The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-30
ALL BUSINESS MEN
 OUGHT MAKE STUDY. .OF ALL CANDIDATES
Barr Says Gompers Is in Em- barrasSing Position by Making Attack on
 Foster
By WILLIAM H. BARR President of the NaIlOnnI Founders
 Association

l selves, put 1naSmuCn as primaries are already being held-Illinois for instance-it is just as well to urge once more that every business man pay close attention to the candidates mentioned, to study their records and determine whether they are the proper men to govern us, for the in- tercsts of the country are the inter- ests of business.
 The Indiana primaries occur on l May g. and from that time on there will be primaries in some states al- most every week. Remember that 435 members of the House of Represen- tatiyes wilt be elected this fall and 54 senators, there being two vacan- cies caused by death which will be filled in addition to the regular one third of the Senate. These men will determine to some extent the course of business in the next two years. If a Congress antagonistic to business Is elected, we may have legislation which will seriously interfere with the return of prosperity On the other hand, if broad minded, patriotic men are selected, there will be material help for all classes of our people. Gompers Attacks Poster Samuel Gompers is making tour of the country discussing "Labor's Contribution to the War" and incl dentally he Is denouncing the attempt of the I. W. w. to "bore from within" and create one big union. It must be difficult for MT. Gompers to discuss "Labors Contribution to the War, and avoid a discussion of stacking. However, Mir. Gompers Is the one who Is doing the featuring, and nat urally he has his figures prepared. Of course without labor the war could not have been prosecuted, but 1t IS equally true that without the open shop the government would have faced serious difficulties. MT. Com pers attack William z. Foster. who led the so-called steel strike three years ago. Here Is an excerpt from MT. Gompers' comments:
 In Chicago 1 accused him of being agent of Lenine and Trotzsky, wteh whom, according to his own state ments, he had most cordial relations while in Russia. In hIs present work he is carrying out the proclaimed policy of Lenine of destroying all dem ocratic governments. As condition precedent to destruction of our gov ernment, he decreed the destruction of the American Federation of Labor. He calls his program boring from within That Is what pirates do when they wish to scuttle snip. This is the same Foster, who in the face of definite infof-tation that the United States Steel corporation was prepared for and wished strike in 1919. and In. the face of a request from the President of the United States that the strike at least De postponed, insisted on that disastrous struggle"
 Does Mir. Gompers forget that he indorsed the steel strike in lsl9s Does he realize the significance or his statement that the strike shoulo not be called because the steel cor poration was prepared for itE There Is the plain intimation that strikes should only be called when they VIII have disastrous results in the indus try attacked. Does MT. Gompers really mean to insinuate that the steel corporation wished the strike in 1919. or is that mere rhetoric? we sympathize with MT. Gompers in ms difficulty in explaining that union iabor contributed to the war, ana also in trying to condemn Foster for strike which the American Federation of Labor indorsed.
 Our Public Debt
 The United States owes 2o times as much money now as in 1917, when the public debt was about sl,ooO,Voo'- 000 Elliot Wadsworth, assistant Se- cretary of the Treasury oeciared III recent speech. This huge debt we must pass on to the future citizens, he said. For this reason 1t is the intention of financial leaders Of our government to pay all new deots rom current funds. We are just standing still financially, as our expenses tnis year just about equalled our revenues. Next year there will be some dellclt' because of shrinking business, loss of foreign trade and suspension or activities that came into being dur ing the war. Without any surplus of revenue over expenses We cannot de- crease our public debt of S22,500,00O,. GOO. and government expenditures must come down. Although the Civil war Is to years behind us, yet the bill for pensions Is $250,000.0O0. Only 15 per cent of our public expenditures goes for peaceful purposes, at it were. The remainder, So per cent goes 'o pay for debts and activities based on the war"
 The Income Tax
 Interesting figures are available in the recent report of the bureau or internal revenue on the income tax receipts for 1919. Farmers paid o2 per cent of the entire corporate tax for the year.. and their average per- centage of tax to income was zE pei cent. Agriculture and related indus tries are shown to have paid only nine-tenths of one per cent of the total corporate tax, yet they gave to the government 21 per cent of their net income. Corporations had total taxable income of about four and one half billion dollars.
 Of this amount, they paid a total of about $2,500, 100000. Individuals had a taxable income of about s20,- 0oO. .O00, ,000, and paid a tax of only s1,25O,p ,p00. 900. The significance of all these figures lies in the fact that the country must produce for taxation three or four billion dollars a year, and just at present there Is very little indication that this amount will be materially reduced in the near fu- ture. The country must realize the burden of taxation, and that relief can only come through an economical and scientific administration of govern nent affairs.
 The SoIdiers' Bonus
 Now that the tariff bill has been reported, the finance committee of the Senate is giving consideration to the bonus bill. The feeling seems to prevail that some kind of bonus bill will pass. and in conference an agree ment will be reached finally putting a bill up to the President for approval or veto. Business men must not over look the fact that should this bill pass, no matter in what form, it will be a sorry interference with return ing prosperity. A significant protest has been sent to Senator Carter Glass, of Virginia. by Maj. Gen. E. w. Nicholson. The following is an es- cerpt of particular interest:
 "The bill as now proposed is the very worst that has been suggested. It attempts to do by indirection what it seems that Congress dare not do