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OCTOBER, 1915 -
The Commoner
People Bear Burden of Increased
Army and INavy hxpense
Extract from Congressional Rec
ord, from remarks of Clyde H. Tav
enner, in the house of representa
tives. It is interesting to note that the
per capita appropriations by congress
for all purposes is climbing up just
about in proporition to the increased
cost of the navy, as the following fig
ures will show:
Navy appropriations, 1890 $20,
000,000; all appropriations per cap
capita, $6.15.
Navy appropriations, 1900 $48,
000,000; all -appropriations, per cap
ita, $9.05.
Navy appropriations, 1912 $126,
000,000; all appropriations, per cap
ita, $10.73.
Navy appropriations, 1914 $140,
000,000; all appropriations, per cap
ita, $11.09.
It is pertinent to Inquire where
the millions that have been poured
into militarism to the enrichment of
the armor and ammunition capitalists
came from. These millions were not
picked, up in the streets, and they
were not contributed by the rich.
Our citizens have not contributed in
proportion to their wealth, but the
poor man has paid on an average al
most as much as the rich; and since
there are 99 poor to every rich man,
it means that the millions that have
piled up in the pockets of the armor
plate magnates have come from the
pockets of the poor.
And this is the feature of militarism-gone-mad
that strikes home
the fact that the wasted millions did
not come from an income tax or in
heritance tax levied on those best
able to bear the burden, none of it
having been collected by a direct tax,
but that practically every penny of
the $2,000,000,000 expended on the
army and navy in the last 10 years
came through the customhouses and
the internal revenue offices. Since
customhouses and internal revenue
offices do not levy taxes on men ac
cording to their wealth or ability to
pay, but solely upon things the peo
ple eat, wear, and use, it means that
the people pay the armor-plate mak
ers' bills in the increased cost of liv
ing. Therefore, it is but logical that the
cost of living must increase in pro
portion to the cost of militarism
and it does, as the table heretofore
give shows beyond successful contra
diction. The people may as well
know that as the Qost of militarism
increases in the future so will 'the
cost of living.
To make clearer my statement that
the poor man has been paying almost
as much toward defraying the ex
penses of the federal government aB
the rich man, permit me to correct
the impression of the average person
that some part of the taxes he has
been paying to his local tax-collector
has been sent to Washington for the
purpose of maintaining the federal
government. The truth is that not
one penny of the taxes we have been
paying our local tax collectors has
come to Washington. Every penny
of such taxes has gone toward de
fraying the expenses of township,
city, county and state. Therefore if
a millionaire pays a heavy state tax
none of it goes toward defraying the
cost of the army and navy or main
taining the federal government. The
manner in which the people have
been supporting the .army and navy
and meeting all other federal ex
penses has been by paying In
creased prices for things eaten, worn
or used. The local grocer and dry
goods merchant has been the federal
tax collector without knowing It, or
without his average customer know
ing it. To the extent that the aver
ago poor man eats the same amount
of food as the rich man ho has been
paying as much tax. Funds for the
maintenance of the army and navy,
as well as all other federal expenses,
have thus in the past been raised
wholly in the form of increased cost
of living.
EXPRESS COMPANIES SURVIVE
Accounting for the improved finan
cial showing of the four big express
companies the Wall Street Journal
says:
"There were chiefly two reasons
for this improved showing. One, tno
greater degree of efficiency in con
aucting their transportation business
developed by the several companies
and in which Wells Fargo took an
early start and lead. Wells Fargo,
in 1914, practically preserved its net
operating revenue by the reductions
in cost it was able to effect without
Impairment of necessary service. The
other reason was the elimination of
the United States Express company."
It is not worth while in this con
nection to stop to consider to what
extent the withdrawal of the United
States company has contributed to
the prosperity of the remaining com
panies, further possibly than to note
that it has not been the chief cause
of the financial revival.
But it is worth while to stop to
consider the main contributing
cause, the improved methods that
have been introduced by the express
companies and the economies prac
ticed. It has been a favorite theory so
long that privately managed com
panies could bo depended upon to
reduce the cost of operation to the
minimum and carry efficiency of
service to the maximum without aid
or stimulus from any source what
ever, that this confession of ineffi
ciency and extravagance is bound to
carry the suggestion much beyond
the bounds of the express business.
For if the express companies when
they had the field to themselves
were neither economical nor effi
cient, what is likely to be found with
regard to the railroads and to all
the other public services operating
under similar conditions.
