The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 10, 1921, Page 8

e st i o e e e R B B R A e S A D o i 5 35 .t aene 2 S S B Ve es e G 0120 ‘Mr. Howard Tries to Do a Flip-Flop American Farm Bureau Federation Head Now Says ““Big Business” Has Been Converted—W:ill Not Try to Dodge Its Taxes OLLOWING the exposure in the Non- partisan Leader of the fact that na- tional officials of the American Farm:* Bureau federation were sitting with representatives of big business in a - tax conference that planned to shift taxes from the rich to the poor, President J. R. Howard of the Federation has attempted a com- plete flip-flop. Mr. Howard now says the American Farm Bureau federation is against the 8-cent letter postage and taxes on tea, coffee, sugar, etc., framed by the Na- tional Industrial Conference board, although in No- vember the Federation, in reporting these new taxes on the common people, said the Federation had “won a great victory” and that. “farmers can no doubt indorse most of the proposed new taxes.” In addition, Mr. Howard modestly claims that the representatives of the American Farm Bureau fed- eration, of which number he was one, have con- verted, by the power of their persuasion, wicked big business, as represented on the National Industrial Confer- ence board, from carrying out its plans to shift taxes from the rich to the poor. H. C. McKenzie, the second rep- resentative of the Federation on the industrial conference board, says he is against most of the new taxes proposed by big business, but does not go so far as to claim that he has persuaded these tax dodgers to adopt the golden rule. The third representative of the American Farm Bureau federa- tion on the National Industrial Conference board, C. V. Gregory, who made the report boosting the work of the conference and ap- proving the taxes on tea, coffee, sugar, 3-cent letter postage, etc., hasn’t been heard from. Neither he nor any of the other officers of the American Farm Bureau fed- eration have dared to repudiate this report, issued early in No- vember, though it is evident that they are trying to forget it. FEDERATION DODGES REQUEST FOR REPORT The editor of the Leader, at the request of a Nebraska farmer, late in November wrote the na- tional offices of the American Farm Bureau federation for an additional copy of Mr. Gregory’s report, in which the work of the National Industrial Conference board was lauded as a “great vic- tory” for the American Farm Bu- reau federation and in which Mr. Gregory stated that farmers ‘“can no doubt indorse most of the pro- posed new taxes” on tea, coffee, " sugar, ete. Instead of sending the Leader a copy of Mr. Gregory’s report, J. W. Coverdale, secretary of the American Farm Bureau federa- tion, under date of December 11, sent the Leader a copy of a speech by President Howard and a copy of a speech by Mr. McKenzie, the other two repre- _ sentatives of the Federation on the National Indus- trial Conference board, stating that these speeches now represented the views of the Federation on taxation matters. X The speeches of Mr. Howard and Mr. McKenzie were delivered December 6 at Indianapolis. Mr. Howard said: “The National Industrial Conference board is a powerful organization representing the large east- .’/ N S S S ) ~= ern business interests. When I learned this organ- ization was appointing a committee on federal tax- ation to make exhaustive research'and recommen- dations I took the liberty to ask that agriculture be represented on the committee. Just that much in way of explanation of how it came about. Mr. Mc- Kenzie has been in conference with the board since April, At that time the whole thought of the pow- R 2 L e L e i B Rt A erful business interests of the country was that our national taxes, totaling five or six billions of dollars every year, should be so readjusted that the burden of taxation would be passed from those powerful and wealthy interests and individuals and trans- ferred down to the consumer or the common citi- zens of the country.. Mr. McKenzie, in the begin- ning of these deliberations, was practically the only person who opposed such a program and I want to tell you at this time that he has the majority of that powerful committee with him recognizing that it is a wrong economic principle to transfer the burdens of taxes to those least able to pay. We - never can estimate in dollars the services which Mr. McKenzie has rendered and is rendering, but I con- sider it, as I said, very great indeed.” According to Mr. Howard’s statement the offi- cials of the American Farm Bureau federation have been conferring with big business interests since April. Up to