The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1939-03-09

ception the Administrators pro-
gram of National Defense is NOV
ing through Congress with almost
as much speed and ease as the
Presidents New, Deal measures
moved four or Ave years ago.
The House of Representatives
turned down the proposal to es-
tablish a naval base on the Island
Of Guam in mid Pacific, but 9TH
,erwise there has been such com
plete bipartisan support, Of the
= Army and Navy program as to
indicate that Senators and Rep
resentatives believe that the folks
back home are worried about the
condition of world affairs and
don't want the United States to
be caught unprepared as we were
when matters came to the climax
of war in 1917.
At the same time, Congress is
trying to be careful about max
ing warlike gestures in the di-
rection of any particular nation,
though there have been several
speeches by irresponsible men,
bers of both Houses which, if TAX
en- seriously, might easily stir up
bad feeling abroad.
Fear of giving too much offense
to Japan is the reason behind
the refusal to make naval i'm
provements in Guam. That little
island was allotted to the United
States by the Treaty of Versaill-
es, at the same time that Japan
was given several smaller islands
not too far away.
Both nations are forbidden by
the terms of the Treaty to forti-
fly their island possessions.
Whether dredging out the harbor
of Guam to accommodate a few
batteships, or building drydock
or a repair shop for ships, max
ing the island a naval base, would
would violate the Treaty of Yer
sailles nobody on Capitol Hill is
quite sure, but the point on
which the Guam Improvement
plan was defeated was that it
could and probably would be in
terpreted by Japan as a threat
ening gesture.
To Restore Confidence
Apart from war prevention
measures, the clear purpose of
the Administration now appears
to be to restore the confidence
of business that there will be no
more experiments by Govern
ment of kind to brighten invest
ors. Numerous signs point to
real desire to encourage business
in the hope that the wheels of
industry can be started revolv-
ing at something like their form
er speed.
The ending of the controversy
between the Tennessee Valley
Authority and the Common
wealth & Southern electric pow
er interests is one of the signs.
T. V. A. finally bought out Com
monWealth for eight million dol
lars, regarded as fair price by
all concerned, and the President
announced that there would be
no more Government competition
with private power companies.
The hope is that this assurance
will open the pockets of invest
ors who would like to put several
billions into utility improve
ments.
The question Of taxes on cor
porate earnings and capital gains
is still holding investors back,
however. The President gave
notice that the new taxes, and
Secretary Morgenthau, for the
Treasury, reiterated that assur-
ance.
Tax Matters Studied
It remains to be seen, however,
how far the Administration will
cooperate in eliminating some of
the tax measures now on the
statute books, which business in
terests regard as handicapping
investment. The committees of
both Senate and House in charge
of tax matters are giving a great
deal of study to the proposal foc
the elimination of the tax on
corporate SURPRISES entirely, and
the reduction of the capital gains
tax law in such a way that if an
investor takes heavy risk and
earns a profit proportionate to
the risk, he will be permitted to
keep a fair share of his profit.
The man of the moment in
Washington is Harry Hopkins,
the new Secretary of Commerce,
former head of P. w. A. Mr..
HOPKINS is making a good i'm