The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1939-11-17
Bruckart's Washington Digest
Bruckarfs Washington Digest
Home Folks Fed Up on War Talk;
Want to Know About Tax Problem
Considerable Transition From Interest in European Affairs
To Domestic Concerns Part of Public Is Noted;
Treasury to Borrow More Money.
BY WILLIAM BRUCKART
WNU Service National Press Bldg, Washington, D. c.

WNU service, NatlOnaA Fre
WASHINGTON. Observers, here
in Washington, have little way Of
their own by which they are able
to forecast the trend OF public
thought and interest. It is meth
cd that was developed solely from
experience. Most of us who attempt
to serve you, outside Of Washing
ton, as eyes and ears have learned
to watch the demand for speakers
and subjects upon which public men
are asked to talk. 1t is not an in
fallible method, but it is usually cor
rect. The only fly in the ointment
is that we must learn to distinguish
between the propaganda preachers
and the legitimate desires OF groups
to have government questions ex-
planned to them.
It is to be noted here, by way of
review, that three months ago the
bulk of the speeches by men from
Washington had to do with war, our
chances of getting involved, neu-
trality, etc. There were inter-
spersed with these, of course, the
usual truckloads of CUFF from Secre-
tary Wallace and the other self
appointed spokesman for agricul-
ture, rinds and cracklings from Sec
rotary Ickes, and about the usual
quantity of mouthings from the "su-
perior minds" whose owners are
greatly concerned in development
Of culture, liberal thinking. But it
was about the war and related SUBJ
jects that most people wanted to
know.
The scene is changing now; in
deed, a considerable transition al
ready has taken place. Home folks
are getting fed up, at last, and are
DESTROYS of knowing more about
home problems and what the gov
eminent intends to do about them.
It is trend most pleasant to con-
template. There simply can be no
doubt about the fact that If the peo-
pie of the United States forget about
that war in Europe and pay atten-
ton to their own business, we will
be able to stay out rather easily.
Comes an Awakening to
The Problem, of Taxation
With this background, then, let.
me call attention to the number Of
persons who appear at long last to
have awakened to the problem of
taxation-federal, state, county and
city. Obviously, when there is an
interest in taxation there is paral-
lei interest in what government does
with the money taken from it's citi-
zens. This interest surely exists
now to a greater extent than at any
time within recent months. More
and more inquiries are being re-
ceived, more and more requests
for discussion of the subject are
reaching officials in Washington.
And if my information from outside
sources be correct, there is SINH
lar interest being shown in the
states and cities.
In this period Of changing inter-
est, Secretary Morgenthau an
nounced that the United States
treasury is prepared to borrow
more money. In the next two
months, according to the Secretary,
the treasury will borrow an addi-
tional half billion dollars. It will
refund something like billion and
a quarter, also, but that process is
simply trading new bonds or notes
for old ones that fall due. The bor-
rowing is ''new'' money, in the sense
that new bonds will be sold and the
proceeds used by the treasury to
meet expenses, and naturally the
national debt will be increased by
that amount. 1t is well to remem-
Der that, as of November /, the
public debt was SAL, 139, 971 ,217, and
that there are several other billions
of bonds issued by such agencies
as the Reconstruction Finance cor
poration, the Home Owners Loan
corporation and debts guaranteed
by agencies like the Federal Hous-
ing administration, for which the
treasury is morally, If not actually,
responsible.
It is not curious, therefore, that
folks are asking each other: where
is this spending going to stop? or,
how are we going to pay off that
debt? or, what are our taxes going
to be in the future?
Tax Receipts for Nation
Astounding in Magnitude
am indebted to the federation
Of tax administration for some to-
tails of tax receipts for the nation
that are not only astounding in their
magnitude but startling in the i'm
plications they give.
The statistics disclose that the
American people paid $14, 811 ,000, 900
in taxes in 1888. This money was
collected by the federal, state, coun-
ty and city governments and some
odds and ends Of special taxing
districts which levied taxes for es-
pecial purposes. OF this amount,
the federal government collected
Ia