Montana labor news., 1932-06-16
TIMELY AND UNTIMELY OBSERVATIONS
(By ADAM COALDIGGER1
FILLING MELONS VACUUM
(By ADAM CoALDIGGER.,

FILLING MELONS VACUUM
Once upon a time this great and enlightened country spmted a Secretary
Of the Treasury by the name Of Andrew Mellon. Those who have forgotten
the name may perhaps recall him under the synonym of "Greatest Secre-
tay of the Treasury since Alexander Hamilton"
Well, when this great treasurer left the U. S. Treasury there was nothing
left in it but a pile of deficits, vacuums, and overdue notes. This was so
because while Andy was O. the job he devoted most Of his talent toward
taking money out of the treasury and returning it to the poor taxpayers
who had nobody to help them make out their income tax blanks except the
highest-priced corporation lawyers in the country.
All told, this Andy Mellon paid back oe four thousand million dollars
to people who had paid that much to much in the treasury on account of
having nobody to advise them but those highest-priced corporation lawyers
previously alluded to, which goes to show that you can't trust corporation
lawyers when it comes to looking out for the interests of their clients.
Why, even Andys own corporations had to take back a few hundred
million bucks they had careessly overpaid to Andy and would a lost if
Andy hadn't been on the job to rectfy the error of his hgh-prced tax
experts.
Wen, when it was discovered that the U. S Treasury was cleaned out
Brother Hoover decided it would be a shame to waste the financial genius
Of the greatest Secretary of the Treasury since Alexander Hamilton on an
empty treasury So he promoted him to ambassador to Great Britain to
find out why the money we loaned them people to make their country fit
for heroes to live in amt aeoming back now that their country is fit for
heroes to live in.
Since the departure of Andy his heirs and assgnees in the Treasury
Department have been sweating blood trying to find ways and means of
getting enough money in Uncle Sans petty cash drawer to buy postage
stamps, typewriter ribbons, and second sheets. In this commendable under
taking some proposed a sales tax IN goods people can't buy any more
Others want taxes on incomes of over a million dollars a year raised to
so per cent which would leave the poor devils only a little oer 100000
a year to we IN. Still others claim that by taxing incomes OF one million
and over more than 40 per cent would rob industry of just that much
capital
You see, with factories working overtime, nw sky@rapers going up
everywhere railroads running three shifts m dOubletraeks, and bigger and
better banks opening every day, more capital is needed to keep up the
feverish business activities noticeable all around.
% instance, IN te alendar year 1881, lay persons reported net income
over sl,OOoOOO and a total net income Of $8SS66lOOO on which they paid
in federal income and sutaxes ~$6Os47OS1S, or II per cent of their net in
come. For the same year 81 persons reported net incomes of 100000 to
s1OOOOOO, with n aggregate net income of $207,742yOOO, upon which their
incomes and sutaxes were $8s,s25S69, or 1923 per cent of their net in
comes. During the same period, 51 reporting a net income of 100000
to 100000 reported an aggregate net income Of S2O6s9S,OOO, on which
they paid in income and surtaxes sS2993,639, Of 1896 per cent of their
net INCOMES.
All together, these 1,Ol1 persons reporting net incomes of 100000
to S1,OOOOOO had only STOsO28s6 left them after paying federal in
come and surtaxes of s1272sO,331, which left each of them only an
average of s6SeOl4 a year to live on and lot a dollar to spare for
extension and expansion of industry.
Just think, dear reader, how still more prosperous this country would be
now if the S127,29OS81 Uncle Sam took from these people had been in
vested in morel aborsaving devices and automatic processes.
Gosh, this won't dol Somebody be thinking Pm getting sarcastic when
al. I'm trying to do is to present a bouquet of poison ivy to the honorable
humbugs in Washington who try to make the country believe that what it
operated full time, their output would be twice as much as the country can
buy We in normal times.
so to 100 per cent income tax, as a letter from my old friend and comrade
J. A. Forgason of Willow, Okla, shows:
81 am in my 18th year." he writes. 81 own Is acres of rocks, brush
thickets, gulies, and Is acres of cultivated land. The taxes for 1881
ire s164O and haven't sold that much stuff that year. Now they are
going to sell my land for taxes, and after that it's beg, steal or starve
Yes. it's pretty raw. old friend. but what will YOU? Your country is
broke. Your state is broke. The nation is broke. We can't raise taxes on
the 1,O11 folks whose average income is S636,01 a year without throwing
a monkey wrench into the wbirHng wheels of industry. Unless you come
across with that s164O taxes on your near-farm, the greatest government
ever conceived by the mind of mortal man will be forced to haul down
Old Glory and raise the red flag-of the auctioneer-instead.
Sixteen dollars and forty cents may seem a lot of money to you and
particularly so since you can't raise it. also admit it must be pretty
tough for one of OF age to lose his farm home. Especially that Is acres
fighting cockleburrs, boil weevih, note-shavers and tax collectors. How
ever, something has got to be done to balance the budget and as there is
no way of getting back that four thousand million dollars the Greatest
Secretary of the Treasury since Alex Hamilton dohd out to his buddes,
not forgetting himself, you just as well let the sheriff lay your farm or
the altar of your fatherand and hike out for the poorhouse over the hill.
For your consolation, l will add that there are hundreds of thousands
of farmers in the same boat. In fact, if this government and its sundry
soup-divsions hadn't managed to live by devouing the home and farm
steads of its citizens by way of tax sales, it would have persisted from
the face of the earth a year ago.
Let's see, $16d0 income tax on an income of less than $1640 is what per
cent? And yet some of the honorable humbugs in Washington ire weeping
crocodile tears over a tax of so per cent On incomes of a million dollars
a year!
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