Evening Star Newspaper, June 4, 1937, Page 11

THE Tax Campaign Held Class War Controversy May Prove Boomerang, Observer Declares. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. UST how much actual tax money is involved in President Roose- velt's campaign against so-called evasion or avoidance of income taxes? The President said to Congress that the mone: to balance the budget and might be tn that he that e money obtained t wnet o ing and that covered ! would go a long toward bal- & income 3 outgo was needed red meant ough id be from ose who were hically or rwise avoid- taxes \ese re- way ancing and days, But The officia of I persons with than $100.000 1035 a gross income ol d in the vear 370,000, a ye Method of Figuring Net. derived by 40,000 of ome these that to 510,000 people any ning after axes from alread 4 about per cent ome in $436.906.000 h ardly iget years $3.000.000,000 have present that 100 the net income could be confiscated per cent how dent’s as he much is embraced campaign is indicates, most honest and tha are trying var avoidance. #nd 90 would more of a sn ots met £ 10 per cent a are honest that by adding one- 1o o RYOSS of above $100600 a year, or 8,051,000 of income is actually per cent mean Average Tax Rate. rate b in these if we use would mear 000, or about m to obtain which has decided that & con- should be average tax brackets is 42 per cent a 30 per cent fi that half $68.0 £34 025500, is the of the President gre al investigation b f the same method of calculation i+ applied to incomes of $50.000 a year or over an additional $65,000,000 would be at stake. s conceded in message that some used to avoid taxes are legal he e r WAy of the have been goi s ivary the President’s of the methods Likewise 1gressional investigation t will be discomered tha so-called tax avoidances ng on for seve tax law that ha What the adm s not that it lacks t en which w hand and te e on tax money d will not cr at the be the one ships t same tten gen tions for ta sm For ral axpave: have and cla: wes and c he Constit be and burden- | time AWS to n terms be 2 rary to rates can Bome pose legis of the It is not on b have been | there are aggregate | rs is too small com- tax return to that only being un- collect the administration now seeks the rich and the thrifty t by unfavorable publicity they will be shamed into paying more taxes than they legally are supposed 0 pay Charges Class Warfare Waged, This becomes part and parcel of | the class war which has been waged by Presid Roosevelt as a prim part of campaign for | popu favor with since he became a candidate for the presidency. Mr. Roosevelt's theory that the masses will accept these sntagonisms and hold them only as ® basis for proper legislative correc tion. Unfortunately never given much the effects of elass an and stability get new loopho! is that means to rpose s is cor a war of eration ts hates and of the United States Such ou sts as are oc 'Ting in the Jabor situation today, for example, are regarded by him as merely the grow- ng pains of labor with its new-found powers of collective bargaining. In the final analysi over tax evasion may prove a boom- erang against the administration. When the come out, as they hould W why the administration four years has not the controversy facts been collecting taxes from the obviously illegal evad- | ers and why it has not before this recommended legislation to curb the tax avoiders. The practices have been known to the Treasu: r years, while the present administration has been alming it has been plugging “leaks.” the loopholes can't be plugged by Jaw it might be a dangerous thing to etart the custom of trying to stop svoidance of taxes through the simple process of publicity tack wou which in ealled bla Effect of Campaign. Unless the Treasury is able to prove eonclusively that all the cases of tax avoidance have come within the law, the administration will by congres- sional inquiry convict itself of having known about tax evasion and failed to punish the guilty. If the inquiry proves that all the | eases of avoidance have been legal, then the question arises what remedies | ate life is customarily in his message | also | paying | of | ing the masses ever | the President has | to | onism on the future peace | the public will want to know | for the last | This form of at- | Id be a kind of extortion | What’s Back of It All Congress’ Fear of Veterans Held Cause of Speedy Insurance Veto. BY H. R. BAUKHAGE. F THE Germans had been as afraid of American soldiers as Congressmen are of veterans, the World War would have been shorter and funnier, Veterans are still laughing over the way both Houses hurdled that presidential veto of the bill to extend the grace period on conversion of war risk term insurance. Only some 20,000 ex-soldiers will benefit. The