The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-08-01
Witness Declares it RespOn-
sible for High Cost
of Living
WAR PROFITEERS
SHOULD DIVULGE
Head of Farmers National Council
Advocates Heavier Taxation Of Land
Values and War Profits-Favors More
Government Control.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1.-The Amer
lean people cannot expect any relief
from the high cost of living, which is
the most demoraIzing and disturbing
factor the community has to contend
with, until the basic causes of the adj
vancing cost of essentials is removed,
the senate committee on the District of
Columbia was told yesterday
The witness before the committee,
Benjamin C. Marsh of the Farmers
National council, declared that the two
root causes of the high cost of living
are the existing monopoly of land and
natural resources and the failure of
congress TO tax tie war profteers,
fact, he said which has resulted in ter.
rible imitation through the increase of
bonded indebtedness.
Mr.. Marsh reconlmended immediate
legislation for the adequate taxation of
land values, to stimulate the release of
land for home building and to prevent
speculation, as well as to provide ma
tional revenue. Legislation, he said,
should be enacted to freak up the exist
ing monopoly of natural resources. He
charged that neither Of the great par
ties had the courage to tackle these
purely political considerations
eve estimate, sad the witness.
that the working people including
of course, the farmers Of America. are
mulcted of close to $4,000 000,0 a
year at present through our failure TO
tax land values adequately; through
private ownership of natural resources.
the railroads and the merchant marine.
through our system of financing the
war; through our credit system; and
| through our system of competitive ad-
| vertising.
~ ANY effort to deal with the high
cost Of living which fails To correct
these evils in our economic ana distrib-
uting system are doomed to failure. We
| have tried many makeshifts, tut the
number of our milfonaires is constant
| ~ increasing, and at only less rapid
rate than the increased cost of living.
The congress of the United States
certainly has immediate control syer
all of the causes of the high cost of
| living except the cost of competitw
advertising, and to a considerable e
tent control of this because the devel
opment of cooperative business organi
cation of producers and consumers viii
render such an enormous outlay fo
advertising unnecessary. In order t
reduce the high cost of living, we mus
tax land values much more heavily W
must also cover into the federal treas
ury much more of the twenty odd bill
lions of dollars of net profit secured b
profiteers during the war, and we mus
have government ownership and deveI
opment of natural resources and SCI
the products at cost. We must ais
have government ownership of the raj
roads and the merchant marine an
democratic operation at cost. Congress
must promptly enact the Kenyon Al
| derson bill to curb the packer octopu
| and to end the monopoly of the pac
ers in foodstuffs. We must extend til
| system of government credits and max
| cooperative buying and selling easie
| The carrying out of the above sugge
tions will greatly facilitate such eooI
! erative business.
/ cit may be temporarily necessar
\ for the government to make loans *
I congested city few years ago seve
4 IdliIliItS anu tol t'oId oNhtu HSdil
one seventh of the acreage of non-puI
! lie lands in the district of Columbi
u 1t has proven more profitable tina
/ many gold mines. In New York eli
IL families own one-twentieth
the value of the land, while in ever
great city of the country, one or ty
per cent of the population own a maj
portion of the value of the land II
I Industrial relations committee report,
/ a few years ago more than four fit