The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1924-02-14
THE SOLDIERS BONUS BILL


gifts before death to pay adjusted
compensation without taking q cent
from any other source. Mr.. Mellon
knows that, but he has kept silent
except to say that il compensation
is paid the poor mans taxes can't
be cut and probably will be in
creased. Which simply isn't true
Mr.. Mellon has based his fight to
cut the taxes of the rich on. the
theory that we need to reduce the
surtaxes to induce the millionaires
to buy fewer tax-exempt securities.
A great amount of noise has been
made about "the fight of capital"
into tax-exempt securities. The i'm
preston has been created that enor-
nous proportions of private wealth
are rapidly being tied up In such Sc
curities, which are deemed unpro-
ductive.
No such thing has happened. An
analysis in New York of the estates
Of every man who has died within
the past few years leaving more than
100000 shows that less than 8
per cent of the securities they owned
at death, were tax exempt and that
more than 90 per cent were taxable.
PuILu0TuOT6, tu060 L6A-CAO4ARt Do
curities are largely state, county and
municipal bonds foated to build
roads, water works and other public
unproductive? Do they fail to pro-
has been claimed? Additionally,
such investments draw unusually
small rates of interest.
r.. Ill fol
going into productive industry and
that industry was not going ahead
because of high surfaces. In the
year just closed there has been
record in extra dividends and in
creased dividends for the first time
since 1919, when more than 100 big
their dividends or declared extra
ones Business is better off today
than it has been at any time in the
last four, and a half years despite
those surtaxes Mr. MELONS surtax
proposition, and this can be shown
by the secretarys own figures.
AS / write this / see that Senator
Mclean of Connecticut got up in the
Senate yesterday and said that the
debtors excuse" for not meeting it's
obligation to the soldiers. The SEN
ate gave some figures to show the
absurity of this claim. Certainly,
the funds are available to pay this
debt, the payment of which need not
interfere with tax reduction. Yet
Mr.. Mellon tries to make it out that
the country is too poor to pay its
soldiers.
Suppose you owed the Mellon Ma
tional Bank, in Pittsburg, thou
sand dollars and had not paid it or
paid any interest on it for few
years. 1 fancy that Mr.. Melons at
titude would be very decided. He
would not look you up and say, "You
can't afford to pay this debt and |
therefore l will excuse you from
paying" Neither would he say, IF
you pay this thousand, it means that
you will not be able to buy new
next year. therefore
will wipe the debt off the books.
Mr.. Mellon would land on you like
ton of brick and make you pay.
Why? Because the debt is just.
That is the only thing that would be
in Banker Melons mind.
In the past the country has shown
hat it regards it's debt to the ex-
service men as just debt and one
hat should be paid. 1t is our duty
o see that the people are not swayed
rom their attitude by the flood of !
ordid propaganda which has been
covering the country and covering
congress- in an effort to avoid pay
nent of the debt.
When l call this propaganda "sOr-
Iid'' l take a word from letter |
ave Just received from United
tates Senator "Sordid" is his term
or the fomented effort by which the
elfish business interests have sought Y
o blind the eyes of the country to
he truth about the Mellon tax pro- {
osals and to induce the members of
ongress to repudiate their pledges J
0 pass the adjusted compensation
ILL., T
/ shall not take up your time with
etails as to how this deluge on L
ongress was brought about. | see
hat this was extensively reported in f
ast weeks issue of The Weekly
ow every extra typewriter in the F
ffices of the great corporations was j
allied into action, and extra shifts
ut on to grind out letters urging ]
to stand by the Mellon
Ian and against the ex-service men. Il
4 order that a portion of these let
,rs might appear to come from the
ank and file, large employers OF J.
lbor required their people to copy
ut and send in letters, mimeo- g.
raphed samples of which were sup
lied. Employees had to do this tt
nder pain of dismissal, regardless
[ their own sentiments in the mat C
IT.
AS long as this state of affairs
ould be concealed, the propaganda v.
ent big. But when concealment
as no longer possible, frankly 1t B
lrned the stomachs of a good many 81
eople in congress. This has not te
cen universally the case, of course.
still read In the papers where an
,casional senator or representative
,claims with delighted surprise at
e "preponderance of sentiment" =
sveloped against ABUSED compen- m