Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-04-01


into The Aond brokerage business ana
buys siOo bouds Ut approximately =
6 DOR cent discount from par oo'
the war debt should be spread oSe'
q longer period Of time. Moreover
the bonds that are being sold aro
coming largely from the class th''
can least afford to lose. from soldiers
who bought bonds out OF their scah''
pay. from people who must pu'io
homes and from those who scrimpee
themselves or put on improvements
in order to do their patriotic part IN
financing the war and to back up
the fighting men.
1t has been suggested by q shrewa
business head that q soldier bonus
might be partially ut least financed
by diyerting all profits on govern
ment bond by the government
TO that purpose. We oou'u
sell q short-time s per cent
bond at par on the present Market
use the money to buy in liberty
bonds and pass the profit to the SOL
diers' bonus account. In this way re-
suits would come gradually but they
would not tend to initiate prices any
more and make living more difficult
for the clerical class who are now
being squeezed fiat. II not done In
this way then the tax should be
consumption tax on luxuries which
would discourage the beneticiaries OF
war prosperity from buying to the
same extent that four mil4lion SOL
diers would buy If let loose in the
markets with the wherewithal 10
purchase freely. Some plan for the
soldiers bonus should be devised
which will not merely blow a couple
billions of gas into the balloon OF in
flated prices when the bonus is paid.
The soldiers should have their de-
serts for their services and an equal
ization between their pay and that
OF the stay at homes but the prof.
teer should not find further encour-
agement to further and fercer prof.
teering.
But for the United States govern
ment to go into the bond discount
business with both hands while tax
es on excess profits OF corporations
are being passed on to the consum-
ers of necessities, while surtaxes on
incomes are now so large that new
CAPITAL for the basic industries Is
lacking and so great as to play a
part in holding bonds below par, is
manifestly unjust and unfair and
lacks the element of fair dealing be-
tween the government and the bond
purchaser who bought as heavily as
he possibly could because it was a
patriotic duty. For those who were
practically forced to buy sympathy is
redundant but the injustice remains
the same.
The high taxation affects alike the
wage worker and the captain Of In
dustry. Those captains refuse to re-
invest. They begin their extrava-
gance and wasteful expenditure IN
their corporations in order to avoid
the tax on profits and keep 1t up in
their personal incomes because if
they should re-invest government
taxation would take most Of their
new income from the new investment.
Wages In industry are so much high
er than the cost of necessities that
the trade in silk shirts and $40 shoes
and all else not needed is immense.
Anybody with anything to sell can
profiteer and any man can hold his
JOB by delivering half efficiency. II
we could put the tax on luxuries we
could pay with it the full bonus to
the soldiers who earned all and
more than they are likely to get.
The government of the United
States should seek to relieve from
taxation instead Of maintaining and
imposing outrageous taxes In order
to buy liberty bonds at discount
from those whose necessities or in
vestments force them to sell. Then
bonds would go close to par. where
they belong eighteen months after
the war Is over.