other three and three-quarter millions will suffer. ridden with almost no debate at all. It seems incredible. The veterans lobby, if we must use short words, can wield & rubber stamp when it wants to, but it didn't even whisper a suggestion on this bill. Congress cAught & faint odor of a soldier vote and didn’t wait to count noses, just followed its own, | Now, the men who converted their war insurance in the stipulated time will simply have their dividends shaved to pay for the late comers. What the early birds got this time was just the worms * % x What a Government agent ought to know: There were just two questions in the latest civil service examina- tion for prospective “public rela- tions” employes. One involved the rewriing of a press release. The other, the ‘writing of a little thesis on the spot on this ticklish sub- ject: “The Necessity of Economy in Government.” X Ok ¥ % The Supreme Court closed its most successful run with an Average daily attendance of 1,390 for the 91 davs. Of course. all the customers didn't get seats. was up every day. Most of them never got to see a regular perform- ance. But they looked the place over, liked it s0 well that hundreds of them had themselves photographed, draped among the pillars of the portico. Even the Capitol steps and the White House drive can no longer compele as background, Now the building will be “dark” until Fall. Incidentally, part of the lighting effect, the great, faintly cream-tinted sateen sheets that were hung over the red curtains behind the bench are being sent to the laundry. They are really reflectors which supplement the powerful lamps on the high ceiling and make it possible for the justices to read their pieces—all except Justice Roberts, of course, who alwavs knows his by heart But the veto was over- * press The S. R. O. aign * ok Kk When Justice Van Devanter left, he left his chair behmd him ~two, in fact. The one he occupied for nearly 26 years is now a part of the museum.” into which the old court room in the Capitol has been con- verted, while the other he used this vear is awaiting its new occupant. A Secretary of State may have his desk—at least Mr. Bryan took his when he departed—but a seat on the bench, or behind it, even though it ix tailored to fit the occupant, still belongs to Uncle Sam. * X * The movie conception of the hard-boiled newspaper man doean't seem 1o apply to the boys assigned to the State Department. They recently had their press room renovated and the Government “Art Department,” New Deal ward of the United States Treasury, where the W. P. A. paintings are curated—was appealed to. Seems the latter had some goods that wouldn't move, among them two naughty pictures out of Chicago's hotcha black belt Just for fun, they were accepted and hung in the press room as a sort of. oh. call it a spoof. eh, what? Horrors! Indignant reporters were so shocked that the pictures withdrain the spoofing went on. They were slipped into the sanctum of connoisseur of interior decorations. who has charge of furnishing our Embassies and Legations abroad. Two etchings were dis- placed to give them room Spoofers were spoofed. Mr. Merrill liked the pictures, he said. But somebody didn't. They're back in the Treasury again, waiting for cus- tomers Conyr were ght. 1937 by the North American Newspaper Alliance, Inc ) |FALL KILLS PASSENGER GROCER AND SON FINED ON LAKE ORE SHIp FOR ROW WITH OFFICER Massachusetts Man Drops 50 Feet Fushed and Struck While Put- Into Hold of Vessel at Duluth Dock. Associated Prass ting “‘Ticket” on Truck, Po- liceman Testifies. Joseph Shankman, 44, and his son, Louis, 23, grocers atL 400 Kennedy By ith DULUTH, Minn.. June 4.—Ralph H Mairs, 35, of Waltham, Mass., was lied last night when he fell 20 feet | into an almost empty hold of the steamer J. H. Macoubrey at a North- western coal dock George W. Cole, master of the Ma- | coubrey, said Mairs boarded the ship | in Ashtabua, Ohio, May 30. Capt. Dennis T. Sullivan of the Ma- rine Inspection Service, said an ine vestigation will be conducted in Buf- falo, destination of the ore carrier. branch of Police Court in front of their store on May 26. was affixing a ticket to a truck owned the grocer “pushed” him. Louis, officer said, then struck him on shoulder. R. J. Cain, street, & witness, Wright's testimony. Disorderly con- duct charges pending against the pair the 5303 Sixth vised to stop the avoidance and when it comes to drawing a law affecting all taxpayers the whole system of income ws will have to be revised the “spirit of the law” is to be the new standard of ethics and pa- triotism, then all officials of the Gov- ernment of the United States ought promptly sell all their tax-exempt | bonds or else start the custom of pay- | the Treasury on a parity with other taxpayers who are not so