The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-01-27
BY wEsTBROOK PEGLER

NEW YORK,-George Spelvin American,
has been thinking that he may be sucker
in opposing the draft of civilian labor because
when you get drafted for the Army or Navy
they put your old income tax on the spike
until after the war and six months extra and
nobody is silly enough to think that they are
ever going to crowd the boys for any of this
dough that they owed before they joined up
because that would be like handing them their
discharge bonus, or whatever they are going
to call it, and then grabbing it right back.
And so the way Spelvin figures it, well if you
get drafted to work in war factory well,
then you are dong your duty ror your country
according to the law and if you have to give
up SIPS week at the office and take $50
a week for the war job and it costs you
all OF that to live, well you can't get blood
out OF a rock and they hang your back
tax on the hook, too, just like they did with
the Army. Then, after the war is over and
you have say maybe around 10 or 20 million
OF these 1abor-draftees getting demobilized out
of their jobs and they are holding no pair,
so they get together and organize their own
veterans union on the order of the legion and
they also put in for a discharge bonus to tide
them over until they can get fresh work and
make a pay, and their legion goes down to
Congress and says the boys are sorry but
they can't pick up those old tabs for their
taxes. And, when you have had many organ
lied together and they just haven't got any
dough, anyway, why of course Congress will
say it would be dirty disgrace to bother
them about it so let us clean the hook and
everybody start square again with old Sam
All right, and so if you have got the labor
draft going real good say for three or four
years or maybe longer, well you will have
practically the entire population doing govern
nent service one way or another and you
suddenly discover that you haven't got any
taxpayers left, because it would be a foolish
expense and waste of motion to pay these
draftees certain salary for their government
work and make them fill out all kinds Of
crazy forms and guess-work problems and
kick some Of it back in the form OF taxes.
So the government just takes the tax off the
top every pay day and, after a while they
realize that this is silly, too and the easy
and economical way is just to pay everybody
certain amount and put mark in the
books to show that they would have paid So
and-so much taxes if they had received the
money.
In the meanwhile well, it certainly wouldn't
be fair to let corporations make a profit out
of your patriotic war work, because that would
be Just like renting out the Army to private
interests, so the corporations disappear from
the tax rolls too, and the stockholders they
20 busted because they don't get any dividends
and the stock isn't worth anything
We are lot of energetic, smart people
with lot of land and property and factories,
but nobody owns anything nobody can give
anybody else a job, so old Sam he has to
move in and run all the industries and stores
and saloons and everything. BY this time
Spelvin, he is used to taking orders and work
ing for the government and he kind of likes
this business of getting just so much and
never having to give any of it back and he
is getting kind of old, anyway, so he figures
he might just as we'll rock along the rest
the way like that.
He doesn't his own home any more
but the government gives HIM little place
to live in and regulates the price of meat.
potatoes cigarets and toddy and everybody
gets enough and nobody gives damn any
more and the best of it all is that Mr..
Spelvn American, is doing about as well and
living about the same this way as he would
if he had his old job back under high taxes,
and look at all the worry and figure-work it,
saves him.
Maybe once you get drafted you don't ever
get undrafted, because nobody says for how
long you got to serve in this labor army and
once you are in you can't just demobilize
yourself any more than soldier can, so may
be that is how it will be in that brave
new world of the future, everybody just taking
orders. no worry 10 responsibility, no poll
tics and all live alike and the monkey asl
good as man.