Omaha daily bee., 1921-12-03
Tax Receipts
Decline as Bond
: Sales Increase
Investors Jump At Chance TO
Buy Nonlaxable City and
County Sccurities-Corn
Used in Barter.
By HOLLAND.

Recent offerings OF bonds have
been so speedily absorbed As to
demonstrate the magnitude Of the
investment disposition which char.
acicrizes savings banks. Insurance
companies and private citizens.
These are gratifying days for the
bond sellers who 60 about 10 offer
bonds for sale. They discover that
they are welcomed, whereas. not
long ago they were abruptly dis
missed. They are now cordially
asked to show the list OF bonds
\ which they are offering for sale and
they are earning large commissions.
Nowhere In tho world At this time IL
there an investing disposition similar TO
that which now characierixes the invest
ing public IN the United Stater. We set,
however. the reverse side of the picture
n the official reports which come from
Washington. These show that In the
year which ended on June 20. the gov
ernment collected nearly 5000. 900 IN
taxes less than were collected In the
previous year. By the first ~ Noyembsr %
Invested by tho American public IN state,
county and municipal bonds. " may bs
that by the first Of January investments
NJ this kind win nearly reach tf,5oo.oo
90.
Enormous Demand for Bonds.
Therefore. while tho American public
was buying municipal. state and county
bonds in the sgsrexrate Of over 5000
600, 900 the government at washington
wss receiving In the form OF taxes little
under $1,000. 900, 900 lrss than was re-
ceived by tho tex collectors In the pre-
esd'ng year, MUNICIPALITIES and counties
ard also few states marketed securities
which are noptaxabie by the government
considerably In eseess cf si.ooo.ooo.eoo
VIII: TIE government oos tss soo receipts cSs fell
course the tempting terms which
ar inomlnated In these municipal and
rcunty bonds In part explains the enor-
not to suspect that the purchases Of these
securities aud the falling off In federal
tax collectjons are inter-rclatcd. The taH
laws have inevitably driven inyestmen1
I, addition To that the nation wide de-
,.fration and consequent falling off In busi-
ness IN part explains the decrease IN tax
collected funds
Taking Cora In Barter.
II IL sroken Of here ~ an interesting
II tho northwest the merchants have
agreed to take corn at q price ioc a
bushel In excess Of the market price for
enrn ., and to givs in return commodities
That. Of course IL return TO old-fssh-
Toned barter. A method OF this kind ~
not likely to be extenaiveiy adopted but
ths[e does seem TO be some anxiety lest
th- farmers OF the United etstes discover
that they are out Of pocket although
they raised the second largest corn crop
on record. In sll probability however.
much the greater part Of this corn Will
be converted into meat
The United States produces about ~
per cent OF the corn crop OF the entire
world. The United States Is also a large
producer Of coru-fed meat. especially OF
pork. The estimate is made that even
at the reduced price OF corn the export
products, chief among which is bacon.
In this year. That is s2Co 900 In
excess OF tho money value OF the corn
which Is exported In the form of meal
or In Its natural state. Within 10 years
there went out from tho ports Of the
United States to other countries pork
products OF the aggregate value of $1,000
10000. In other words we exported IN
10 years pork into which corn was con-
verted approximately equivalent 10 the |
number OF bushels Of corn which were I
harvested this year.
The magnitude Of our corn crop ex- !
plains why this United states 10 tho |
largest producer OF swine OF any country
IN the world. For II is convenient and |
inexpensive comparatively TO convert corn |
into pork products. Therefore. by reason
Of the low market price OF corn much
the great part of the 3,152 1000 |
bushels OF corn which were harvested
products and this will be done to tho |
advantage Of ths farmers and to the
benefit of other parts Of the world which |
rely upon the United States to SO great |
an extent for bacon and other pork !
products.