Bisbee daily review., 1920-07-03
into the arena of party politics.
 Tax neNision

into the arena of party politics.
 Tax Revision
 We condemn the failure of the pres i ent congress to respond to the oft-re peated demand of the president and the secretaries of the treasury to re- wise the existing tax laws. The con tinuing in force in times of peace of taxes devised under pressure of i'm perative necessity to produce a rev enue for war purposes is indefensible i and can only result in lasting injury to the people. The Republican con l gress consistently failed, through sheer political cowardice, to make ! single move toward readjustment of tax laws which it denounced before l the last election and was afraid to re wise before the next election. 1 We advocate tax reform and searching revision of the war revenue acts to fit peace conditions so that the wealth of the nation may not be with drawn from productive enterprise and | diverted to wasteful non-productive | expenditure.
 
 next congress for a complete survey Of existing taxes and their modifica- | ton and simplification with view 10 secure greater equity and justice tax burdens and improvement in admin 1 istration.
 Public Economy Claiming to have effected great | .ltt ures, the Republican party cannot show the reduction of one dollar in l taxation as a corollary of this false | pretense. In contrast, the last Demo- ! cratic congress made legislation re- l ducing taxes from eight billions, de signed to be raised, to six billions for ! the first year after the armistice and to four billions thereafter; and there the total is left undiminished by our | political adversaries.
 Two years after armistice day a | Republican congress proving for eX- pending the stupendous sum of S5- 4O3, ,690, ,32730 Affecting great paper | economies by reducing departmental estimates of sums which would not 1 have been spent in any event, and by reducing formal appropriations, the | Republican statement of expenditures | omits the pregnant fact that congress | authorized the use of one and half billion dollars in the hands of various ] departments and bureaus, which other wise would have been covered into the | treasury. and which should be added I to the Republican total of eXpendit- ures.
 High Cost of Living l The nigh cost of living and the de- preciation of bond values in this coun- l try are primarily due to the war itself, | to the necessary governmental eX- penditures for the destructive pur- poses of war. to private extravaganza, to the world shortage of capital, to the imitation Of foreign cuIrencies and credits and in large degree. to con ] scienceless profiteering.
 The Republican party is responsi- ble for the failure to restore peace and peace conditions in Europe, which is principal cause of post-armistice imitation the world over It has de nied the demand of the president for necessary legislation to deal with sec ondary and local causes. The sound policies pursued by the treasury and the federal reserve system have limit ed in this country, though they could not prevent the imitation which was world wide.
 Elected upon specific promises to curtail public expenditures and to bring the country back to status of effective economy. the Republican par ty in congress wasted time and energy for more than a year in vain eXtrava- gance of investigations, costing the tax payers sums of money, while re- vealing nothing beyond the incapacity of Republican politicians to cope with the problems. Demanding that the president from his place at the peace table, call the congress into extraor- dinary session for imperative purpos- es of readjustment, the congress when convened spent 13 months in parti- san pursuits, failing to repeal sin gle war statute which harrassed busi- ness or to initiate single construc- tive measure to help business. It bus jed itself making a prediction rec ord of pretending thrift, having not one particle of substantial existence in fact It ragged against profiteers and the high cost of living without enacting single statute to make the former afraid or doing a single act
 The simple truth is that the high cost of living can only be remedied by increased production, strict gov ernmental economy and relentless pursuit of those who take advantage of post war conditions and make pro- fiteers their butt of action.