November, when*the report was sent out which the Leader printed, this committee, com- I CLEAN OUT THE BUREAU! ' l S Cartoonist Morris says the American Farm Bureau may be all right, but it must be rid of self-seeking politicians who are trying to pit the farmer against the city workingman. posed of big business men and American Farm Bu- reau officials, had agreed to the repeal of all excess profits taxes, to the repeal of all income surtaxes over 20 per cent and had recommended in its place a schedule of taxes which would be borne almost en- tirely by the consumer, including 3-cent letter post- age, taxes of 10 cents a pound on tea, 2 cents a pound on sugar and coffee, increased taxes on to- bacco and toilet articles, etc. The American Farm Bureau . federation, in its publicity matter, stated that farmers could “no doubt indorse most of the proposed new taxes.” The only ones to which any exception was taken were proposed taxes on gaso- line and new taxes on the farmers’ automobiles and tractors. But now, almost immediately after the Nonparti- _san Leader had published an exposure of this deal, American Farm Bureau federation ‘officials claim that they have succeeded in influencing the big busi- ness interests of the East to abandon their whole PAGE EIGHT - program to get excess profits taxes repealed and income taxes lowered. Mr. McKenzie's speech shows that while he didn’t claim that he had converted the big business inter- ests, as Mr. Howard said he had, he stated that he was working against the repeal of the excess prof- its taxes and against substituting taxes on tea, coffee and sugar for the excess profits and income taxes that the big business interests wanted abol- ished. Mr. McKenzie said, however, he was will- ing to have some of thé higher income taxes re- duced. : After reading the addresses of Mr. Howard and Mr. McKenzie, the editor of the Leader -wrote-Mr. Howard, stating that there appeared to be a marked discrepancy between the statement issued in No- vember, boosting the tax program outlined by the National Industrial Conference_ board, and . the speeches of Mr. Howard and Mr. McKenzie in De- cember, Stating that the American Farm Bureau federation was against the tax program of the Na- tional Industrial Conference board all the time. of the Federation in November and the speeches of Mr. Howard "and Mr. McKenzie in December the editor of the Leader stated: “We are wholly unable to rec- oncile the report made in Novem- ber with the statements on the taxation policy of the American Farm Bureau federation now made by Mr. McKenzie and your- self. We have attempted to get light on this subject from the Minnesota offices of the American Farm Buredu federation and they have not been able to give us any information. In the interests of the 250,000 farmers who read our paper we are therefore asking you if you will not explain the situation so that we can pass the information along to our readers.” MR. HOWARD TRIES TO - DODGE RESPONSIBILITY P In reply to this letter the editor a7 I of the Leader received a three- page typewritten letter of “ex- planation” from Mr. Howard. In the last paragraph, however, Mr. not intended for publication and was for our information only. The only thing we can do, therefore, Howard said: He admitted the authenticity of the November bulletin boosting the tax program of the National Industrial Conference board, but _stated that this was not intended to bind the American Farm Bu- reau federation in spite of the statements that “farmers had won a great victory” and could “no doubt indorse most of the new taxes.” 5 He did not claim, as in his In- dianapolis address, that big business interests had been converted to give up the plan of shifting taxes from the rich to the poor. committee had given up the sales tax idea. Mr. Howard stated that Mr. McKenzie, repre- _senting the American Farm Bureau federation, and he were bot}l opposed to the taxes on tea, coffee, sugar, etc., in spite of the fact that the November report states that farmers could “no doubt indorse” - most of these taxes. He said, however, that Mr. McKenzie was willing to have income taxes above 50 per cent abolished. ; Finally Mr. Howard cited four fundamental prin- ciples in regard to taxation upon which, he stated, the American Farm Bureau federation stands. Mr. Howard stated these fundamentals are the only parts of his letter which should be quoted directly. They are as follows: After quoting from the report Howard stated that his letter was - is to summarize briefly what Mr. 1 All that Mr. Howard - claimed in his letter was that the majority of the "“(1) The measure of every man’s ability to pay o 4