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The Commoner
61,21, NO. 9
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thchi to como In horo and liog-tlo you. You
arc not going to givo us an opportunity to vote
against that proposition.
It will absolutely destroy your party if you
permit It to remain in the bill, or any other
party. It will destroy the country, and 1 do not
want to see the country destroyed.
Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, lot us take up
the proposition of tho reduction of high sur
taxes. Let us. see how that operates and see
If you can defend that, if you please. Here is
a man who has an income of $70,000 under
this bill and he pays $20 less of siytax than
under tho prosent law. This does not amount
to much, but you will relieve the rich, and you
ought not to do it. If ho has an income of $72,
000, his tax is reduced $60; if it is $74,000, it is
reducod $120; if it is $70,000, it Is reduced
$220; if it is $78,000, it Is reduced $300; if it
is $80,000, it Is reduced $420; it it is $82,000, it
la reduced $560; if it is $84,000, it is reduced
$720; if it, is $86,000, there is a reduction of
$900; if it is $88,000, there is a reduction of
$1,100; if it is $90,000, there is a reduction of
$1,320; if it is $92,000, there is a reduction of
$1,600; if it is $94,000, there is a reduction of
$1,800; if it is $96,000, there is a reduction of
$2,100; if" it Is $98,000, there is a induction of
$2,400; if it is $100,000, there is a reduction
of $2,700; if it is $150,000 income, there ia a
reduction of $10,720; and if he has $200,000 in
come, you reduce his surtaxes $24,720; if he has
an income of $300,000 per year, you reduce his
taxes $52,720; if he has $500,000 fncome, you
reduce his taxes $114,700; ,if he has a $1,000,
000 income a year, you reduce his taxes $274,
720; and if he has $1,500,000 income annually,
you reduce his taxes by this bill $439,720; if, he
has a $2,000,000 income, you reduce his taxes
$604,720.
Now, gentlemen, I do not know whether you
can defend that or not. I do not believe' you
can. You are going to place these burdens on
tho masses of the people, If you do not change
' it while this bill is in progress you will do it
later.
Mr. Chairman, I was very much surprised at
the statement made by tho gentlemen from New
York? (Mr. Mills) yesterday. He made a splen
did speech. I have heard him mdke the same
speech before the Committee on Ways and
. Means, and the effect of it, what he really meant
In what ho said yesterday I will toll you. I do
not know whether his speech is in the Record
or not, but I heard every word of it, and he is
a very interesting speaker add ' a very able
gentlemen. " Tho effect of that speecL was that
the congress of the United States can not collect
these high taxes from the big corporations and
tho superrich individuals of this country. .He
says it makes no difference what congress does;
it makes no difference what kind of a law you
place, on the statute books of America; these
men will find some escape from its provisions.
Has the time como when tho congress of the
United States can not tax the big corporations
like tho Steel Trust and the Standard Oil Trust
and the rich people of America? I say to you
that they have entirely too much influence in
this country now. They have too much influ
ence, gentlemen. When they can avoid the law,
when you can not make them pay taxes, some
thing is radically wrong with your system' of
government, if you please. That is the purport
of the remarks of the gentlemen from Mew York
(Mr, Mills) yesterday.
PROFITEERING CORPORATIONS SEEKING
TO SHIFT BURDEN OF WAR DEBT
(Commenting -on a statement made in the
New York Times of August 7, 1921, by Henry
H. Klein, the first deupty to the commissioner
- of accounts, in which he gave estimates of Amer
ican fortunes and great estates handed down in
the last few years, Congressman Oldfleld closed
his speech with the following remarks. Ed.)
Now, gentlemen, if you can.n'ot pass a tax law
In America that will reach these people; if the
congress of the United States can not pass a
tax law that will make the ultrarich share the
burden of this war debt, then we had better
look elsewhere. We had letter limit fortunes
in this country, if wo can not do it in any other
way, and double and treble the inheritance taxes
Take, for example, a few estates in this country
the Vanderbilt and Astor estates, the Morgan
Harriman, and Hill estates, and a few others
which control the railroad systems and in large
part the food products of tho country, the coal
. mines of the ountry; and if you can not reach
tliem' by excess-profits taxes, gentlemen, you
wIU have tcflnd some other way to do it Mr.