fortu- nate as to own securities that are legally exempt. When it comes to Government by publicity, much can be done right here in Washington to arouse the patriotism of the wealthy people inside the administration whose example would be valuable in influ- encing the wealthy people outside the administration, Judge Walter Casey. DANCE PLANNED The Burleith Citizens’ Association will give a dance at the Kenwood | Country Club on Tuescay night, June |15, as its last entertainment of the seacon, it was announced yesterday by Gordon E. Cleark, president. To begin at 9 o'clock, the entertain- ment will include a floor show with dancing and vocal numbers. Mr | Clark urged a1l members to attend and | bring their friends. Tickets may be secured at the door, he said. COMPLETE-UNIT AIR CONDITIONING That the Small Store Can Afford-and Can’t Afford To Be Withont! Tt's not only a question of comfort—it's a matter of business. No atore can afford to be without summer air conditioning, and here's a complete conditioning system that even the smallest store can afford. %75@.? AIRTEMP AIR CONDITIONER Low first eost—low operating cost. TEMP works just like the bi See the Double- Spread AIRTEMP AIR- g-scale units «+. provides comfortable coolness, takes out moisture and circulates the air. Call Metro- politan 4840 for complete information. RIFFITH: (ONSUMERS (OMPANY l l I 1413 New York Av Magazine W. MEtropolitan 4840 of & legislative character can be de- M EVENING STAR, HE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not Such opinions are presented in necessarily The Star’s. The Star’s effort to give all sid readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. Tax Evasion and Spending Reforms Other Than Plugging Loopholes Might | Prove Beneficial. BY DOROTHY THOMPSON. HE attitude of the average citi- zen, rich, poor or just com- fortably off, toward the in- come tax was so perfectly ex- pressed by Grampa in “You Can't Take It With You” that all audiences, whether composed of economic royal- ists or just plain tolks, shouted with joy, Gram- pa, you recall, “didn't believe in it.” And he was willing to discuss the matter with the Treasury in- spector, but only on the basis of what he was go- ing to get for his money. He doubt- ed, very seriously, whether he got :'(f”:h":gd":nvd: Dorothy Thompson. most of us. We have had increas- ingly little to say about it, even through our elected representatives. Great gobs of it are just banded over to the administration to spend as they see fit, and if they want to buy piccolos to improve the musical sense of mountaineers or settle fami- lies in a deserted village, attended by | nurses in the form of social workers, to take their economic temperatures three times a week and record in in- terminable card catalogues their ways of feeding the baby and dressing him they can't expect enthusiasm from the contributors. People with country estates have paid their income taxes and dismissed their servants in order that the ser- | vants might go on the relief rolls and be worse paid for doing worse work It's patently against the spirit of the law to incorporate & pleasure estate and write off its luxuries as losses; on the other hand, it was suggested 1o me some months ago by a New Deal official that T might buy myself a few thousand acres of eroded land for a song and have it reforested by the C. C. C. boys at Government expense, and that seemed to me a rather more immoral procedure. Every one, all the time. sees men potiering around the W. P. A who could be put to work constructive! f only the Government would leave one enough to apend employing labor money Outguessing Devisers. Which does not mean that this column ix defending income tax evagion. But the startled hullaballoo — | About the ways and means found is rather iaughable, because the pro- | cedure has been going on for decades. will be heard later in the week by | ment offcials, { Rich people employ lawyers to tell them exactly how much the law will let them get by with. Some of the suggestions are indeed ingenious and certainly were never foreseen by the authors of the laws. But when it comes to finding legal loopholes for doing something plainly contrary to the spirit of the lJawmakers. how about | street, were fined $20 and $10, re-|the President's plan to pack the Su- spectively, vesterday by Judge Robert preme Court? E. Mattingly in the United States if you can get away with that and on assault | immoral if you try to make the most charges in connection with an alter- | advantageous kind of corporation in cation with Policeman Herbert Wright | order to get around the tax laws It's apparently smart Some of us resent having our tax According to Wright's testimony, he money used to pay salaries to officials to make propaganda for something by the elder