Milford chronicle., 1953-05-22

least considerable truth in it. Therefore, some
recent remarks by the chairman of one of our
very biggest businesses which is a corner
stone OF war production, seem to deserve
wide distribution.
Speaking at a stockholders meeting, Ben
Jamln Fairless of u. S. Steel declared cate
gor1cally that this company "has never pros
pered from Americas participation in war"
Further, he said, it has taken "a financial
beating from the moment our country enter
ed the conflict"
He cited figures to prove this. In 1871.
Y. 5. Steel had profits of $116,000,0OO Heavy
drops occurred as soon as we entered the
war. In 1915, when the war effort was at
peak, profits sunk to $58, 200, ,0O0-less than
half of the Al figure. When peace returned.
a strong upward trend set in, and S215,OOO,-
900 was earned in 1850. Then the Korean
conflict swung into high gear, as did the re-
armament program generally, and profits
fell to S184,O00,000 in 1851 and to S143,-
100000 in 1852.
Why should great companies find war
financially less profitable than peace? The
Wall Street Journal provided an answer in
these words: "The reasons are clear. During
wartime, production increases enormously,
but so do payrOlls, taxes and government
controls 1t is not a normal expansion
with all the economic factors that should
govern a cOmpany'S safe growth taken into
account. Mr.. FairleSs spoke for more than
his company when he said that there is no
profit in war"
An equally significant and interesting
view came from another man who can speak
from experience and authOrity-Keith FunS-
ton, president of the New York Stock Ex-
change. American business does not want
war, he said, whether it's a hot war or a
cold war or any bastard offspring of war"
He then went into what caused the fall in
stock prices following the Kremin's latest
peace offensive. The market, he noted, will
always respond to shock Observation-Disclosures
it's the danger of war or the hope of peace,
political upheaval or a labor crisis. But.
he continued "the markets senSitiVity to
sudden news developments Of national or in
ternatiOnal significance does not mean that
investors all over the country applaud de-
StructlVe developments or condemn cOnStruc-
tive events" 1t is q matter of record that
when the Korean war broke out stock prices
Slumped much more severely than they did
this year.
In the 164 years since Washington was
president we have been at war about 10 per
cent OF the time and at peace about 80 per
cent of the time. We did not build great
country because of those years we were at
War-but In spite of them. The vast major
lty OF Americans are too intelligent and too
Well-lnfOrmed to permit even the most skill
full prOpagandiSt to beguile them into believ-
ing that American business is so intent on
selI-destructlOn that 1t prefers war to peace.
5000
HOW'S YOUR BUYING POWER?
This is an era of big wages and big sal
aries. But, after the ravages of taxes and
initiation are taken into account, our take
home pay and our buying power is, in many
cases, much lower than it was in allegedly
less prosperous times
The Foundation for Economic Education
recently .pUblicized an interesting example of
this. Back in 1850, baseball star Ted Will
Gams was given the most lush contract in the
games histOry-7an estimated S12500O a
season. The prior high was the $4,000 paid
to the legendary Babe Ruth. So, on the face
OF 1t, Williams was earning more than half
again as much as Ruth.
However, after the deduction of federal
income taxes (and without making allow
ance for any other taXes) it turns out that
Ruth's 1881 take-hOme pay was $68,535,
while Williams take-hOme pay was down to
S62,O28. And when a further computation
is made, and that take-hOme pay is translated
into actual buying power, it is found that
Williams real income was but little more
than half of Ruth's
Some people will answer that they aren't
concerned with the financial experience of
people in $4,000 or S125,00O income brack-
cts. But taxes bite deep into the medium
and low income groups tOO-after all, the
federal income tax rate starts at 22.5 per
cent and goes up very fast from that bottom.
And certain kinds of indirect taxes, which
constitute large part of the selling cost
OF food, clothes, housing and everything else,
often hit the man of moderate means harder
than the man of large means.
The point is this: The current drive to
cut government. costs, balance the budget.
and bring about tax reduction is in every
bodys interest.
5000
EDITORS SAY "NOp'
The American Press magazine recently
pOlled a large number of country newspaper
editors on their views concerning various
problems and issues which are now in the
public eye. One question dealt with federal
health insurance. The editors stand on this
was one Of nearly unanimous opposition