heavy tax on gross
profits. taking away from the efficient
n large percentage of their profits
The fundamental thing which the
Federal trade commission sets forth
clearly. the New York Evening Mail
thinks, Is that all industries in given
line do not produce at the same cost
II follows that II they all get the
same pricC-and they do. whether
| there Is price fixing or competition
the more favorably situated industries
earn an extra heavy return. Because
all industries must be going. the
Mail proceeds. our governments fix-
ed price must be sufficient to pay cost
of production and profits to the most
unfavorably situated ones. The con-
| sequence Is the luckier fellows carr
large war profits, which should be
taken by the tax. as in England
where
"They tax so per cent of corporate
earnings in excess OF the pre-wai
| earnings. Here In the United State:
VIC have not a war profits tax. but ar
excess profits tax We tax all earn.
| ings in excess of to 9 per cent As
our tax works out II takes on the
average Of 81 1-2 per cent OF the actu.
al war profits.
| "If congress Will abolish the ridicu-
lous and inadequate excess profits tas
Of 1917 and substitute a 1918 wal
| profits tax, on the British model, We