The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-05
COOLIDGE ON TAXATION

r" "COOLlDGE ON 1AAAllON
 The presidents message to congress is obviously sincerely conceived in the pur- pose of redeeming his prediction pledges of economy in government. It is feared, however, that the president emphasizes economy at the expense sometimes ot very vital public undertakings. Post master General New had the more cor rect perspective when he declared that service to the public on the part of the postal department was of more inn portance than having balance on the right side of the ledger. The same prln- ciple holds true for every other function of government. Each bureau, each de- partment and each federal enterprise must be administered as efficiently and as economically as possible, but it should suffer no such deprivation of funds as would prevent it's accomplishment of the results contemplated in its establishment.
 Everybody wants lower taxes. But reasonable people know that the meeting of legitimate and necessary public obll- cations takes precedence over tax reduc- tion. There are certain things that we have nationally determined as essential to our welfare. Among these is national defense. Yet the president recommends such curtailment in this direction as would force our army and navy status below the level almost unanimously agreed as efficient and protective of our emergency responsibility. It is true that the president expresses the belief that our future defense will be in the air, rather than in the sea or on land. That may be the correct view, but that day has not yet arrived, in the opinion of experts, when nation may neglect those two great arms of defense which have ever prevailed. Inadequate sums spent on defensive armament constitute grave waste. Adequate expenditure for a necessary purpose is economy.
 Some statements reveal that the pres ident is not profound economist. For example, he says: "The depression that overlook business, the disaster experl- enced in agriculture, the lack of employ ment,-and the terrific shrinkage in all values which our country experienced Tn a most acute form in 1920, resulted in no small measure from the prohibitive taxes which were then levied on all pro ductive effort" Every student of eco nomy recalls the warnings of statlstl- clans and business experts in 1919 and 1920 predicting deflation that would inevitably follow the war imitation, and giving charts forecasting the extent ot that depression as natural consequence of the working of certain economic laws. Those predictions said nothing about taxes, but were based on other factors. The depression came and went, but, re- markable to relate, the recovery occurred while practically the same high taxes were in force as were in effect at the beginning. If high taxes caused depres' sion, as the president asserts, why dlo the same taxes not prevent recovery!
 The reason why the farmer suffered was because the foreign market suddenly fell off and he was forced to sell his product in a market already surfeited. Taxes had little or nothing to do With It, except to make his expenses more heavy in period when his product was worth much less than formerly.
 Mr. Coolidge stresses our public debts' and yet somewhat paradoxically adVo- cates a great reduction in the very sources of revenue that would retire these debts and relieve this nation of heavy burden of interest. Tax reduction is necessary and in order, but only when our retire ment of the public debt makes such nolicv the wise one. The time to pay debts is when we have the money, and those who have the most money should bear the heaviest portion of the burden for they are the ones upon whom the benefits of government have fallen Tn most material profusion. And among these are the people who invest in tax free securities. The president could greatly tighten the tax burden by ad- vocating such equalization as will per init none to evade their financial respon- sibility to the government under which they live.
 
 ONE VOTES IMPORTANCE