The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-05


one-half Of what it was in 1929,
this shows that an increasingly
larger share is being taken by the
capitalists. The concentration Of
wealth has been accelerated by the
New Deal. Income tax figures re-
veal that incomes below $1,000 fell
in 1888 while incomes above s25, 900
increased. In the very high brackets,
the number of incomes over a mill
lion dollars increased from twenty
to forty-six in 1888.
This huge increase Ia wealth
shows clearly what the pump prim-
ing Of government has accom-
plished. It enabled the capitalists
to pass through the worst stages Of
the crisis. Their position improved
at the expense of the general vel
fare of the toiling masses. But
since IS per cent of the govern
ment expenditures, directly or in
directly, went to the capitalist class,
and only a pittanee was turned over
to the workers in the form of re-
lief, the printing of the pump did
not restore the purchasing power of
the masses. Its main effect was in
hationary in character. This in
turn reduced the consuming powers
of the workers, and accounts for the
absence of any consistent unturn.
Reesevelt's pump printing has
run the national debt up to s28,-
500 00O, 900 at the end of 1884 plus
an additional three billions of
contingent liabilities. If we add
the $40, COO, 00O,0 900 of municipal and
state debts, the total public debt is
over fifty-one billions. On the
federal debt alone the interest
charges are around billion a year
while probably another billion is re-
quired to pay the interest on the
local debts.
Government expenditures are
eating up an increasing amount of
the national income. In 1884 total
government expenditures federal
state and munieipaD exclusive of
debt retirements. we're $15,500,0o0,-
900 according to the National In
dustrial Conference Board. This
was about SO per cent of the
national income. Tax collections
from the rich have fallen. Federal
taxes declined from $2,411 900, 900 in
1880 to $s1S,O00,000 in 1884. The
rich have lodged income taxes
through various legal maneuvers,
and bankers like Kahn and Nor
gan paid no taxes during the crisis
years of 193O-1932.
Profits Rose Steadily
II you examine the balance sheets
of big corporations like the A & P
grocery chain, you will see how
their dollar volume fell during the
worst years of the crisis and their
tax payments diminished, but their
profits rose steadily or fell only
slightly. The enormous burden of
taxatien-about $4,000, 100000 a
year, is borne by the workers, the
farmers and the lower middle class.
Through direct taxation and in
directly through schemes like the
processing taxes and the numerous
nuisance taxes the masses are made
to pay for the costs of the Roose-
velt experiment in behalf of the
bankers and industrialists, The
spread of local sales taxes and the
drive of the National Association of
Manufacturers for national sales
tax are ominous indications of this
trend
A balance sheet of the second
year of the New Deal therefore
shows that the capitalists have not
solved the crisis. They have bet
tered their position, but admit that
they see no way out as yet. Block
ing the normal" solution of the
crisis are the following factors: the
continuance Of the general crisis of
capitalism which is illterlocked with
the special character of the present
depression; the chronic over eapa-
city of industry especially heavy
industry; permanent mass unem-
ployment and the underconsump-
ton of the masses which has in
creased the fundamental contradie-
ton OF capitalism-the gap between
production and consumption; the
inability of American capitalism to
get rid of its surplus stocks; and
the decrease in the share of the
national income received by the
workers; the mounting debt burden
which has to be carried by the
masses.
These factors are but intensified
by every effort of the capitalists to
get out of the crisis. They have
improved their immediate situation.
but they have aeeentuated the
general crisis of capitalism which
In turn will adversely affect the
present depression, Capitalism is
in a blind alley, and as the cap
italists struggle in vain to extri-
cate themselves, they harshen their
policy towards the masses and ae-
celerate the development of fas-
cist tendencies. In subsequent
articles there will be a detailed
analysis of the failure of the
capitalists to solve the crisis
through the New Deal, their i'm
mediate economic program and the
need for the workers to resist the
latest offensive against their living
standards and working conditions.
Italian Peasants Arm