The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-08-31
THE TAX ON ATHLETIC GOODS

The following editorial which APP
peared in the New Orleans Picayune
rs right to the point:
In the tax madness that attacked a
recent congress, many absurd pro-
visions were included in the tax-list.
but perhaps nothing more absurd, and
in a way more injurious has been i'm
posed than the 10 per cent. tax on
athletic goods-on bats and balls and
similar articles-and there is no tax
that has brought forth a more vigo-
rous and universally supported protest
from all quarters.
Scarcely a paper In the country
but has pointed out this mistake ana
the harm 1t is likely to do: and the
protest has been made louder with
the closer study of the subject and the
discovery that the bulk of this tax
more than three-fourths of it-has
fallen upon the youth. of the country.
This has aroused the press of the
United States to demand its repeal as
soon as Congress can get at the mat
ter.
Some crusty congressman who suf-
fered in spirit when he saw school
boys engaged in a game OF ball and
found that they enjoyed it, looked at
all athletic sports as amusement, for
pleasure only. and concluded that
they should be so taxed to the limit
as luxury. There could be no more
false or perverse view. We realize, as
the Greeks did of old, that athletics,
the cultivation of the body, is as inn
portant to the healthy growth of
youth as cultivation of the mind.
The athletic games and exercises of
the youths of Great Britain have been
given credit for the great physical de-
velopment of the people and for the
success of the country. 1t was on the
cricket. fields of Eton that England
great English statesman. France rec
ognized this fact after Sedan, when
the government undertook to encour-
age the youth OF that country in ath-
letic games and exercises. Japan
reached the same conclusion some few
years ago, and encouraged athretic
sports with good results. bringing
race.
The draft brought out the fact that
there was an unduly large proportion
of our young men unfit for military
service. And the government has
since sought some way to improve
their physique--it saw in athletics the
best Improvement. The. Smith educa-
tional bill, now before congress. and
which provides an appropriation of
youth, makes liberal provision for
their physical development by the en-
Icouragement of athletics.
But while the country is providing
in this and many other ways for ath-
letics, congress struck a blow at it
BY levying a tax on all athletic goods,
striking directly and Immediately at
those intended to encourage the boys
to develop themselves physically. IT
is probable that congress aimed at
professional athletics, but it hit the
American boy The tax raised the
cost of all balls. bats, and other par
aphernalia used in athletics. discour-
aged sports and games, and otherwise
had bad effects. 1t was not a revenue
measure and produced little money
for the government.
Under the circumstances and the
unfavorable effect 1t has on athletics,
on games and sports-something to be
encouraged rather than discouraged
and on the physical development of
our youth, 1t would seem wise for
congress to accept the advice Of the
press and repeal or amend the present
tax provision so that it will not pre-
vent or discourage the boys-and girls
too-from exercise and from those
games that will tend to physically inn
prove and develop them.
Write Senator Penrose today urging
him in the name of the American boy
to repeal this tax in its entirety.