The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1920-05-07
CRISIS IS
THE nation S
GRAvEST
Look at the Profiteering Tax
You are Paying As Result
Of War Profits.
BIZ MILDRED MoRRIS.
international News Service stan
Correspondent

correspondent)
WASHINGTON, May 7.-"Every fam
lily Of the United states is paying a
Frohteerins tax OF s240 year as a re-
suit of the excess profits made by the
/ combined corporations Of the country
during the war" NJ lett Iauck. con-
sultiug economist aud former secretary
Of the war labor board. declared today
before the federal railroad board La
bor as class. lac declared. is worse OF
now than during tho war
Price Increase Menace.
Instead Of labor costs being the ini-
lial Influence ia forcing increases in the
cost of living. he said. wage increases
have Jagged behind price increases.
Capital, on the other hand ne said
has received very much larger pro-
portion of the income OF the country
and is prohteering on such a scale as
10 menace the nations future
Situation Extremely Serious.
Viewed as purely economic proposi-
tion in the light or economic history no
sane man can fail to realize that tic
present situation in the United States
marks the grsvest crisis the nation has
confronted since the Union was threat
ensd in 1850 aud in the light of the
easily ohtamable evidence no uuprcju-
diced citizen can fail to place the bur-
den Of the responsibility upon the
groups of capitalists and 1narciers who
have seized upon the sufferings and sac-
rfces Of a nation at war as the means
OF aggrand Elements such as the world
before has never known
Appears for workers.
Appearing on behalf OF tbs railroad
workers in the Big -Four brotbc &looss
and tho unions AFFILIATED swfth the lTmor-
lean Federation of Labor he presented
a survey Of prices. wages and proats
containing startling charges of pron-
teerins. This survey. he said was the
result OF eight months research by OK
ports and based on federal income tax
returns and legations of govern
ment agencies like the federal tariff
commission. the federal trade commits
sion. and the bureau Of domestic and
foreign commerce.
Iauck declared that the combined cor
poranons Of the country earned i'm net
profits approximately $500. 0OG. 600
more per year in the three years Of the
war than in the three years previous
10 it; that corporate profits. not incIud-
ing royalties. rents. excessive salaries
five in the United states $500 a year:
that in the steel and coal industries
alone the net prohts amounted to two
billion dollars in excess OF the pre-car
average, constituting virtually levy Of
$40 year on every man. woman and
child i'm tho United states He said
that 1850 corporations earned i'm net
profits more than 100 percent on their
capital stock i'm the three year period;
that 5.724 showed net profits OF more
than nfty percent. and twenty percent
earned from twenty 10 nifty percent.
I'm the shoe industry. ne declared. the
profit items amounted in 1917 TO APP
rroximately three-ffths Of the total
price Of over five times the total labor
cost
THE question or who is responsible
for the increased cost OF a pair Of shoes.
can be answered quickly" he said.
when il is realized that - the $3.50 in
crease in the price OF pair Of stand
ard shoes labor receives Is cents more.
while the margins Of the manufacturers
and merchants absorb s2.75. The
shocking truth about the shoe industry
$ that profits increased so quickly and
SO eNtortonately until in 1919 the shoe
bought by the consumch was actually
worth little more than two-hfths or
he price he was forced to pay"
OF the 500 percena increase in the
cost Of sugar he said the increased
cost Of labor represented only - per-
cent of it,. This extraordinary increase
he declared due to ''unbrideied exploit
tation by the twelve leading sugar pro-
ducers of the country who increase
their net profits in the three war years
from an average Of S1lLoOo.0o 600 to S3t.-
100000
Increases in the retail prices OF soft
coal he said were four times rs great
as the increase in labor costs. the pro-
coeds received by the coal operators
having increased from IS To- 400 per
cent