Evening star., 1936-09-27
Campaign Tactics Of Roosevelt Held
Defensive, With Party s'Tax Conscious
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tNOI1tluuCu IlOAi Eh6b = 68C.J
decision Of the Supreme Court the
N. r. A. statute would have become
in time as completely ignored, as
utterly impossible to enforce as this
statute about taxes.
Number Of violators.
Under this tax statute 1t seems clear
that tens Of thousands Of Americans
could be brought into the criminal
courts, including filling station opera
tors who post the amount Of Federal
Government tax in the price Of gaso-
line and theater and base ball mana
gers who print the amount Of the Fed
eral tax on the tickets they sell. II
any business man. butcher. baker or
shop keeper wishes to make q fair esti-
mate Of the amount Of tax, direct or
indirect, included in the cost Of what
he sells, and If he wishes to tell the
amount of this tax to his customer, by
written or oral word, he would seem
to be in q position not differing from
that Of filling station operators and
theater managers.
Tho statute would seem to apply
not merely to merchandise and bust
ness men. It would seem to subject
to equal guilt any newspaper which
in advertisement, news dispatch or
editorial, mentions the element Of tai
in the cost of any commodity.
If Attorney General Cumming
really wishes to test this old statute
he can f1nd shining mark-no less
than Gov. Landon. Mr.. Landon, In
his speech at Buffalo, said there /,
2 cents of tax on the price of every
loaf of bread:
I'VE cannot buy stitch of cloth.
ing without the Governments takine
in taxes part of the money we pay
out. We cannot buy an ounce of fooc
at our grocery stores without beins
taxed to support the Government
These hidden taxes-Federal
State and local amount to about
20 cents out Of every dollar We
spend. In the case OF the Fedora
Government alone they amount tc
more than IS a month for ever,
family"
consciousness Of Defensive"
1suspect that every competent econ.
omist and statistician would SUP.
port what Gov. Landon says. Ans
suspect the Governor will not 20 Il
Jail for saying it. Nor will any on,
else.
The administration shows conscious.
ness OF being on the defensive witt
respect to the cost of food, the amoun
of food being imported and other eff
fects related to Triple-A. As the ad.
ministration wishes to see it-and,
think, wishes the rest OF us to >e it
all this sort of thing was caused b,
the drought, and only by the drought
Directly and tacitly, in official outgiy.
ings and in campaign S. -,ches, it wa
only the drought that reduced tn,
quantity OF foodstuffs and raised thu
price. A recent publicity hand out
OF Triple-A began-the italicized word.
are significant:
Employed consumers can still buy
more food with their present earning,
than they were able to buy in 1928 O,
1929. in spite Of the record drought,
Of 1884 and 1886"
1t Is true the drought was part OF
the cause Of lowered food supplies
and increased prices. and the necessity
for enormous imports Of food from
abroad. But We cannot forget, mucf,
as the administration would like US to
forget. that the quantity Of food In
America was enormously reduced BY
Triple-A.
''Not-Raise" Program.
Triple-A did reduce the quantity oi
food, did 1t deliberately. systematic.
ally and on an enormous scale@Triple.
A paid large sums to farmers to not.
raise wheat. C"Not-raise" as . hyphen.
ated word, seems to be an addition
to the American vocabulary made de.
sirable by the New Deal) Triple-A
paid farmers to not-raise corn, ant