Evening star., 1938-12-04
By MIC. r..

By MIC. r.
An interesting article in the De-
cember Current History discusses q
subject In which most of us are ex-
quisitely interested and that is taxes
The name of the piece is ''The Com
ing Struggle Over Taxation" and the
author is Charles w. B. Hurd
AS Mr.. Hurd sees 1t, the Govern
ment is divided into two camps on
the queStion-the conservatives and
the White House group. BY these
terms he does not mean, however,
those old opposites, conservative
and liberal or conservative" and
radical" in the conventional mean
ingS of the words. The taxation
conservatives, he says, are the men,
bers Of Congress who simply view
Federal revenues as means Of sup
port for the Federal establishment
to be collected in whatever amount
Is necessary to balance q wisely
administered budget" and are by
no means reactionary or unprogres-
sive. The White House group on
the other hand seeks through its
tax measures-the question of rev.
enue being an important but Sec
ondary consideration-to correct
those practices which make 1t pos
sible for an individual or small
group of individuals to get possession
of extraordinary amounts of capital"
In other words, the first group
wants to use taxation to restore GUS
tomary business confidence and ma
tional stability, while the second
favored by the President, wishes to
use the taxing power to destroy the
present system Of economy in order
that a new, and in their opinion
better system may be built up. AS
Mr.. Hurd puts it:
Behind the taxation debate lie
two theories which are irrevocably
opposed and which are deeper and
more serious than any mere con-
sideration of the means of raising
revenues"
Senator Harrison will lead the con-
servatives in the coming fight in
Congress, says the article. 1t adds
that the Senator has indicated that
he will take the initiative and pos
sibly blanket any administration
proposals by moving quickly to
broaden the income tax base, an
action which alone might divert at
tention from all other considera-
tions =" On the other hand it is
expected that the Presidents group
will propose ito remove special ex-
emptions from securities currently
issued as tax-exempt."
An interesting speculation lies ir
Mr.. Hurd's suggestion that If the
President fails to force his favored
tax legislation through Congress
this failure would turn into ar
uncompleted item which would give
the Presidents followers one more
reason for advocating a third term
In order to complete his program OF
reform"
In recent weeks the reviewer has
written hard words in these. columns
concerning the current tendency OF
writer's to form organizations. She
has said, indeed, that she views this
tendency as stemming from very
dubious sources. She has dubbed
1t a move by the incompetent tc
secure influence by force of num-
bers. She has further stigmatizcd
1t as an effort on the part of brief
fading lights to shine by the rehec-
ton OF the more enduring. And
she has gone still farther and an
nounced her complete cynicism as
to the motives of the organizers. In
fact, she has stated complete dis
approval of reorganization of any
kind among the members of heI
profession, whose very trade too.
ought to be-and has to BEAN
utter freedom of the mind and
spirit.
1t was with some complacence
therefore, that she read current
article by an experienced writer
sturdily upholding her position
AIN pASSC 40 SdAlCu llC VNuScS JUL
the Picket Line: it is by MI. Ernest
Boyd and appears in the December
American Mercury.
Mr.. Boyd says that his experience
has convinced him that all talk OF
unionizing creative work is either
downright brutality, downright n.y.
pocrisy or downright racketeering.
He charges that such organiza tions
are not only insincere, but also in
effectual in giving their members
the protection" which they adver-
tise.
THE fallacy underlying the pres.
ent unionization movement, he
writes, "is that the leading spokes.
men Of the various guilds are all
independent of such organizations
They have got where they are with
out such assistance and they are
never called upon to jeopardize theil
own popularity or financial security
by going on sympathetic strike
If, for example, all the
dramatists with smash hits running
IN New York were to call off their
plays until producers had accented