The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-02-19
Confusion in Congress
Continues Since Presi-
dents Letter.
SALES TAX FOES
IN HOUSE BEATEN
Ways and Means Commit.
tee to Begin Hearings
On Plan Tomorrow.

Final passage by Congress of a
soldier bonus will not come for
two or three months at the earliest
It appeared certain last night.
3 The situation stnl remains so
confused that it is impossible to
make an accurate prediction
whether the measure will be passed
at this session. The only fact that
stands ont in the maze of discus
sion is that there is no hope of
passing the bill within the next
few weeks.
Life or death OF the measure at
this session of Congress, may de-
pend upon whether the Senate will
: accept President Harding's sugges-
tion of finaDciEg il by a sales tax.
Opponents of the sales tax in the
House. il was learned have made
fairly thorough poll of the SEN
ument at their end of the Capitol
and have found out they are
beaten The poll, made on the
quiet, is reported to have shown
that more than half of the mem
bers asains this form of tax will
swallow their feelings and support
II when it comes down to the fat
proposition of doing that or voting
to kill the bonus.
See Sales Tax Defeat.
Senator James Watson and some
of the other Republicans In the
Senate. however, insist that the
sales tax has no chance of getting
through the Senate. They say that
the sales tax will be voted down
on pressure from the farm bloc,
and substitution made in the form
Of bond issue or the re-enactment
of tbe-exeess profits tax .r=a-r--z-
IL this haUpsns. it probably would
trlean the death of the bonus legis-
iatiOn for this year. Representa-
tive Longworth. of Ohio. one of the
ranking Republican, on the House
Ways and Means Committee. made
the fiat statement before the Senate
and House bonus oonferees at a
recent meeting that President
Harding would veto the bonus bill
IL il came to him with other than
the sales tax method for raising
the money.
Longworth had been to the White
House a short time before and
presumably he carried a straight
message. The President in his let
ter to the Conferees merely said
that the sales tax appeared to him
to be the "onIy way to pay the
honus-
senator Borah With Bloc.
Senator Borah. Republican. Idaho.
gave notice that he would join the
senate farm bloc movement against
the sales tax. Borah regards the
tax as "an attempt to saddle the
bonus burden on those who can
Ieass afford it." He shares the view
CT a large group of Senators who
are afraid the sales tax. will be an
opening wedge to general system
of sales taxation. which, it 10 con-
tended, would bring higher living
costs
Chairman Fordney announced
that the House Ways and Means
Committee will begin hearings on
the sales tax tomorrow, taking up
also various new suggestions of
other ways cf raising the bonus
money. The latest of these sug-
gestions was made by Representa-
tive Fitzgerald, Republican, Ohio.
representing several former soldier
members
Fitzgerald's proposal is that the
cash feature of the bonus be
dropped and Treasury certificates,
bearing interest at a rate of from
~ to per cent, be substituted in
stead. The maturity date would be
deferred, or none fixed at all, until
the financial condition Of the gov
ernment was in better shape. The
plan is not a new one, but Fitz-
gerald presented a more complete
way of working 1t out than had
heretofore been placed before the
committee
An attempt to keep alive the
proposition of paying the bonus out
Of army and navy savings was
made by Representative Frear,
| wisconsin. leader of the forces op-
posing the sales tax. Frear was.
preparing a letter to his colleagues
urging that the bonus bill be passed
like all other measures, to be
| financed through governmental eco
| Monies. As alternatives, he sug-
guests re-ehactment Of the excess
nrofits tax. re-enactment of the
same taxes contained in the soldier
bonus bill when 1t passed the House
last year, or. the issuance of tenn
IDorary certificates of indebtedness
10 the soldiers, these certificates TO
be cashed as payments come In
Ifrom the foreign war debt