The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1922-12-15

Inc snip subsidy bill which has
been abused and defended, is not
very generally understood at that.
In the first place it should not be a
partisan measure for it is bill
designed for the greater good of the
country. Briefly, the bill, should
it become a law, provides for the
sale to private owners of the govern
ment's merchant feet and the
establishment of a revolving fund
to be loaned to American citizens
for the construction of ships. An
ether fund is to be established, the
money for which is to come from
tonnage dues and from ten per
cent of the receipts for costoms
dues, to be used for compensation
to ship owners on a graduated scale,
depending upon speed, size and
type of vessel used. Compensa-
ton is to be allowed for ten year
periods and those who receive it are
required to employ from one half
to two thirds American seamen.
All profits in operating these ships
over ten per cent are to be returned
to the United States Treasury.
Employing American seamen
means that higher wages will have
to be paid than foreign competitors
pay, SO there is one reason for the
compensation. The bill provides
for market for our ships, which
are now deterioting and lying idle,
and gives the government revenue.
1t means that we will build up a
sea-faring business of our own in
stead of paying our competitors
profits for carrying our produce and
it means, should another war ensue,
that we would not find ourselves
without water transportation as
we did in the late war when we
spent and wasted millions to do
precisely what a merchant marine
could have done for us without de-
lay. We don't know what the
fate of the bill will be but we do
know that our neighbor, Sen.
Gallinger of New Hampshire fore
saw the very contingency which
befell us during the war years ago
ard thaf ne urged and argued for
ship subsidy as a war measure only
incidentally, but as peace and
prosperity measure.
1t is quite the fashion to shrug the
shoulders when big business is
talked about as tho nothing good
could be expected of it. Observa-
ton does not bear out this attitude.
David H. Blair, commissioner of
internal revenue, ought to be in a
position to know how matters
stand and he says that the over
whelming majority of American
business MEM and women are
honest and many of them lean
over backwards in their efforts to
deal honestly with the government.
That is why there are a very large
unmber of refunds made every
year. He tells of an official in a
big corporation who walked into
his office with million dollar check
to correct an error discovered in
their own offices, before the govern
ment had discovered it. He says
that the greatest number of tax
dodgers are among those who
make no returns at all or who re-
port that they have less than $4,000
q year. This would be too good
a world to live in, if every body
were honest but it is well for us
to realize that what of this vice
there is, is pretty evenly divided
among the small and the big.
reat Pritain has decided that
until the other nations begin to
carry out their part of the disarma-
ment program, that she will stop
scrapping for fear a scrap will
start and she won't be ready to do
her rart of the scrapping. The
new Irish nation by her side may
media little attention.
Almost eight thousand men at
tended Bible class in Kansas
City few weeks ago. Some one
rises to ask if there were no golf
links. But Kansas City is a big
place and they could furnish a full
quota for both places.
T Stomboli started the month
right by erupting and then stopped
the performance about as soon as
it began. Perhaps it discovered
that volcanoes are no longer III
fashion.