Shankman, which was | we never voted for, don't want and | parked too far from the curb, when ' think is immoral. Actually, the greatest graft in in- the | come tax evasion comes from those who are rich enough to lend their corroborated | money at low interest to the Govern- ment and thus evade having to pay any income tax at all, and Govern- who are exempt from State or Federal taxes, depending on who employs them. Why a judge with & $20,000-a-year income shouldn't have to pay what & physician with | WASHINGTON D. (., FRIDAY, es of questions of interest to its the same income must, has always | been unclear to me. People who pay through the nose | are artists, writers and creative work- ers, in those brief seasons when they are prosperous. Miss Margaret | | Mitchell, for instance, spends 10 years of her life and all of her experience | |in writing & novel. By one of those | | occasional miracles it sells hundreds |of thousands of copies, and Miss | Mitchell, over a year or two, has to report an income, and pay on it, which may run into hundreds of thousands | | of doliars. It is possible that she will |Pay 70 per cent of her earnimgs as | |taxes. Actually, she is paying a | capital Jevy. It is statistically predictable that no | matter how many more novels she | wriles, she will never again have a | financial success in any way com- parable to “Gone With the Wind.” ’BHL the Government acts as though JUNE the 10 yvears of work were all tele- | scoped into one year, and as though | royalties from a book, which is com- | pletely a work of individual creation, | were the same thing as royalties from | & coal mine. The bulk of the return | cannot even be classified as “earned | income.” It is treated as though 1t were a lucky strike in gold, Singers Have Capital Depletion. Nor can the artist write off deple~ tions of capital, as the capitalist can A singer may not argue with the ‘Treasury Department that the human voice, for concert or operatic pur- | poses, has & limited span of life. Nor | may the writer urge that the creative | faculty is not inexhaustible and is actually depleted forever by every major work. Also, the tax inspectors habit of making perfectly decisions as to what shall not be allowed exemption. If a lec- turer, talking in 20 cities 20 times in a month, finds it necessary to his continued existence to sleep in draw- ing rooms on trains and engage suites in hotels in which to meet reporters the Treasury officials mayv simply decree that the expenses are exor- bitant, no matter what the vouchers show. Then it becomes a question | not of what the law says, but of wha two not disinterested individuals think. | have a arbitrary or shall Revision Proposed. If Congress would tunity afforded by the President to reconsider the whole iax system, in- cluding the capital gains and undis- tributed tax, something constructive might be accomplished. We might find out, for instance, that our p ent system of putting the bulk taxation directly upon productive dustry and letting the rich rentier living from Government bonds get off acot free. has exactly the opposite effect from adding to employment and increasing prosperity, use the oppor- At the same time, Congress might consider whether social security ar- rived at by pay-roll taxes falling heaviest on the largest employers of labor and upon the youngest and most | vigorous workers is really a contri- bution to a juster civilization. As the tax system now operates the indus- trialists who employ many men and few machines pay more than those ' | who employ few men and many ma- chines. And the same Government which asserts that there is a tech- nological unemployment ingeniously devises & means to accelerate it This column hopes that all tax evaders are caught and forced to cough up. But it also hopes that the Government will encourage more hon- esty and willingness on the part of the taxpaver to meet his obligations by spending the money in a more careful fashion. Otherwise the task of the ‘Treasury Department will become comparable to the task of enforcing prohibition (Copyright, 197 “| THOUGHT THE : w N [ WOULD BE THE END OF ME! BUT MY SISTER-IN-LAW GAVE ME A TIP THAT BROUGHT M AMAZED ! THE THERMOMETERS GONE UP ANOTHER 5° BUT | FEEL 20° COOLER THAN THIS MORNING., AND “THE COOLNESS LASTS/ g BLESSED RELIEF” VE FOUND THAT MAKING UP A BIG PITCHER OF TEA EVERY MORNING —AND EPING ITON ICE — RRIES ME THROUGH THE WHOLE DAY SUNGLE EXPLORER KEEPS COOL WITH TEA—Dr. W. E. Aughin- baugh, famous medical author- ity and explorer, has spent years working in the sweltering tropical belt of America. ND 1 FR ing jungles is no vitality and Vi s always carr ualify as 2 “Explor 1t takes explorer . i can ‘:\(\;:\t)" on beag'mg th do it is drinking (cac.o like tea to get )?,u feeling that way. £Or. y tea an e