Mills gays -you can not pass a law' that they can
ao.t evade. I believe that congress could fdrqo
these people to pay the taxes, to pay this war
debt. The trouble is you Republicans do not
want to make them pay their just proportion of
taxes
Oh, gentlemen, what is the effect of this leg
islation? You take these big corporations, p,nd
you find that there are about 100,000 corpora
tions in America that would not have to pay
much of tax under this proposed law, while there
is another 100,000 which you would make pay
more, because they would make less. Tho:o
who make less pay proportionately more tax un
der this propdsition. There are about 10,000,
however, in the class hero (indicating on dia
gram) which you relieve of from half a million
to a million dollars in taxation annually. In
effect you are licensing profiteering. You are
telling these great corporations that profiteered
in America while the masses of the people were
fighting the battles of the country on the battle
fields of France, trying to save civilization, to go
on and continue their profiteering. When the
masses of our people were fightingand bleeding
and dying, gentlemen, these corporations that
you are going to relieve of taxes now were prof
iteering and did profiteer to the extent of 38,
000,000,000 in the years from 1916 to 1920, in
clusive. They made that much profit after all
taxes were paid, and now you say you are go
ing to shift that burden from them to the masses
of the people and the small corporations, whom
you will compel to pay $24,000,000,000 war
debt. But the people, gentlemen, will rev't
against this outrage. You know they will.
I know how Mr. Fordney will attempt to ex
plain it. Every farmer's organization in Amer
ica from every state in the union have been ap
pealing to the congress, "For God's sake, do not
repeal the excess-profits tax and the high sur
taxes." The gentlement from Michigan will
explain his failure to comply with their v
wishes by saying to them, when they tell
him. "Yon did an awfully unwise thing
when you passed that law repealing the
excess-profits tax" Mr. Fordney will say,
"What are you talking about? Did we . not
pass the emergency tariff bill for the benefit of
the farmer?" He will attempt to close the
whole business up by saying, "Did we not pass
the emergency tariff bill for the farmer?" , 7"ut
as to that tariff bill, I think it has done one
good thing, it has disillusioned the American
farmer with regard to protective tariffs on farm
products.
Gentlemen, in the general tariff bill you are
going to place on the statute books almost a pro
hibitive tariff, because the Senate Finance Com
mittee, as I understand, has agreed to adopt the
American valuation scheme. What does that
mean? You are going to hold the American
market for- the American manufacturers at all
hazards. You are going to permit them to charge
monopoly prices, and after they have charged
monopoly prices in this country under your tar
iff system, gentlemen, then you encourage
them and tell them they may profiteer, and the
more they profiteer the less taxes proportionated
they will have to'-pay.
That is the situation, gentlemen. There could
be nothing plainer than that proposition. If you
are going to place on a corporation an income
tax, for God's sake why don't you graduate it
up, and the- more profit the corporation makes
compel it to pay more taxes. But here the more
it makes the loss it pa-ys. Can you explain it or ,
defend it? Not a man in this House or else
where can deny those figures.
SONS OF MASSES FOUGHT FOR COUNTRY
WHILE RICH PROFITED
I say to you my friends, that when the flower
of the youth of America was fighting the battles
of the people and the civilization itself in
France", those soldiers came almost entirely f rem
the massesof course, naturally so, because q?
per cent of the people of America an S every
other country are composed of the- masses i En?
the rich I do not cast any refiectTon on the
rich man's -son who went to war He dirt !;?
thing. It is all right, but in the n0f
the case there were only a few n-ich men's Lnl
who went to war. In .other words, you sent the
sons of the masses of the country fto fight the
SSin8 f t?G CU.ntry' t0 protect tne grf at cor
porations, to protect these great institutions
protect their profits white the wteTSi0
permitting them to make profits tn tifa S n;
of $38,000,000,000, and arte? he w if o
you cpme back and by your leHalatlnn v J. i
the weak corporations ami tS fmasi? Ur& mak
Pie pay the. great ivar d?bt AnoS thilE Pe
der this bill you know you a SZ hJS' un
deficit. Youyknow nl?r
of money you will reauirA tn ,. T V amount,
men.' ThereforlyoS g,ove-
. issuing: bf thi TVeaf ry oV loM'ftn
short-time certificates! ?ou W&7
me
n
going to raise the'- money, and' it looltR tn
V. . ,'w" ""r " X ,, "tZ?" I0r campaiRl
Wliiuo, iumiiu-ibu. wiunuuuuua, II Vnil rU
You evidently have done it. No honest 7
person, without pressure being- brought to 2!
on. him, would ever vote for a proposition ml
this. No party would do it, and I believe than?
you had not hog tied yourselves with this rul!
you would not vote for it Saturday. Now SI
viucBMvii in, xxio juu sums iu buuc me burden
of taxation to pay this great war e'ebt onto tS
shoulders of the same men, and their fathers
and mothers who fought, the battles of the
-country in Frarfce? That is tho question here
today. While you have the power to do it if
you want to, my friends, I hope you are not go.
ing to do it. .
