The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-11-26
MELONS SCHEME. SWEEPS COUNTRY
Its Passage Substantially As Outlined By Secretary
 Seems Likely
By WALTER B. BROWN Editor the New York Commercial heaaed Wire to The AEe.He erald(

NEW YORK, Nov. 25.-Secretary Melons tax reduction scheme has taken the country by storm. Repub- lican leaders have not dared to side step it and the democrats have not deemed it wise to allow their oppo- nents to acquire all the glory and prestige to come from it, so it is likely to become nonpartisan measure. It's passage substantially as MT. Mellon has outlined it seems likely. Melons program is making the passage of bonus bill more dif- ficult. There Is an attempt now on the part of the bonus advocates to convince the public that both the bonus and tax reduction are possible. One plan suggested is for a bond issue redeemable in 50 years. How this could be floated, with the mar ket already saturated with Liberty bonds selling below par, is not quite clear.
 Congress will assemble in another fortnight. As the time approaches there is less apprehension than there was some months ago. Fears that ill-considered attacks will be made upon the railroads are subsidlng.
 As to the roads themselves, con ditions are working in their favor as they never have before. Traffic is enormous. Loadings continue at the rate of more than 8 million cars a week and for 21 weeks out of the present calendar year they have ex- ceeded that figure. Only once be- fore in history have million car weeks been known. That was in 1920. and then there were only seven Of them. The result is reflected in Rt,.ex NNNs1w< ftlR. FNf or increase in dividends and in vast sums expended for reha utilization.
 Even the agricultural situation is becoming less of problem. Secre- tary of Agriculture Wallace has pointed out that farm crops are bringing to the farmers a billion dol- lars more than they did last year, notwithstanding the .disappointment Of the wheat farmers. The distribu- tion of this amount of money will have an appreciable effect upon buy ing powers, as is already reflected in the heavily increased business of the chain stores and mail-order houses.
 Naturally, there are those who continue their endeavors to make po- litical capital out of the wheat situa- tion and are solemnly advocating the increase on the import duty of wheat to 50 per cent. They argue that as high duties have increased the pros- ENIlly OL IL apply equally to farm products. They do not seem to comprehend that im- port duty on products we export can have no effect whatever It is all be- cause we have produced more wheat than we can sell.
 Grain experts estimate that at the end of the crop year the exporting countries will hold surplus of 416,- G00,000 bushels, against 192, ,000, ,000 bushels last year. Based on the fig ures of the department of agriculture, this country alone has raised some 2O0,c00,000 bushels more than needed
 Cotton has been advancing rapidly in price and has passed 35 cents a pound. It is not beyond the bounds of reason to predict that 40c cotton will again be reached. Demand from Great Britain has been very heavy, as it has been finally realized that the American crop is short. The latest reports of ginning figures in dicate that the crop will fall below 9,500,000 bales. which, in view of world requirements, means a contin- uation of high cost of raw materials,