The Washington herald., 1920-10-23
by JAMES NJ. COX.

The attitude OF our own govern
ment toward business should be
just and economically sound. Dur
ing the last five years there has
been an enormous stimulation in
our Industrial life. American manu-
facturers- have entered new fields.
They are producing many commodi-
ties unknown to our laboratories
and mills and factories before the
war. The explosives and dyestuffs
section of our great chemical in
dustry may be mentioned as a fair
example. American dye manufac-
turers are now exporting more dyes
than We imported in 1914.
What is true of new American
dyes is true of many other Ameri-
made products. More and more
our manufacturers are sending their
goods into the export markets. We
must safeguard their interests, not
by coddling them, but by guarantee
ing to them fair play and a fair
night at home as well as abroad.
Tax Readjustment.
We cannot hope for a fair busi-
ness field at home unless we have
tax readJustment. In the emer-
gency of war it was eminently Just
that those whose profits were
swollen by the ghastIy business
should pay more toward financing it
than those who derived no gain
from IL,
But that emergency is past. The
tax Justified then is not needed now.
II should have been terminated as
soon as was reasonably possible after
the armistice was signed.
In effect this tax has been cumu-
latlVe. 1t has been paid by the con-
sumner, and he has paid much more
than the government received.
Every business establishment. in
setting its selling price, has calcu-
lated a fair profit and has added to
that liberal margin out of which
to meet the excess profits impost.
Successfully, this has been done by
the manufacturer, the jobber, the
| distributor, the retailer; and the
| consequence has been that the final
, purchaser has paid the tax in an
! II.
Burden Borne with Fortitude.
The people bore their excessive
/ burden with fortitude and good
| cheer so long as their country was
at war and their soldiers under arms
AS soon as the arms were grounded
the burden should have been lifted
and l cannot refrain even here from
| condemning the Republican party
which controlled Congress at the
time, for it's spineless political ex-
! pedient of refusing to effect the re-
quired tax readjustment
"As a substitute for the excess
, profits tax l strongly favor a small
tax on business turnovers. 1t will
require approximately four billions
! of dollars annually to meet our sink
/ ing fund installments. interest
charges and departmental expenses;
and l estimate that about half this
sum could be derived from a tax OF
not more than one and one-half per
cent on the total volume of bushes
done by large going concerns.
Exceptions Held Proper.
From such a levy the wages paid
to laborers, incomes of salaried and
! professional men, and receipts from
agricultural and small businesses
ought properly to be exempted
. Units of larger capital can bear il
without inconvenience.
This tax, too, must be borne by
the consumer, as must all taxes
levied upon commodities. but it has
the direct advantage, in my opinion
of being paid at once.
The incomes from war-bred for
tunes, those of the Drofiteer aDd tb a
non-produCer, and those derived
from industries which flourish by
reason of special unfair privileges
should stand at high mark; but
taxes on the smaller earnings of
CONTINUED ON PAGE FOUR,