Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1920-08-31


no power to enforce them. II our at |
torney general would prosecute few
of our profiteers it would do more to |
Attorney eneral Palmer to all the |
housewives of America.
Taxes Average $3.50.
Another cause of the high cost of
living is the high cost of government |
Do you realize that the taxes paid to
the federal government average more
than two hundred and fifty dollars for
each family in the United States? If
that could be cut in two it would be
a great help. But you may say
didn't pay any two hundred and fifty
dollars in federal taxes this year.
Well, maybe you did and maybe you
didn't. Whatever you may have paid
to the internal revenue collector is
only part of your taxes. Why is it
that you are paying from fifty to six
ty dollars for suit of clothes today
that you could have bought before the
war for from eighteen to twenty-five?
Let us see: Start with the American
Wooden company that makes the cloth
that goes into your suit OF clothes.
They first determine the actual cost
at the factory. material, wages and
overhead. That is of course greater
than before the war
Then they add another item. They
estimate the taxes they will have to
pay the United States and how much
of them the yard of cloth should bear.
They add that item. Then they add
their profit. Then the price is fixed
to the broker made up of these three
items, cost, taxes and profit, and that
is the price the broker pays Then.
because the broken must pay taxes
too, he adds to his cost his taxes, nd
his profit and sells to the garment
maker who does the same thing From
the garment-maker the wholesaler
buys, and he adds his taxes and profit.
He sells to the retailer, and the re-
taller to you. So in the sixty dollars
you pay for the suit of clothes you are
helping to pay the taxes of the Amer
lean Wooden company. the broker. the
garment-maker and SO on down the
line. These men act only as tax col
lectors for the government and thew
charge a good big commission for COL
lecting. Now we must find way that
the taxes on to the consumer. for
there is only one just rule of taxation
and that is that everyone should con-
tribute to the building of government
according to his ability to pay. 1t can
be done and should be done
Another cause of present unrest is
the relationship between capital and
labor. Since the war more than ever
hnfnpa l. !.
Their and farther apart. and more and
more regard each other as enemies
The truth is there can be no real
prosperity for either until they real
lze that is necessary to the other and
each must be willing to give the other
square deal To be efficient labor
must have an adequate wage and fair
working conditions, and capital must
be allowed fair return with efficient
management.
ESch- Cummins Law
Il now wish to discuss other pro-
visions of this railroad law. No leg
islation within my memory has been
more misrepresented than this While
many people are disappearing it
ignorantly there are others who are
simply lying about it. Any man who
has read the law and still says that it
guarantees railroad profits of six per
cent upon eight billion dollars of wa
tered stock deliberately lies about il
What is the bill? There are but two
guarantees in the law and they both
expire on September l of this wear.
One of the guarantees is that the
wages of railroad employees shall not
be reduced before September first.
They have in fact been increased. The
other guaranty is the income of rail
roads shall not before September first
OF this year be reduced below what
they received while under govern
mental operations. but after Septem-
Der first, before the primary election.
there will be no guaranty of any kind
left in the law.
fhere Is provision that the inter
state commerce commission in fixing
rates shall allow such rates as in its
judgment will permit return if five
and half or. in the judgment of the
commission. six per cent upon the ag-
gregate actual value of the group OF
railroads in given territory but if a
road does not make the five and a half
or six per cent, the government does
not pay one penny of the difference.
The railroad stands the difference as
its loss under the law as it ALWAYS
has had TO do. But the law further
provides that if any road makes more
than six per cent upon the actual val
ne or its property it must pay to the
interstate commerce commission for
the government one half of all il
makes over six Per cent. Did anyone