heat. There’s M ol, and keep Yol 4, This Changing World 1937, Value of President’s Discretionary Power Under Neutrality Act Seen Demonstrated. BY CONSTANTINE BROWN, HOSE who have been criticizing the new neutrality bill because it gave unlimited discretionary powers to the President, leaving nothing for the representatives of the Nation, are shouting “mea culpa” now. It might be that the President advised by the State Department would play favorites. But, in the light of what has happened in the last few days, it would have been an unmitigated tragedy if members of Congress had their own way about directing the international relations of this country. * K % % From the statements made in and outside Congress and from the actions advocated by some Sena- tors and Representatives it appears obvious that they are acting emo- tionally without having taken the trouble of learning the facts of the present Mediterranean crisis. To ask the United States Government to apply sanctions against Ger- many and Italy now would be precipitating a crisis without doing any good to anybody. There will be plenty of opportunities to throw the hiame on what may happen in Europe this Summer on Germany and Italy. But even the French and the British admitted that the Spaniards had acted unwisely in bombing without apparent provocation the battle- ship Deutschland. * ok ¥ X The withdrawal of the Germans and the Italians from the Non- Intervention Committee in London has broufght out the fact that the supervision exercised by the fleets of the four nations was just so much bunk. The Italians say that now that they are out of that committee they will do on their own some real policing of the seas and that hence- forth there will be no further “leakages.” I seemed queer to neutral observers in Spain that despite the presence of the patrol ships so much war material and so many new men were being added to the Franco and the lovalist forces almost every week. Now the Germans and the Italians will see that no more “food and medical supply” shipments find their way to Barcelona and Valencia, while the British and the French will take care of the large consign- ments of “agricultural machinery and bottles for sherry wines” which were reaching the combatant forces regularly, * X K % Haile Selassie has plaved a dirty trick on the British and the Prench. There was a scheme afoot to deprive the representative of the nominal ruler of Ethiopia of his seat at the League of Nations It had been arranged that the chairman of the Credentials Committee, who heretofore glanced casually at the credentials of the delegates, should refuse admittance to the Ethiopian delegate on the grounds that his papers were signed by men who do not exercise any actual authority in their country Selassie was tipped off by some friends about this secref arrange- When the League of Natiwons met there was no Ethiopian delegate present. Thus, the chairman of the Credentials Committee could say mothing. He could not unseat a member who was not present. ment * % x Gabriclle d’Annunzin. the famous Fascist poet, has set in his garden on Lake Garda the front section of the destrover on which he entered Fiume. A four-inch gun is mounted and he fires salutes on festival days. D'An- nunzo parades on thoske occasions in an admiral’s uniform A wealthy German purchased a villa directly in front of the poet’s palace. He had the unfortunate idea of painting it in a particularly vile shade of yellow. The esthe! sense of the poet was affected and he served the German an ultimatum to repaint his house. The German paid no attention. A few davs later, the owner of the yellow monstrosity, received a 12-hour ultimatum. He was told that unless he complied at once with the admiral's demand his villa would be bombarded. And when only 3 hours were left before the ultimatum expired it was noticed that d’Annunzio had hoisted the battle signal and was clearing decks for action. The prefect of the district telephoned Mussolini who gave immediately orders that the house should be painted in any color the poet wanted at the Italian government's expense * % ok ok Paris jewelers are reported to have reaped a golden harvest from the Windsor-Warfield wedding. In order to avold the heavy duty on jewelry the duke and his friends purchased all the bride’s presents in Paris. All these trinkets put together are said to represent a considerable fortune. W. P. A. AIDE GIVES VIEWS ON PLANNING Tells Conference It Must Not Be Mandatory and Must Reflect Popular Desire. By ihe Associated Press DETROIT, June 4 -—Jacob Baker, assistant administrator of the Works Progress Administration, told the Na- tional Planning Conference here yes- terday the responsibility of a demo- cratic State is to increase the national income-—the increase to “flow through the pockets