Evening star., 1937-08-28

Gays OF t1e pres &X&3$$::$$ E ls#$
ent administra-
ton Mr. Mellon ~
called on Presi-
dent Roosevelt. He was charmed by
Mr.. Roosevelt's personality. The Pres
ident was cordial, spoke appreciative-
" OF Mr.. Melons work, and the for
mer Secretary Of the Treasury told
friends afterwards that he believed
Mr.. Roosevelt was going to steer the
country safely through its crisis. Then
after little while, out of clear sky
came suits by the administration
against Mr.. Mellon for income taxes,
and ever since then the persecution
has been continuous, resulting recent
~ IN trumping up old issues against
Melons aluminium company which
had once before been settled by the
courts.
Baked by jury which refused to
indict Mr.. Mellon on criminal charges
tor income tax evasion, the admins
ira ton pursued the matter on the civil
side and. after long trial before the
Board of Tax Appeals, the case was
| finally closed nearly year ago, but for
some unexplained reason verdict has
never been rendered.
Death May Close Case.
Some day maybe the judgment will
be revealed. though death probably
6nds the whole case Well-informed
lawyers say Mr.. Mellon. On advice of
his counsel. who made up his tax re-
turn might have made some technical
mistakes. but that on most of the
counts he would have been found
blameless However that may be, it Is
| doubtful whether with our ambiguous
tax laws and multiplicity of rulings
any tax return of a man of large in
come couldn't be subjected to some
| technical charge. The point is that
the administration wasn't satisfied to
seek to recover back taxes in the usual
way. but gave the American people the
| impression that fraud and willful dis
honesty were involved-for the GRIM
inal charges were based on that unjust
supposition.
1t was always incredible to those
of us who knew Mr.. Mellon that he
ever CoulQ SEEK W uSllduu IAlo oNll
Government of few thousand dol
F lars when he gladly paid millions to
the Government and gave away an
nually vast sums to charities and
never cared enough about publicity to
let the facts of most of his phi
| lanthropies come to public notice. A
man Of that type, especially a man
Of too
ury. is not likely to do the sort of
thing his political enemies charged
against him.
Great Headline Name.
But the New Deal thrives on head
lines. Mr. Roosevelt probably had
nothing personal against Mr.. Mellon
Yet the Mellon name-ah! what
headlines, what opportunity to offer
sop to the left-wingers who think
radicalism and liberalism are best
exemplified by prosecutions and name
calling. The attack on Mr.. Mellon
was a good way to divert attention
from the constant failure of the ad-
ministration to keep its promises to
the underprivleged, unfulfilled prom
ises which still bring about job
marches on Washington and shrink
ing purchasing power for the workers
pay envelopes as the cost of living
rises.
Some day even the radically minded
will wake up to discover that court |
suits against the Melons do not bring |
relief to the one third of our popula-
ton who are still 'ill-nourished," ILL |
housed and ill-clad," but as long as
considerable section of the voting pop
uation is satisfied with sensational |
headlines instead of actual reform
that brings concrete benefits, the |
method will be pursued by politicians
In public office.
Mr.. Mellon made great record in |
the public service. Impartial his
torians will say that he handled Amer
lean fiscal affairs in the postwar
decade with singular capacity. He
irritated the spenders in Congress
every now and then by estimating
small surpluses so that they would not
appropriate too much of the antici-
pated revenues. Then when the sur
pluses were larger than expected he
would insist that they be used for
debt retirement.
Proved Tax Theory.
On the side of tax reduction, Mr.. |
Mellon established the truth of a
very important principle in taxation,
namely. that the lower the surtax
the higher the yield He once sue
eeeded in persuading Congress to
bring the maximum surtax down to
IS per cent and said that eventually
It ought to be IS per cent His
theory was the benefit to q few men
by these rates was inconsequential
alongside of the tremendous impetus
which low rates OF taxes give to
the actual movement and turnover
OF capital in investment channels,
thus leading to industrial expansion
and Job creation. o..
The truth of this principle can
easily be ascertained by seeing how
relatively little money would be OBJ
tanned If 100 per cent of the in
comes Of persons earning over $780,
900 year were actually ~confscated
by the Federal Government for taxes.
It wouldn't pay a fraction OF the
annual New Deal deficits. But the
damage done to the economic system
BY such encouragement of capital
movement is far greater and leads
70 more and more unemployment, |
which in turn costs the Government
more and more in relief expense.
Faithful and Able.
Andrew Mellon had his faults, he
stayed in public ONCE perhaps too
long for his own good, but on the
whole he served his country we'll |
and faithfully. honestly and honorably, |
and when the New Deal Of today |
q the New Deal Of tomorrow gives