New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1921-09-21
$500, ooo,o 900 FOR RAILROADS.
FUNDING $11, 200, 900, 900 2
OF WAR LOANS, !, a..


January 1, 1921, instead of January /,
1922, as passed by the House.
Passage of bill appropriating $780,
100000 to aid the railroads.
Passage of the Penrose Bill for re-
funding war loans to Allied nations.
Injustice Apparent.
The tax bill, as originally drawn,
provided that the repeal Of the excess
profits tax and the higher surtaxes be
made retroactive as of January /, 1921,
but the injustice of lifting these taxes
from the big corporations, war profit
GERS and multi-millionaires for the
current year, with no corresponding
benefit to anyone else, was so apparent,
that the House Republican caucus re-
fused to sanction it.
Big Business, however, had been
promised this reduction, and President
Harding's reported decision to insist
that the repeal of these taxes be made
retroactive, is at least an effort on his
part to keep his party's pledge. If the
Senate shall submit to executive domin-
alton and lift these excess profits
taxes, which heretofore have yielded
100000, from those most able to
bear them, there is nothing yet to
indicate that the House will agree to it.
And if it shall recede from it's former
attitude, where are the taxes to come
from to make good the loss from ex-
cess profits and higher surtaxes of
approximately S375,000,000?
Railroad Aid Bill.
The passage Of the bill granting ad-
ditional aid to the railroads, which al
ready owe the government an amount
stated by some Congressional spokes-
men as high as S371, 100000, viii be
stubbornly contested in the Senate as
it was in the House. There is reason
to believe that some Democrats may
support the bill on the ground that the
money so advanced to the roads may
be used to stimulate employment and
for betterment of the properties. On
the other hand, it is a foregone cor
clusion that the bill will have strong
opposition on the Republican side
from certain Western Senators as it
had among Western, Representatives
in the House, rs of whom voted against
it on final passage in that body.
Refunding War Loans.
That our war loans to foreign govern
ments ought to be funded, no one dis
putes. That the transactions ought to
be in the open and above board, and
that the refunding plan should have
the sanction of Congress before it is
put in operation or before the deals
are contaminated, should not be a
matter of dispute. But the funding
Of this enormo us debt of 1000, 000,-
900, as approved by President Hard
ing, in the bill sponsored by Senator
Penrose, confers upon the Secretary
of the Treasury blanket power to fund
this Indebtedness in ways he may deem
best, to accept such securities and to
substitute bonds and securities for
other bonds and securities without
other approval than his own; in other
words, Mr.. Mellon is to be the sole
person to the transa ctions on behalf
OF the United States and the sole judge
as to what shall be done and how.
Scraps Fair Taxation.
In commenting upon the bill to re-
peal the excess-profits taxes and higher
surtaxes, which the Republican adj
ministration would make effective for
1921, Representative Joseph D. Beck
Rep., Wis.,, among other things,
said:
Let us see how this bill taxes every
body alike. Take 100000 cor
poration as an example. If this cor
poration is willing to operate on a FIVE
per cent income on invested capital,
this. bill increases it's tax $12, 450. over
what it now pays under the present
law. If it makes six per cent on in
vested capital, its taxes are increased
$14,950. If it makes eight per cent
it's taxes are increased $19, $50. But.
if it does what this bill encourages it to-
do, it will squeeze out of the consumer
all the traffic will bear. It's taxes will
then be reduced. If it makes Is per
cent, it's taxes will be reduced from
$275,260 to $187,25O. If it wants to
squeeze still more, and make Is per
cent, it's taxes are reduced from $685.
260 to $312.250. But if it wants to
make so per cent on invested capital,
it's taxes are reduced from $1,785,2GO
to $624,750, or about one-third If
what it would be under existing law.
What sis 3true Of the $40, 100000 cor
poration is true Of the $5,0oo,0Oo. the