The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1938-07-21

suit in an increase Of one cent per
bottle for the milk served to its
customers.
It takes no stretch Of the imagina-
ton to conceive what the cost IL
for a large corporation to handle
its official reports to various agen-
cies Of the national, state and local
governments il that corporation OPP
crates, say, over half Of the United
States. The expense runs into mill
lions upon millions Of dollars an
nually. Who pays? You and I. the
consumers.
I have not had access to all Of
the records required by the depart
ment Of agriculture because many
OF them are confidential, but be-
lieve it is safe to say that some
fifty-odd reports have to be made
respecting every farmer who has
signed up in compliance with the
crop control laws and the land con-
servation program. ! think che
farmer directly involved has from
eight to ten Of these reports and
official documents; the county COM
mittee which inspects and reports
on him has others; the county agent
has still more reports to make-an
still involving this one farmer but
including others as well-and these
are followed by regional and ma
tional reports until all totals are
entered here in Washington.
Or, at the risk of being too per-
sonal in dealing with a national
problem, I might cite my own ex-
periences. Mine is what is called a
one-man Office. That is to say, with
the aid Of secretary, ! must run
my own little business. But even
as ineonsequential as that Office is,
consider this situation: I must file
an income tax return annually. That
return must include an extra state
ment which covers a general outline
Of my meager income and the ex-
penses of my office. I must pay
ten dollars a year for a license"
which gives me the privilege Of
writing to earn my living, but I
must file report before I get that
license in the District Of Columbia.
Twice a year, I must file q report
Of my gross return from my work in
the District of Columbia-and
tax on that income. Each mo I
have to file report to the District
Of Columbia employment board,
showing how much pay my secre.
tary, how many hours week she
works and pay tax which theoreti-
cally is saved up and paid to her in
case she is unemployed. Each
month, also, I am required to file a
report with the United States social
security board, giving the same in
formation-and pay another unem-
ployment tax. And each three
months, I am required to file an
other report with the social secur-
ity board which seems to be report
showing that the monthly reports
are correct.
It has been my good fortune to
have gained legal education by
virtue of four long
What's years Of night
The Use? school, so I have
not had to hire q
lawyer to help me with my reports.
They have been comparatively SIM
pie, generally. But that is not the
case with larger business.
Lawyers, however, would be no
help in the circumstance that I am
now about to relate. A young lady
who had served as my secretary
several years left my service. When
I fled the last monthly report for
her name and paid the tax, I at
tached letter explaining that she
was leaving and that there would be
no further reports in her name as
far as I was concerned. The letter
was written in the hope that the file
would be complete.
This incident happened last Octo-
Der. In March, 1888, I received q
notice from the board, advising me
that I had not paid the tax on the
salary Of the lady in question for
the month of February, 1888. Not a
word about the other months from
October to February. And If didn't
pay, said the notice, there were
penalties, court proceedings, etc.
Yes, you guessed it! I threw that
notice into the waste basket. Two
months later, had the honor to be
visited by an inspector. He was
courteous and gentlemanly, but
firm. I must pay the tax-not for
February, but for December. You
can let your own imagination run
high, wide and handsome about the
results of that visit.
Well, I merely bring out those
facts because they show the need
for the voters of the country to take
some action on their own and quit
following blindly the demagoguery
Of the politicians.
Previously in this column I have
written about several corporations
which, after filing several thousand
reports, have had inspectors visit
them to see whether they were COM
rlvipe with the law. Since that