Evening star., 1938-08-13


Jimmy Roosevelt
is an able citizen
with plenty of sales capacity, shrewd-
ness and excellent personal qualities.
But Jimmy now is in politics, and
he is hardly so naive as to wonder
why critics bring up such things as
his own income taxes and how he
earns his money. The main reason is
because his distinguished father seems
to imply every now and then that it is
a sin for business man to earn a
profit. BY innuendo, and sometimes
directly. the President has been charg-
Ing business men with making their
profits in questionable ways. His
speeches for the last five years have
been full Of such accusations and have
fomented class hatreds.
It has been reported, incidentally
that Mr. Roosevelt once exclaimed to
callers that $25,000 year was maxi
mum that anybody ought to earn. but
this report is not verified and only
gains credence because the President,
by his policies. has made 1t possible
these last two years for many men who
used to earn more than $25,000 not
only to 90 below that figure, but to go
Into the red.
Quarrel With Hypocrisy Justified.
If Jimmy Roosevelt wants to be an
economic royalist' and earn $l72,000
m five years. he has right to such
ambitions. Nobody is quarreling with
Jimmy about his income, but many
critics are right in quarreling with the
hypocrisy and insincerity Of an admin
istration that doesn't practice what 1t
breaches.
Thus, when James Roosevelt says
he wishes Some Of these people
would take their cases to some hard
hitting anti-New Deal Senator and
have me investigated-if they have
any facts" he must have forgotten
that, last year, committee OF the
House Of Representatives called for
Jimmy's income tax returns and the
investigation was squelched after the
returns were submitted to the COM
mittee. Nothing was made public and
no interrogation Of son James was
permitted. The facts on that incident
have never been cleared up. and
doubtlss now they will be, q the cpl
sode has left q wrong impression
which perhaps was not at All justified.
Anyway, James himself now has pre-
pared the way for further congress
sional Investigations.
Circumstances Forgotten.
What son James In his indignation
forgets, too. are the circumstances
under which the matter Of his per-
sonal income tax returns came up
before the House committee last year.
Nobody In Congress was particularly
concerned up to that time about
Jimmy or how he made money. To
look at it that way would be dis
tinctly personal and every man has
q right to privacy OF his personal af-
fairs.
But the point at issue was sn en-
tirely different one. President Roose-
welt had told the country in a message
to Congress that prominent business
men were circumventing the income
tax laws, and he did not draw any
distinction in his message between
legal avoidance and illegal evasion.
He condemned all and then he per-
mitted the Treasury Department to
smear and besmirch some Of the ablest
business men in the country just be-
cause their political views hadn't hap
pened to coincide with Mr.. Roose-
velt's. A worse example of personal
government used to besmear and be-
smirch can hardly be offered and no.
body from the business group publicly
ventured 50 much as to ask that the
persons responsible for this sort Of
thing put on the gloves and meet
them outside"
Now, 1t turns out that son James
did the same thing as some Of these
economic royalists.' When he found
out that he could diminish his income
tax by turning over to his wife-who
half interest in his insurance business.
he did so, and thus legally avoided
paying some taxes, to help share his
wealth with the third of our pop
ulation who are "ill-housed, ill-clad
and ill-nourished
Takes Recourse in Law.
It will be noted also that he con-
suited some Of those much denounced
individuals-the income tax lawyers
and. moreover, took their advice.
Whether the corporations. In order
to incur White House favor, bought
insurance from Jimmy's flrm or con-
tinued to place their insurance with
his firm after James went to the
White House as secretary to his father
and let his wife collect dividends
therefrom is only an irritation pos
sibly to the firms which feel this is
unfair competition. Maybe the in
surance agents who lost clients be-
cause Jimmy's name was Roosevelt
have done most Of the inferring as to
the reasons why his insurance busi-
ness suddenly became prosperous But
the real significance of the latest dis
closures by Jimmy himself is that
they 60 farther than dozens of argu-
ments from anti-New Deal speakers to
prove that the White House doesn't
object to fat incomes or the profit
system or the economic royalist"
technique when . member Of the
Roosevelt family Is the beneficiary.
That resentment is highly improper
only when the administration wields
the smear brush. and that 1t takes a
courageous national magazine like the
Saturday Evening Post to force into
Che open what rubber stamp" con-
trolled congressional committee sue
ceeded in hiding. Small wonder the
administration hates a free and ol,t