Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-05-18
r D N THE BONUS

A silence seems to have fallen on
the republican chiefs at Washing
ton about the bonus bill since Chair.
mar McCumber took the senate bill
to President Harding to find out
whether he would sign it or not in
case congress passed the bill. The
bill as passed by the house is only
slightly changed in the senate. Pres
ident Harding wrote a letter to the
chairman of the house finance COM
mittee saying that in his opinion the
bill should carry come definite plan
for raising the four billion dollars
which will be necessary to carry
out its bonus, and that the only
method of raising so vast a sum that
would meet his approval under pres
ent conditions of the federal treas
ury was a sales tax, and if this could
not be incorporated in the bill then
the whole matter should be post
poned until the treasury was in
better condition. Chairman Ford
ney was opposed to a sales tax. So
was a majority of the lower house
of congress, all the members OF
which must seek reelection next
November. So were most OF the
senator's, one-third of whom must
be elected again next November it
they are to go back to the senate.
The reason for such opposition
is not far to seek. A sales tax
levied directly on the consumer.
1t is different from any other kind
of a tax levy only in that the on
sumer cannot be deceived about it.
He knows that he pays it. and knows
lust how much it costs him. Prac-
tically all taxes are levied on the
consumer anyway, because the peo-
pie who pay such taxes shift them
to the onsum in the prices they
charge for goods or services they
sell to the consumer, but the lat
ter is often ignorant of this fact.
He does not see the tax definitely
in the price he pays for such goods
and services, and he can be per-
suaded that some rich individual.
partnership or corporation on whom
they are levied in the first instance
actually pays the tax and that he
goes clear. That is not the truth
to be sure, but he can be persuad-
ed that it is the truth by deceitful
demagogs. For that reason con-
gress cannot be induced to pass a
sales tax law. 1t is too open and
above board in its operation of TAX
ing money out of the pockets OF the
consumer. A round about process
is much preferred by the politician.
The senate bill violates the views
of the president just as much as
does the house bill, but the senate
hopes that the president may be
persuaded not to veto the bill.
even if the president adheres to his
original position. The bill can be-
come a law even if the president re-
fuses to sign it, if he can be per-
suaded not to exercise his consti-
tutional right to veto it.
After his visit to the president,
Senator McCumber announced that
the president had not changed his
views with relation to the bill since
he wrote the chairman of the house
finance committee that he believed
that the bill should either be
financed by a general sales tax, or
the subject postponed until the
treasury of the United States was
better able to handle it. A similar
report has come from the White
House. But it is to be noted that
the president has eve said to MIR.
Fordney, or Mr.. McCumber either.
that he would veto a bonus bill that
did not meet with his approval. If
Woodrow Wilson were in the White
House and had expressed the same
views about the bonus bill that
president Harding has expressed
about it, no one would be in any
doubt about his course of action
when the bill reached him from
congress-. He would be sure to veto
it. But President Harding is a
man of a very different temper
from President Wilson. To begin
with he is a natural compromiser.
To end with he has often expressed
himself as believing that congress
should take the responsibility for
all legislation, and that the execu-
tive should abstain from taking any
action opposed by the senator's
without the most pressing need to