The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-08-07
ON THE
CAPITALS CUFF
BY HENRY ION

| Sen Walter George, the hoary tory
who probably would be a garnishee
lawyer in some Georgia backwoods
county instead of chairman of the SEN
ate finance committee if it were not
for the poll tax, is cooking up new
scheme to assure bigger and better
profits at the expense Of the U. S.
war effort.
Apparently oblivious of President
Rooseyelt's plea for equality of sacri-
flee to win the war, George announced
July 80 that his committee was con-
sidering more tax exemptions for
business. His excuse was that unless
there were exemptions, corporation
taxes might destroy some businesses
and drastically reduce profits for all.
This talk of reduced profits is rank
nonsense which the daily press is
helping George and the monopolists
to put over on the U. s. public. Prof
its are not going to be smaller be-
cause of taxation but bigger in spite
of it and you don't have to take our
word for it.
According to Labor Research Assn,
periodicals close to the financial mar
kets have no hesitation in seconding
the conclusion of the Magazine of
Wall Street in its July II edition that
corporate profits after taxes this
year, though mixed, should bulk larg-
Ell than last year" And last year,
according to the department of COM
merce, they were $40 above 1910.
Thanks to a very large volume"
the Magazine of Wall Street says i'll
its July rs edition, the great majority
of companies participating important
ly in the war activity will continue
to have earnings above the average
of the pre-war years, many will have
earnings very much larger than in
those peace years" And any adult
American knows that the peace years
in spite of the depression saw Amer
lean monopolists make the most ire
mendous profits in the history of the
world
Another indication OF how phony
is Georges argument appears (well
buried on the financial page) in the
July 80 edition of The New York
Times, which revealed that more U.
S. companies paid dividends in the
first half of 1912 than in the first
half of 1871.
Quoting from The Exchange, Off
cial New York Exchange magazine,
the Times however tries to show that
in spite of the increase in dividends
paid, profits declined. The magazine
says the aggregate dividend disburse-
ment was $50 less than in the 6
months ended June 80, 1941. This
would sound as though profits had de-
clined but we have the authority of
the Magazine of Wall Street that cor
porations in general have been hold
ing down actual dividend payments
to pile up hidden profits in reserve,
depreciation funds and other devices.
The aggregate disbursement figure
is also misleading. The average may
be pulled down by the dividends of
firms not directly profiting from war
orders, such as utilities, but the war
babies make big increases. The cleo
trical equipment group increased divi-
dend payments $500, the farm ma
chinery group increased 1880, rail-
roads $40.
While George was shedding tears
over the profiteers, the campaign to
freeze workers wages and broaden
tba tay hasa 40 anti-inflation meas
ures continued. The familiar argu-
ment that wage increases cause
prices to rise is given a trouncing in
the July issue of the AFL Labor's
Monthly Survey.
1--WE know" says the survey, that