The Washington times., 1919-03-10
Commissioner Roper and the
Income Tax
He Works for You. You Should Work and Cooperate
With Him. One Argument for the Big
Man, One for the Little

Man. One for the Little.
Robert J. Cuddihy of the Literary Digest gave lunch
con for Daniel Roper Commissioner of Internal Revenue
and invited editors of newspapers and magazines to hear
Mr.. Roper concerning the income tax.
Mr. Roper's task not easy or pleasant but the most
important in the country at this moment to collect for
the Government SIX BILLIONS OF DOLLARS from those
able pay, in order that the Government may pay It's
bills and sette for the victory and armsce which were
so ardently celebrated last November.
When he introduced Mr. Roper, Mr. Cuddihy made this
excellent point among Others in favor of cheerful prompt
income tax payment:
Suppose that before the armistice in November,
MIR. Roper had come to any citizen and had made
this proposition, Give half your income for
1918 and will guarantee peace within thirty
DAYS What would the citizen have replied?
every man at this table, every good citizen
In the country, every one of those that so wildly
celebrated the armistice would have replied at
once DO what you say, give peace to the world In
thirty days. end the slaughter, bring back safely
our men from Europe, and you can have half my
income for 1918 and for 1919 too.
Mr. Roper the great collector for Uncle SAM old
fashioned type of citizen His photograph would make
good illustration for history Of the Urited States in the
early days is thin, earnest ceancut strong face
With bushy dark eyebrows piercing eyes, that seem to
look atO the national pOcketbook convincing tone to
MAKE the profteer say, "I might well pay now, and
avoid trouble"
The commissioner covered the whole wide field of in
come tax.
he began with the comforting statement that the
was to have been eight billions and is reduced to six bill
lions because the war has ended.
BE defined three important points of the tax law as
follows:
First-A proper law
Second-An intelligent cooperative attitude by the
officials that administer the law
Third-An intelligent cooperative attitude the part
Of the public to the Government.
At the end of Mr. Ropers talk two points were upper
most in the minds of those that had heard him
First, MIR. Roper's argument addressed to the little
who pays small income. The victory that honors
this country and gives peace to the world is worth ALL
that it And the good citizen is anxious to pay his
share of the bill, be it big little.
The American citizen is not, and does not to be-
a deadhead If he has the price he will pay
Government has arranged taxes to make the bill fit
the pocket to which it is sent.
It was the money that America spent in billions the
men that she equipped and sent in Millions the fierce
ergy and necessarily vast expense with which she went
into war; that made victory come so soon, AND THAT
SAVED THE LIVES OF so MANY MEN.
The man who out of a small income sends part his
Government is paying not merely Government expense
but paying for the energy the quick action that saved
the lives of thousands upon thousands of earnest American
young
That was the argument for the small taxpayer.
Second to the big man with millions who loves those
millions, sometimes the poor loves his children
Mr. Roper's argument this:
You dread and hate Bolshevism.. The best argument
against BOshevism is prompt cheerful honest payment
Of just taxes.
Bolshevism thrives, menaces the wealth of the big
man and the safety of the little where there justified
discomfort.
The antdote to discomfort is evidence of the fact that
laws are administered Justly and costs apporoned
Justly There is stronger argument against Bolshevism
than system of making the pay who is able to pay
and putting the lighter burden on the little
Bolshevsm has grown up in the country where the lit
lie carried the whole load and the big free