The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-22
6. Q. p. LEADERS
 HAVE HELD SODA
 WATER CONGRESS-
Fill For Tax Repeal Would Cost United States q
 Millions.

Washington, Aug. 22-The Sixty sixth may become famous as the Soda Water Congress"
 The present Congress, with Repub- licans in the majority in both branches, has been in session three months and about all that it has done is the passage by the House of bill to repeal the tax on soda water, which would cost the federal treasury something like $21,000,00O per annum. Even the soda water bill, however, has failed thus far to get out of the workless Senate Com mittee on Finance, of which Senator Penrose of Pennsylvania is chairman.
 For weeks prior to the issuance of the call for a special session of Con-
 gress, Republicans were severe in their criticism of the President for delaying the call. One of the reasons they gave for demanding an early converting of Congress was the ne- cessity for the enactment of legisla- ton to meet the reconstructin prop lems that followed the close of the
 war, and particularly a need for the readjustment of the tax and tariff | schedules
 In his call for the special sessIon,
 issued in May, the President recog-
 nized the need for constructive legis- | lation, and in his message to Con- gress referred especially to matters | of taxation, urging the need of prompt and helpful legislation, that | credit and enterprise might be quick ened to help business get back to nor mal
 'I hope that the Congress will find it possible to undertake an early re- ,a4,To o-iyT yTa7~u fOy, of faI
 the Presidents message. lin order to
 make our system of taxation more | simple and easy of administration and the taxes as little burdensome as | they can be made and yet suffice to support the government and meet all
 its obligations. The main thing
 we shall care for is that our taxa l ton shall rest as lightly as possible | on the productive sources of the country, that its rates shall be stable, and that it shall be constant in it's
 revenue yielding power.'
 l The Ways and Means Committee of
 the House is the committee whence | legislation relating to taxation ema- l mates. It is the most important | committee in either branch of Con-
 gress; ordinarily, it is the ablest in
 the House. Its present chairman is Representative Fordney of Michigan,
 a Republican, of course.
 | This committee has neen in session
 most of the time since Congress con- vened, but it has accom- mpllrhed prac- 1 tically nothing. To date, it has re- ported out and the House has passed the bill repeating the war taz ons
 soda water, which certainly has not
 contributed to a reduction of the
 cost of necessities of life. In addi- | ported out some half dozen pet bills i of individual Republican members of 1 the committee, in every istance de-
 signed to rear a tariff wall around a | pet industry of the authors particu- | lar district, with no apparent regard
 for the national welfare.
 | It is in this manner that this most 1 important committee of the House is
 meeting the situation that confronts
 the country. It has utterly failed to
 rise to the ,emergency--with any de-
 gree of statesmanship, even with a 1 very marked degree of patriotism, 1 for private and personal matters l leading to selfish ends are given at | tention and questions that affect the
 whole country are ignored. l The committee has no policy, the | Democr charge, and they point to i the pages of the Congressional Record 1 fer substantiation of the truth of the | charge; it has no program and is ut
 terly without grasp of the situation
 in the light of the past-war needs of
 the country.
 Instead of gaining a true grasp of | the situation. as the emergency re-
 qu;res, and then proceeding to deal
 with the inequities, the inequalities
 and the harsh features of the present | tax schedules, existing because of the
 abrupt termination of the war, the | Republican members of the commit ! tee have busted themselves getting 1 through individual bills to boost the | tariff on industries in their respective | districts, all of which serve to in-
 crease the cost of the articles to the | consumer and thus add to the cost 1 of living. The Ways and Means Com | mittee has only found time during
 its three months of work to turn it's | attention to the general war tax sys- l tenn once, and that resulted in the | soda water tax repeal by the House. A comprehensive and intelligent | revision of the tax schedules would
 wipe out injustices and relieve busi- ness of its chief source of irritation, | at the same time preserving the neces- | sary revenues. By such a course, ad- | equate revenue could be raised with
 out any general raise in tax rates.
 Instead of doing this, the one con- l trolling policy has been to keep tho | committee in session that individual majority members might get through bills hoisting the tariff on products 1 of industries in their particular dis
 tricts, and there is no visible sign o'
 relief from such a policy.
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