Askov American., 1942-04-02
Fact And Opinion
A Story With Two Sides.
BY e. C. Stengelsen.

A Story With Two Sides.
She may be department store
saleslady earning $18 per week; she
may be the receptionist in a dentists
office getting SIG per week; she may
be stenographer with a weekly wage
of $40. She may be any one of that
vast army of underpaid salesgirls
and "white collar" workers If she
is single and without dependents, she
must pay a Federal income tax on
anything she earns in excess of $l4.43
per week.
In dollars and cents, the amount
she pays is small. But to her, it may
seem large. She was no more than
barely able to live from hand to
mouth as it was. Perhaps the extra
dollars deprived her of pair of shoes
she might have needed, or a low
priced dress.
But she hears everywhere that it
is the duty of all to help the country
in its war effort. So she pays the
tax, willingly and without grumbling.
She is even able to joke a little
about it.
The Bedford, Ohio, firm of Jack
& Heintz, Inc, manufacturers of air
plane motor starters, was awarded
government contracts totaling some
SO million dollars. On the floor of
Congress the other day, it was stated
that the firm received $500 per unit
from the government. The actual
cost of production was $239. If these
figures are correct, the government
paid Jack & Heintz Inc. a profit of
1851 per unit
In 1941 the firms president received
a salary of 100000. Miss Adelaide
Bowman, his secretary, was paid SAL
ary and bonuses totaling $39,356.
When asked to describe the duties
which justified such compensation, the
best answer Miss Bowman could
make was vague 81 just work"
Donald Lake, comptroller of the
company, was paid $25,153. Prior
to August, 1910, his salary was S24O
per month.
The firm of Jack & Heintz, Inc,
probably did not pay these enormous
salaries and bonuses merely because
it was good hearted. Actually, only
a small part of the sum came out of
the firms treasury. 1t simply
charged them as deductions from it's
income tax returns. Thus, it paid to
its employees the money it must 9TH
erwise have paid the government.
The only way the U. S. Treasury
got back some of the 1851 per unit
profit it had paid the firm was through
income taxes it collected individually
from President Jack, Miss Bowman
and Mr.. Lake. But is was far less
than the corporation itself would
have paid.
Mrs. Roosevelt's dancer-protege
was mercilessly scored in press and
radio comment for accepting $4,000
government job to teach the children
esthetic dancing as civilian defense
activity. Those in high place &C
tually responsible for the stupid blum
der of creating this silly division
escaped with nothing more than mild
and very restrained censure
So with Miss Adelaide Bowman and
Donald Lake. They are being widely
censured. Yet, it is hardly they who
are at fault. How many of us can
honestly say that under like cir
cumstances we would have turned
down s25,000 or $4,000 per year?
The fault lies with those in high
place so incompetent, or so needless
of the public's interest, that they per-
init profit such as that harvested
by Jack & Heintz, Inc. Little by little,
news of similar cases is breaking into
print. The impression is becoming
widespread-and, perhaps, justifably
that profits are today being made
in war manufacture which make the
proiteering of 1916-1918 look like
penny ante stuff.
We are seeing our national debt
climbing at dizzying rate. 1t is not
to be wondered at that many of us
see a direct connection between its
swift and tremendous growth and the
unconscionable profits the govern
ment is permitting.
Against this background of squan-
dering and lavish extravaganza in of
fetal Washington, we consider the
Administrations demand that the rise
in farm prices be halted; we hear a
growing demand for a ceiling over
wages; we listen to the continuous
complaint that we are apathetic and
| Indifferent.