During the campaign, when Gov, Cox was say.
ing'that the Republican party was going to spend
$15,000,000 or $20000,000 to elect its candidate
for the Presidency, I saw in the papers one, day
where Secretary Weeks, former Senator John
Weeks, made a statement in reply. I served in
the House with Mr. Weeks, r liked him per-,
sonally very much; He is a splendid gentlemen.
I saw in the; Now York papers in great head.
lines the statement that Senator Weeks ad
dressed a bunch. of business men in reply to tho
statement of Gov. Cox. The paper went on to
.say how many bJUlion dollars were represented
in the audience. There were a few hundred
people -at the meeting.- Senator Weeks's an
8 woe was this: MAh, gentlemen, suppose it does
cost. $15,000,000 or $20,000,000 to elect the
Republican ticket; it will be worth it to the
business men of the country." That is what
Secretary Weeks said. He said, 'It will he
worth more than that to you,- gentlemen."
Ah,- gentlemen, it will be- worth more than
that to them if you pufc this b ill on the statute
books, because you .admit you 'will relieve these
great profiteering corporations- that have mdde
this $38,000,000,000, of-$450,000,000- thirty
times $15,000,000, In taxes. Ten thousand of
them made $30,0 00,00,0, 0,0,0 during the war. All
of tUqni put .together made. $38,000,000,000 and
,. .10,0,00, of them made fourAfts, of that money.
One thousand of .them 'made more than half of it,
. or $16000, 00 0,0,0 0nottfe,rr?qrds, you are let
ting off not .to exceed, 0t,0.00 icprporations; and
when you take off the burden you automatical
ly place it on weafc corporations, a.nd yon dp it,
gentlemen, knowing the facts and knowing the
results. You also admit in your report that
you .relieve the multimillionaires, of $90,000,
j3dQ,in surtaxes.
APPEALS TO INDEPENDENT REPUBLICANS
TO HELP DEFEAT PROPOSED LEG
ISLATION Now, gentlemen, I hav taken all the time
I care to in the riscussion of ttiis bill. My time
is about up, but I hope and trust that there
will be enough independent Republicans on that
side to unite with a solid Democratic minority
to defeat this proposition, and let your Ways
and Means Committee come in here with a prop
osition that every honest man In America can
stand upon, whether he be a'Democrat or a Re
publican. If you would fix this thing so that it
would bear equally on all corporations, the
Democrats would vote for it. They would a
vote f o.r it if you would equalize it and make all
of the corporations of the country and all the
rich individuals pay proportionately their just
part of the war debt; Lut, of course, they can
not afford to vote for this sort of a bill. In fact,
no honest man can afford to vote for it.
Now, the Democrats are in this position: or
course, you did not permit us to help write tho
bill, -But that is not all, tYou did not permit
us to have the facts that you had. We have
not got the facts. I do not know whether you
have the facts or not. I do not believe you have.
I know you have not' disclosed the facts.
.seems -that the President of the United States
has the best mind around him 'that Wall strew
can furnish. There is no -Better Wall street
man in ' America than your Seoref ary of th3
Treasury; and yet, gentlemen, he made a bet
ter proposition than you have put up here. le
Secretary of the Treasury did that. You are
not only fixing to destroy your party, but you
are fixing to destroy the cputitry. I thank you,
gentlemen. ' ' '
A 'Nebraska banker who disappeared after
his institution , went x to the: r wall with $ 7 5 D,uou
of depositor money has returned t honie, ana
been given a,' roya weicorifp. He was met ai
Jhe city .gate,, vt(h ft procession1, antl haS lijjj
.dozen offers of, ions, The mt that he postPfJJ
his retuiiri until nUor the stab' guaranty M
had reimbursed the dep6,sii'ors,'tor their entr
vJPi?eS j. ?;oVs r ,thr incident ,of t any value m. &'
IWmti JusOiW gVeatc'PcYty tor'ior$
ness avwrotfged communfhrripsejfsed; '
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