Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-08-28

and amortization funds, company
could under oath submit it's figures to
the Federal Trade Commission, or
some similar body; and get decis-
ion as to what it was reasonably EMIT
led to- And one advantage of this
method of procedure would be that
the earnings, approved by the govern.
ment body consulted, could be govern
ed by the actual condition of the COM
pany and its needs and peculiar trade
position. Naturally, exact justice
could not be done. But at all events
such plan would furnish a much fair.
er adjustment than is now being made
by income and excess profits taxes,
and by government price fixing, where
uniform price for both low and high
cost producers is tending to drive the
small concern out of business and
esta blish a monopoly for the large
combination. Corporations which did
not choose to come under the resolu
ton would be subject to profits taxes.
A United States Business Admins
ton.
1t might also be advisable to form a
United States Business Administra
ton (similar in form to the present
United States Food Administration,
but without vested power), which
could be a voluntary association of
employers and employees, organized
for the purpose of conserving Ameri
can war power by freeing the govern
ment and the public from the evils of
profiteering. Particular functions of
this organization would be to urge
corporations to comply with the re-
quests embodied in your resolution; to
furnish Congress-, the Federal Trade
Commission and various departments
of the Government, with information
in regard to profiteering Ito be con-
sidered confidential at the option of
the person furnishing it,; and to
cooperate in the broadcast spirit with
the purposes Of the resolution.
Concentrated Wealth Versus Demo-
cracy..
The other day I saw a letter from
an American lad in the trenches. His
friend had written him inquiring what
the soldiers at the front were think.
ing about. He replied, and I quote
only from memory, 1--WE are wondering
"AOCAOA yOu. ROOpAC OoSA AOuO d1O
doing your part; we are wondering
what you are doing for democracy
back home, while we are fighting for
it over here" This thought, I learn
from many sources, is running through
the armies everywhere. The soldiers
of America, of France, of England and
of Italy who are facing death on the
firing line, that the world may become
a better place to live in, want to know
how we stay-at-homes are helping
They believe that, IL this war for free
dom is truly to result in freedom, it
must be fought by the civilian at home
as we'll as by the soldier at the front.
They feel that, by the time
they get back, they will have earned:
a right to a new world in which there
will be new richness of opportunity
and new birth of justice for all men.
The struggle for freedom, as Ed
mund Burke reminds us, is waged as
often on the battle field. of taxation
as on that of war. For by taxation,
more than any other function of socie-
ty, is determined whittier the wealth,
that is, the power In a modern nation,
shall be equitably divided among the
people, or concentrated in the hands
of master class. The story Of
nations liberties is. generally written
in its tax laws; give me the power to
tax, and can enslave or free any class
of the population, from the millionaire
to the humblest worker in the mine.
The importance of the duties Of your
committee at this time cannot be ex-
aggerated. Out of the great revenue
bills, that now come before you, will
emerge, in no unreal sense, the meas
iure OF the democracy that America,
ct the dawn OF pence, will offer to
those who have fought and toiled