Evening star., 1935-04-16
cess Of $4,000 per year after all taxes

per cent of the profit and 100 per cent
of all profit over 8 per cent.
Plugging Escape Holes.
One cannot study taxation without
knowing that corporations and indi-
viduals with their highly paid lawyers
and accountants have learned many
ways to escape tax laws. Consequent
ly, we have found it necessary to write
into the bill provisions to stop every
conceivable d1vice which the experts
might resort to get around the law.
Had the provisions Of this bill
been in effect during our two years
participation in the World War, the
income of the Government would have
exceeded the expenditures without the
necessity Of borrowing penny
through the sale Of Liberty bonds.
The next device in the bill Is the
industrial management draft. It does
not provide, as some would have you
believe, for CONSUMPTION OF man power
or labor. It reaches only those cap
tains of industry who so often in the
last war engaged in schemes to hold
up, defraud and cheat their Govern
ment.
Critics Answered.
AS to the commodity control fea-
lures of the bill, these provide for the
closing of commodity and stock ex-
changes and the abandonment of all
price speculation during war.
Critics say that If you do away with
the profit motive or reduce 1t, you
will not be able to get money to finance
the war industries. We need not
worry about that. In the last war
the Government had to finance these
industries, and will have to do 1t again.
Therefore, we have set up in our bill
finance control commission to meet
these needs.
Finally, recognizing that there were
strikes of capital during the last war,
our bill provides strong powers for
the Government which will enable 1t
to commander plants and operate
them during the war.
Criticism Offered.
Roughly I have summarized the
provisions Of the Senate committee's
pending bill to take the profit out OF
war. The objectives, believe, will be
strongly indorsed by every American
Yet some, while seeming to indorse
them, are unknowingly or deliberately
misrepresenting the purpose Of the
committee and its bill. Opposition is
! to be expected. Fantastic, yet laud-
able reasoning, will be resorted to, in
an effort to preserve for greed the
privilege and opportunity which war
has given.
One writer calls the program which
I have here outlined "syndicalisnl, so.
cialism and communism" The crack.
| down artist of business says that this
| plan is but scheme to use war
emergency to destroy the profit system
and shift the country over to COM
munism. Another writer of larger
reputation and responsibility declares
| this program to take the profit out oi
war a scheme to make the greatest
war machine the world has ever
known, a program playing into the
hands of any war party.
Communism and Profit.
Criticism OF the program is invited
and expected, but I do wish critics
would know what they are talking
about before they undertake their dec
larations. 1t would be well If they
would read the bill before undertak-
ing to tell what is in it. Calling the
bill communism will hardly register
with people who know that Com
munists are not in the least interested
in regulating the profit system
The real Communist wants nothing
quite so much as a war with the same
old unrestrained, mad, selfish, grasp
ing after profits that existed during
and after the last war. He believes
and think he Is right, that If such
a thing were to happen again, this
system would destroy itself without q
bit Of aid from the Communists.
Another objection raised is that the
proposed bill will not prevent war
No one ever said it would. I wish
such bill could be written, but 7 rec
ognize the causes Of war to be many
and progress against these causes tc
be slow. Yet I am firmly convinced
that if we remove the profit from pre-
pairing for war and then destroy in
every American mind the prospect OF
profit from more war, there will be
far less danger of war A first result
will be far fewer the numbers who
today are saying, to no ones good,
Maybe what We need to get out OF
this depression is another little war"
Seemingly people forget that the last
war gave us the depression, and that
another might easily destroy our CIV
iliZation.
Baruch Backs Down.
This very day has developed the
most surprising of critics Of the bill.
For years Bernard Baruch has been
talking about taking profit out of war.
For days he appeared before our COM
mittee urging drastic programs to &C.
complish this. Some OF US wondered
why he withheld Endorsement of the
proposal to provide a constitutional
amendment which would give Gov
ernment in time of war the same
power over property that it had our
life. He insisted that the Govern
ment already has this power, in spite
of the fact that property dictated the
terms when the Government asked its
cooperation during the last war.
Today Mr.. Baruch issues a state
ment to the press hedging on the
position he took when he was be-
fore our committee some days ago
According to his newest statement
he has discovered that our commit
tee plan would take the profit out
of war-not Just a little Of it but
practically all OF it. Now he says the
bill is too drastic, that we would be
defeated in another war under such
legislation because business wouldn't
do it's share of fighting and helping
to win the war when it's profits were
so restricted
May heaven preserve US!
I've expected some one to say that
But Mr.. Baruch. I never expected it
to come from you.
Business Fights for Profit.
So American business won't pro.
duce what is needed in war If it can't
have its profits! So American busi-
i