The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-07-03

CHdeT DemoCEaIlC ieaQ0TSnFp LHe
 American people successfully financ- | ed their stupendous part in the | greatest war. of all time. The treas- | ury wisely insisted during the war l upon meeting an adequate portion of | the war expenditure from current | taxes and the bulk of the balance l from popular loans, and during the | first full fiscal year after fighting | stopped, upon meeting current ex- | penditures from current receipts not wIthstanding the new and unneces-
 sary burdens thrown upon the treas | ury by the delay, obstruction and | extravagance of a Republican con | gress.
 The non-partisan federal reserve | authorities have been wholly free of political interference or motive; and l in their own time and their own way | have used courageously, though eau | tiously the instruments at their dis
 posal to prevent undue expansion of
 credit in the country. As result ] of these sound treasury and federal 1 reserve policies, the inevitable war | imitation has been held down to 2 | minimum and the cost of living has /. been prevented from increasing here l in proportion to the increase in oth- , CT belligerent countries and in neu- 1 tral countries which are in close l i and exchanges.
 | After a year and half of fighting | in Europe and despite another year
 and a half of Republican obstruction .at home, the credit of the govern
 ment of the U. S. stands unimpair- | ed, the federal reserve note is the unit of value throughout all the world
 and the United States is the one great country in the world which I maintains free gold market.
 | We condemn the attempt of the Republican party to deprive the i American people of their legitimate pride in the financing of the war-an achievement without parallel in the
 financial history of this or any other l country in this any other war. And in particular we condemn the Ipernicious attempt of the Republican party to create discontent among the holders of the bonds of the govern
 ment of the United States and to drag ' our public finance and our banking
 and currency system back into the arena of party politics.
 Tax Revision. | We condemn the failure of the tpreSent Congress to respond to the loft-repeated demand of the Presid lent
 and the secretaries of the treasury to revise the existing tax laws. The con t1nuance in force in peace times of
 taxes devised under pressure of inn
 perative necessity to produce a reve-
 nue for war purposes is indefensible
 and can only result in lasting injury to the people The Republican Con-
 gress consistently failed, through
 sheer political cowardice to make a
 single move toward a readjustment of tax laws which it denounced before
 the last election and was afraid to
 revise before the next election.
 We advocate tax reform and a
 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 wastefuI or non-product-
 i've expenditure.
 We demand prompt action by tn
 next congress for a complete survey
 of existing taxes and their modified
 tions and simplif1cation with a view
 to secure greater equity and justice in tax burden and improvement in ad.
 ministra tion.
 ; Public Economy.
 Claiming to have effected great
 economies in government expendf- lures, the Republican party cannot
 show the reduction of one dollar ir taxation as a corollary of this false pretense. In contrast the last Demo. cratic congress enacted legislation re- ducing taxes from eight billions. de.
 signed to be raised, to six billions fol
 the first year after armistice and tC four billions thereafter; and there the total is left und1minished by oul 5 political adversaries. Two years afteI armfstice day a Republican congres. provides for expending the stupen lous sum of s5,403,39O, ,327so Efecttng great paper economies b1 reducing departmental estimates O. sums which would not have beer . spent in any event. and by red1Icins = formal appropriations, the Republican statement of the expenditures omit. the pregnant fact that Congress au I thorized the use of one and a half bill 3 hon dollars in the hands of variou. 7 depa rtments and bureaus which oth si erwise would have been covered into r the treasury and which should b, added to the Repu blican total of ex 3 penditures.
 = High Cost of Living. The high cost of living and the de precfatlon of bond values in this coun try are prima rity due to war itself t, u the necessary governmental expendi . lures for the destructive purposes o war, to private extravagance to tn, word shortage of ca pital, to the infa T ton of foreign currency and credits and in large degree to conScienceles
 profiteering
 The Republican party is responsibi I for the failure to restore peace an, y peace conditions in Europe which i $ a principal cause of post -armistice in d fation the world over. It has denie, l. the demand of the preside dent for nee essary legislation to deal with sec
 tondary and local ca uses. The soun, n policies pursued by the treasury an s the federal reserve system have linn g ited in this country though they coul e not prevent the imitation. which wa s, world wide. Elected upon specifi d promises to curtail public expenditure
 land to bring the country back to
 status of effective economy, the Re l. publican party in Congress vast e l. time and energy for more than a yea a in vain and extravagant inv esti gation $ costing the taxpayers great sums c ,- money, while revealing nothing sbe e yond the inca pacity of Repub1ica
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