of the whole population.” fonal planning in & democracy final end of providing more for all people.” No planning fully justifies itself in & democracy,” he said, “unless it has A positive relation to continued in- crease of national productivity, im- provement of standards of living and an increased share to everybody of | the things produced.” | Such planning, he said, must not be mandatory “It must reflect popular desire and popular will. It can be vigorous, strong and intelligent, but not mandatory " He sald the Nation's problem was not “how to divide what we have” but “how to produce more to divide.” Baker urged a national conference | on productivity to determina the coun- try's economic possibilities things Baker said. must be directed “to the Headline Folk | and What They Do Vicar WhoUnited Duke and Mrs. Warfield For- mer Slum Worker. BY LEMUEL F. PARTON. APOLEN and Josephine wers married by a civil ceremony in 1796. The lack of church offices fretted Josephine. She nagged Napoleon until he consented to a religious ceremony. It was per- | formed May 18, 1804, In 1809 Napoleon let it be known that he intended to divorce Josephine She was 45 years old, her beauty had faded, she was all but friendless, for- lorn and desperate. e appealed to the church. High dignitaries sus- tained her. Then one of Napoleon's lawyers recalled that the parish priest had not been present at the religious | rites. On that technicality Napoleon ®ot his divorce from the dincesan au- thorities, T een ca nals dis- sented. They were exiled to remote | parishes and stripped of their prop- They became the “black cardi- Ecclesiastical law never did Rev 1t straight. The great hierophants of state religion have battled over it for a century and more Not the parish priest rate, & parish priest steps behind the Hawthorne hedge: ham to marry Mrs. Wallis Warfield and the Duke of Windsor. This writer telephoned several church authorities to inquire about Rev. R. Anderson Jardine's range and status under the Anglican dominion and to get some kind historical backdrop for t event. Replies ranged away back into medieval theology. All one can make of At the action the impulsive little Vicar of Darlington ix, as the diplomats would sav, a “fair accompli” and his superiors will take no action ed problems of Angl lit the hopper of history, along with phine and Napoleon and their ma riages, with and without benefit of clergy Rev. Mr. Jardine and W have much in himself masters a by agitat as did the duke r misery and promising his mild stretch of th rogative, published with of the royal romance, mig been an incitement to th deep in anonvmi the world | He is a st high-church, authoritarian nose and & low-church, brachycephalic head with thinning hair. He was an un- believer as a young man converted at a wayside chapel by a vision of Christ. He is a low-ch rchman, evane gelical, & worker in slums and among the outcast for many years. He has been described as & ‘‘romantic Chris- tian.” As such, history certainly hands him an elegant entrance He will have much to tell his parishioners at Darlington. His salary there is $2,000 & year. It would perhaps be | wrong to aav he came out from be- hind & hawthorne hedge. He jumped right over it, into the midstream of history. And what did Edward have | In his vest pocket for the parson? but, at any from of Dur- of it ndsor seem to common. The vicar got pastors, thority"” miners, ers in au- the Welsh deploring vicar, man As in with a In 1913 Harry and Jack Oohn, emeging from Hollvwood's “poverty row.” put on “Trafic in Souls” for $4,500, and it grossed $450,000. Thev schemed a way to make money in mosing pictures. The iden was to spend less than they took in. It worked. The depression never touched them., Today the Federal Covern- ment, wearing its heart on its sleeve, i be known that Hary Cohn's salary last year, as president of the Columbia Pictures Corp., was $182,040 Jack Cohn, as vice president, drew $104,260. (Coprright, 1937.) Convicted of speeding, two motor cyclists in New Zealand were ordered by the judge to take a course in road | courtesy and safe driving I'M SO WEAK FROM THE HEAT | CAN HARDLY DRAG MYSELF ANOTHER STEP/ GOSH, ELLA, HOW DO YOU KEEP SO FRESH AND COOL- LOOKING ? YOUR de B WE Tx LL BET YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE NEWS ABOUT |ICED TEA.THEN GET ;\, SOME NOW, ELLA, &S SISTER TO THANK SHE TOLD M| ABOUT TEA VITALIZING TEA comee trom INDIA, CEYLON, and SUMATRA. Buy a good brand of Orange Pel holiday hike. That's why d plenty first-hand au- The way 1 othing W. E. Aughinbaugh E “The difference be- tween tea and other so0-called cooling drinks is this: Tea does more than mere- ly quench thirst, Tea actually lowers the body temperature. Tts cooling effect is more lasting.” JAVA- TEA KEEPS YOU €OOL