Evening star., 1938-03-14

that time.
The event, of course, is the regu-
lar elections to the Congress of the
United States. but its significance this
time will be nonpartisan and eco
nomic rather than personal or po-
litical
Already the drift is apparent. For
several months business men have
been complaining that employment
and credit and market conditions and
everything else depends on substitute
ing certainty for uncertainty. Now
everybody knows that there is no
. such thing as certainty" about the
future. but there is something very
specific and concrete about a GER
tainty of principle. This translates
itself today into the issue of whether
private property and private business
is to be safe from confiscation and
destruction. whether public owner
ship and state socialism are to sup
plant private business and whether
the judicial and legislative branches
of our Government are to become SUBJ
ordinate to the will of one man pre-
cisely as happens under Htlerism.
It's the assurance that private in
1tiative can go ahead, that investors
can lend their savings through bond
issues and other capital security Of
ferngs. which is most desired today
by the business world before the
usual risks incident to investment of
capital and expansion can be taken
not Sc
ness situation today may be found in
the growing change in psychology
among business men in the last few
days.
To what is the slight change due?
Well majority of the House of
Representatives. composed of Repub-
licans and independent Democrats.
last week turned down the latest pro-
posal from the President to sabotage
the system of private initiative and
thrift, That proposal. in brief. was
that father and son or some other
relative who built up a business must
pay penalty in taxes as against busi-
ness that is owned by many stock
holders.
Also Senator Harrison chairman of
the Senate Finance Committee.
Democrat. has Just announced that
the undistributed profits tax must be
repealed outright and that he be-
neves the Senate will not accept the
proposal of the House Ways and
Means Committee that the principle"
of this tax be saved
It's the principle of the thing that
has provoked the ire of business
men to the point where thev have
about lost faith in the Roosevelt ad-
mlnistrations willingness to preserve
the private lnlative system This loss
OF faith has been occasioned bv the
TACT that, notwithstanding an almost
Nationwide protest against the I'M
olstrlouted profits tax. the admins
tratlon ordered its henchmen in Con-
gress to save the principle" But a
retention of the principle" means
that at any time President-con-
trolled Congress can revise the actual
rates upward, no matter how low thev
are placed today to placate present
opinion. This is uncertainty with a
vengeance. Business considers the
undistributed surplus tax as a death
sentence for prudence and thrift and
saving. 1t, therefore, wants the tax
completely erased from the present
law, principle and all. The show
down is here. The vote on this issue
Will make the record for the coming
campaign
Mr.. Roosevelt has refused to agree
to repeal. But Congress shows signs
OF listening to business men. For
after all if business men cannot oper-
ATE thelr businesses and they are lay
ing on workers because their books
SHOW red ink and orders are Cancelled
rlght and left, isn't it fair logic that
maybe Congress which listens to
what the actual managers of busi-
ness are saying will win the conf
dence of the business world? MIR.
Roosevelt has had five years to cure
economic ills. Business saws: Give
us the chance now"
In snort, business is asking whether
the Nation wants two years more of
Roosevelt domination and expert
mentation or two years of congress
sional independence Under a rep
resentative system of government it
was intended that the members of
Congress collectively or by a majority
vote would know what laws were best
Tor the people, and that it was dan
gerous to.leave functions of the Gov
ernment to the mind of one man.
especially If that mans pride and
stubbornness seemed more important
to be maintained than for him or his
followers in Congress to concede a
wrong.
Business men have not forgotten
that Mr.. Roosevelt promised to be the
first to acknowledge when he was
in the wrong. But he hasn't. The un-
distributed surplus tax has proved
the most mischievous law passed in
generation. 1t has been proved
mischievous by facts and figures Of
fered not only by big business men,
but by small ones, too; by Democrats
who have supported Mr. Roosevelt, as
well as by thousands of persons who
never participate in politics at all.
In the face of such evidence Mr..
Roosevelts continued insistence on
the principle" of the undistributed
surplus tax has produced a feeling
OF melancholy and encouragement
among business men which reflected
itself in lower and lower morale dur
ing January and February.
Now, however, comes encouraging
word that Congress is to act on its
own judgment. This means that Con-
gressmen who have their ears to the
ground hear some rumblings. They
suspect that next autumn the Ameri-
can nAOnle nav da ,uhof the r,oor,lo Of