The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 5, 1917, Page 7

a N A\ N SN 8 Q %1 oo ,"\\Q\;‘\\\\\’\ &3 S \ \\ “"":‘.\\\ \ ) ’//\ i _. e N ,\\\\\\\ e g ¢ vy @ W \\\ @/ - W Ot A\ N S 0 \ A\ \\\ & \\\ .-‘\\\\ axation Those With Swollen Incomes Oppose Even the Conserva LONDON detective once was taking a clever thief, cap- tured in England, back to New York to stand trial. On b the trip across the Atlantic the thief was allowed the liberty of the ship. He succeeded in stealing.the de- ‘tective’s "handcuffs and papers. and when the ship reached New York he ‘clapped’ the handcuffs on the detect= ive's wrists and turned the.detective over to the police, telling them that the detective was the thief they wanted. Of course after a time the real detect- ive was able to convince the police that he wasn't the thief, but in the meantime the thief had made his es- cape. This is. just what is happening in the United States today. At Washing- ton, D. C, the United States senate is considering a war finance bill, proposed by the governnent to raise millions of dollars that will be needed daily un- der .war. conditions.. 'While ‘senators " are making long speeches and gener- ally marking time, Big Business is making: a nation-wide attack upon the government policy of raising a large part of the cost of war by taxes. Big Business is spending thousands of dol-~ lars to distribute press matter among newspapers and magazines, it is mak- ing use of the subsidized universities ‘and ‘a subsidized press in its campaign against the government. And whenever anybody proposes that the government plan of raising a good-sized portion of the cost of the war by taxing war profits be followed, or any time any one proposes an im- provement upon the government plan by raising ALL the cost of the war by taking war profits, Big Business turns its papers against that person and calls him a “traitor,” THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRAITORS AND PATRIOTS Funny situvation, isn't it? The government, in effect, proposes raise. ing half the cost of the war by taxes and half by loans. war. " If you are Big Business and spend millions to attack the government plan to take a small part of the war profits; if you say all the cost of the war ought to be provided by loans so as to let Big Business escape—you .are a Patriot, If you are just a Common Person, - and say that the government plan ought to be followed, by dividing the cost between taxes and loans, or if you go farther and suggest an. im- provement by raising the entire cost of the war by taking war profits, you are a Traitor. Before the war was declared Presi- dent Wilson, in his war message to congress, came out flatly for a plan of Taising part of the war billions by loans and part by taxes, the latter to fall heavily on swollen incomes of the rich. In the past nearly all wars have been financed almost entirely by loans that the common people eventually have to pay, and what taxes there have been have béen largely borne by the common people, instead of the rich. President Wilson said, in his mes- sage, after telling congress that war ~ These Dollars Refuse to Be Drafted. They President Wilson proposes raising a large part of the war revenue by taxing swollen incomes and taking a part of the huge profits made by individuals and corporations as a result of the The proposal is a mild and conserva- tive one beside what Great Britain has done, and not anywhere near what those who advo- cate conscription of wealth want. ministration’s policy is being fought to the last ditch by the press subsidized by Big Business. The big financial institutions, the war profi- teers and the rich are overlooking no bets. Yet the ad- would involve raising of troops and additional food supplies: /I “It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to the government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can be equitably sustained by the present generation, by well con- ceived taxation. “I say “sustained so far as may be equitably by taxation, because it seems to me that it would be most unwise to base credits ,which will now be necessary, entirely upon money bor- rowed. It is our duty, I most respect- fully urge, to protect our people, so far as we may, against the very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans.” z PLATE MATTER FURNISHED PAPERS Following - the president’s recom- mendation, Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo prepared and presented to congress a bill designed to carry out this plan. The bill proposed to-raise half the money needed for the war by and Their Owners Are Traitors and Who Are Making Money Out of War tive Financial Plan of President Wilson taxes and half by bonds, of which the recent $2,000,000,000 Liberty Loan issue Wwas the first installment. SLH The bill was passed by the lower house of congress substantially as'it was introduced. It carried the first “excess profits” tax provision ever seen in this country. But the bill, conservative as it is, has struck a snag in the senate. The senators are trying to tone it down all they' can, because the bill has hurt the feelings of Big Business. It hasn't really threatened to interfere with war profiteers; but it has wounded their tender sensibilities. Meanwhile, while the senate is oblig- ingly withholding action and wait- ing, Big Business has launched an en- . ergetic offensive campaign against the bill. Every newspaper in the United States is being supplied, free of charge, with metal plates, all ready for use without the expense of type setting, of an article by Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman, of Columbia University, at- tacking the government plan of calling upon poor Big Biz to surrender a por= tion of its war profits to the governe ment. Through pressure that can be brought by big advertisers, the nation- al magazines are lining up. Some of them have printed entire the Seligman article attacking the plan to pay for the war mostly out of big fortunes and swollen incomes. The big banks and financial insti- tutions are sending out the Seligman articles in pamphlet form. ENGLAND TAKES EXCESS PROFITS Professor Seligman gives two col~ umns of ‘reasons” why Big Business should not be compelled to pay its share of the war cost, ‘reasons” why the common people should be called upon’ for ‘loans' and more Ioans.- The interest on these loans, of course, will be a burden upon the same men who fight the war, after they return from (Continued on page 14)