The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-05-28

p4d11 1tOW III 4O4 III Vic A@cA0t CAV
expected to be made in July, due
to the general dissatisfaction with
the present method.
Congressmen are being flooded
with complaints in which these
objections are most numerous: %
Many people who have no right
to them are getting K cards (en-
titling them to an unlimited sup
ply of gasoline); (2) gas station
attendants are giving more gas
oline than ration cards call for to
their friends and are refusing to
sell to strangers; 90 many people
are embarrassing honest gas sta
ton owners by trying to persuade
them to give two rations for each
punch of a ration card; (4) ration
boards are playing favorites; (5)
congress itself set a ruinous ex-
ample for the country as a whole
by insisting that all of its men,
bers were entitled to special favor:
Officials here who have ana
lived the situation feel that the
many schemes used to circumvent
rationing do not indicate an un-
willingness on the part of the peo-
pie to cooperate, but are more
Indicative of the public's quick
ness to sense that the system is
impractical and cannot possibly
bring about a fair distribution
of sacrifice.
They point out too that the ac-
ton of congressman, WPA work.
ers, state and city officials and
politicians in general to exempt
themselves from rationing set an
example which led to people
feeling that their own influence
was measured by the type OF card
they were able to get. Many
people were made to feel that it
was a mark of social inferiority
sort of like living on the wrong
side of the railroad track-to be
limited to an A card emitting
them to the minimum supply of
gasoline.
The Office of Price Admins
tration is studying the flaws in
the present rationing system and
is expected soon to announce a
revised plan which will overcome
the many present weaknesses in
gasoline rationing. It is expected
that the new plan will be more
stringent and will put less res
possibility for its success on the
shoulders of gas station owners.
It is believed that the many
abuses of gasoline rationing have
brought about a definite setback
to morale in the East. the greatest
damage teing caused by theU. S.
senate voting, with only two dis
senting votes, against a resolution
to ration the gasoline of congress-
men themselves.
The new tax program, aimed
at new taxes totaling almost nine
billion, dollars, is beginning to
take shape although it is still
doubtful if congress will agree to
act on it until after the November
elections. Each suggested form
of taxation brings protests from
the groups which it would hit
hardest and the committee in
charge faces an extremely diff
ficult task in determining what
forms of taxation would be fair
est to the majority of people.
Labor groups are protesting a.
gainst decreasing exemptions on
personal income tax to include
more people of low income and
the committee fears that it would
cause new labor disturbances if
this was done or if a sales tax,
hitting the lower income groups,
was put LLrOuSn.
Those with higher incomes ex-
pect to pay more taxes but feel
strongly that the lower income
groups, which have increased
their wages considerably as a re-
suit of war work, should be sub
ject to higher taxes.
Furthermore, it is pointed out
by those who are fighting in
flation that the greatest problem
is the billions of extra income be-
ing paid to war workers which is
far in excess of the value of goods
which will be available for pur-
chase by the consumer. There
fore, they point out, this extra,
unspendable income must be
drained off by taxes or by en-
forced savings, otherwise infla-
ton is bound to set in in spite of
price fixing.
A plan to deduct 10 per cent of
all wages at source for investment
in war saving bonds seems to be
in the cards, although, at the re-
quets of Secretary of Treasury
Morgenthau, it probably will not
be considered until July. The
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