When the government proposeu
and inaugurated the parcel post the
express companies made exactly the
same claim for themselves the rail
roads make now. They were being
driven to the wall by intolerable
competition and unjust rates. But
the parcel post was installed, and the
government rates were fixed, and
after a few years of readjustment
the express companies find they were
not driven to the wall at all, but that
by doing business on business prin
ciples they are able to pay their divi
dends, for the Wall Street Journal
publishes a table of earnings showing
that for the year ending Juno 30,
"they were able to earn on their to
tal capitalization of $58,967,400, an
equivalent of 2.6.6 per cent from
transportation, as against 0.53 per
cent for the year before. And, con
sidering their other income, they
earned a return of 7.11 per cent, as
compared with 5.23 per cent in
1914."
It possibly would not be fair to say
that all other privately owned public
service utilities from railroads and
telegraphs and telephones clown to
tho smallest town pumping plant had
been run with tho same loose hand
as tho express companies in their
days of monopoly, but it has proved
true that in nearly every instance
13
1 STEAMSHIP COMKabiv I i ' -i
PRACTICAL DIPLOMACY
-Los Angeles Tribune.
where the facts have been dug into,
railroads and telegraphs, and tele
phones and all other privately owned
public services down to town pump
ing plants have come up with a bad
showing.
But whother any conclusion may
bo drawn from the experience of tho
express companies tnat will servo for
guidance in .the Jangle over railroad
rates, telegraph and telephone rates,
street railway reorganization, and the
like, it is well worth while to get
firmly in mind that the express com
panies have pulled themselves out
of threatening bankruptcy by install
ing an economical and efficient ad
ministration of their business.
The public is getting an express
service enormously better through
express companies and the parcel
post, at very much reduced costs, and
the express companies have been able
to readjust and continue to do busi
ness at the old Btand. Des Moines
Register.
gov'ment," for they are against It
themselves. TI.ey might call us un
neutral, but for tho fact that good
old gold standard marks have suf
fered tho sax c kind of a slump.
Really, my dear editor, I can not
see anything treasonable In calling
attention to it now, unless indeed it
might possibly detract from our pro
gram of preparedness for war. If
ou think it does that, don't print it,
Mr. Editor. If not however, I'd kind
of like to see it in print.
J. M. TADLOCK.
AN APPALLING CONDITION
Editor Commoner:
Would It be impertinent now when
the silver Iss of 1896 has been so
long settled (?) to rise up and ask
a question? I don't really wish to dis
turb the sweet dreams of those gold
standard monomentallists who have al
ways been so ccksure of their knowl
edge and so contemptuously doubtful
of other people's views, but there's
one thing one fact that is bother
ing me. Fact are stubborn, some
times. That fact Is that gold is
fluctuating! Horrors! Tho world must
Indeed bo upside down! The British j
pound sterling which our monomen-(
tailists said would be less likely to,
fluctuate than the pole star itself, has ,
slumped!
Would It be wicked to call our gold
standard fri nds' attention to it?
. ti n a tt it. i
Tney sureiy can i can uu b m iuu
gov'ment" as they used to do, for two
reasons: inrst, tno government is
democratic now; and, second, be
came they want us to be "ag'In the
A GREAT MORAL FORCE
In every land and every clime
there are men and women whose
whole lives aro devoted to tho ser
vice of mankind, to the abolishment
of poverty and to the ushering in of
that glorious day when peace and
plenty shall be tho common heritage
of men. These rmen arid women are
working singly and in groups with a
common purpose that at once the
hopo and inspiration of the race
and all have climbed tho mountain
tops and gaze upon a panorama of &
future for humanity that is awe-inspiring
In Its beauty and which
nervec them for the work in hand.
With a clearness of vlsfon, an un
daunted strength of purpose, a char
ity that suffers and endures the jeers
and sneers of pigmy men, an un
conquerable faith In a loving God,
William J. Bryan stands In the fore
front of the conflict the greatest in
dividual moral force in the world.
No matter what place history may
assign him in its record of his polit
ical activities; his matchless cour
age, his unflinching loyalty to his
own highest ideals, his guiding polo
star of righteousness will mark him
as the. seer and prophet, tho fore
most citizen of the world of his day
and generation, one of the Immortals
whose names grow ever brighter as
coming generations view with im
partial eyes their work and achieve
ments. Bolso (Idaho) Njbw Freedom.
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