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Show THE CITIZEN 4 test of sincerity abroad as well, as at; home? Then the more quickly it can be made the better, the better for them and . goevrnment-- .expended $84,093,963 of this sum for food and otJier there, be-- supplies. With the exception of Finland, which has perfected an arrange- ment with this country refunding her debt and is making payments on it, none of this principal has been repaid to the United States gov- eminent. In addition to the principal, interest has accumulated to the amount of $12,192,268. In March, 1920, the United States congress authorized the United States grain corporation to sell on credit 5,000,000 barrels of flour to relieve the needs of European countries. Under the provisions of this act, $55,858,802 was expended on flour sent to Europe. None of this has been repaid, and in addition, interest charges in the sum of $6,731,998 have accumulated. All of these sums were furnished by the United States government, paid out of the United States treasury from money raised by taxing the American people. All of it has been expendd in Europe? in the work of reconstruction since the armistice. None of it has been repaid. In addition to this sum taken out of the United States treasury, hundreds of millions of dollars have been expended in helping reconstruct Europe in various other ways. The American Relief Administration, an organization created by the government and employing government funds, has expended over $66,000,000 in Russia. The American Red Cross has expended in excess of $153,000,000 since the armistice was signed in an endeavor to get Europe on Its feet. A number of religious denominations have been constatly at work in Europe with large staffs, and through these have expended tens of millions of dollars. All this clearly shows, as the New York Herald points out, that there is no merit and no truth in the charge that the Unnited States s, and has deserted Europe, that we are a nation of that we have lost our ideals and our interest in humanity. money-grabber- , a the better for us. There is nothing to be accomplished in ambiguity, We want to know. And the only way to find out i$ to inquire. In other words, the situation would be this: Europe implores u to join with other nations in. some international organization for the We answer that we are convinced the league of promotion nations is not an organization for the promotion of peace. We further answer that we are willing to join a court for the promotion of peace, provided that court is not the creature of the league. Now if the European countries are actuated by the sole desire for peace, they .will accept these honorable terms. If they are actuated by a selfish desire to intrigue the United States into becoming a party to European intrigue ,they will refuse. So, if the offer of America is made, the result' will be either an exposure of overseas duplicity or an important genuine progress made on the road that, leads to peace. In either case, that offer will have abundantly justified the making. Dallas (Texas) Times-Heralof-peace. ! d. AMERICAS TAX. The annual taxes paid in the United States, national and local, on property and income, direct and indirect, are equal to the burden of a mortgage on all the property of the United States to the amount of sixty-fiv- e per cent of its valuation bearing interest at 5 per cent. This tax mortgage is a prior lien to the other mortgages. It encumbers the property which is free from other debts and it is an additional burden to the property covered with other debts. This statment is very easily proved. A fair conservative valuation of the property in the United States is $260, 000, 000, 000.00. The annual taxes, national, state and local, are approximately A mortgage of 6? per cent of the value of 260 billion dollars would be 170 billion. Interest at 5 per cent on the 170 billions mortgage would be $8,500,000,000.00 exactly the same as the taxes paid annually. Some people think they do not pay any of this tax because they do not pay it to a tax collector and get a receipt. In this they are mistaken. All consumers pay taxes in the form of higher prices for food, clothing and luxuries. Owners of bonds are the ones who escape taxation. The big 65 per cent tax mortgage rests on the shoulders of all the rest of us. That mortgage is growing heavier every year. The general burden of national, state and local taxation has increased 134 per cent more than doubled since 1912. Farm taxes have increased 126 per cent since 1914. bonds have not paid one cent of this increased burden. bonds increases every year. The taxThe amount of ation mortgage grows bigger every year. If future issues of bonds are made subject to income taxes, the debt can be reduced and the taxes made lighter. It is up to American taxpayers and consumers to decide vhethj they will permit a bad condition to grow worse or insist that a change for the better be made by taxing bonds now exempt. . $8,500,-000,000.0- STRAW VOTE. The straw vote as conducted by the Silver State shows that Henry Ford is about a two to one favorite over President Harding for the next president of the United States. Out of a total of 679,906 votes cast in all parts of the United States, Ford is the winner with 275,675 straw votes to his cfedit, while President Harding only received 140,728 votes. A1 Smith of New York was third in the race. Hiram Johnson got a big scattered vote ,as did McAdoo and Underwood. LaFollette got strong support from all parts of the country also. Put the vote in general showed that the peoples choice lies between Henry Ford and President Harding. tax-exem- 0. pt Tax-exem- pt NO BACK-DOO- R. tax-exem- In his St. Louis speech President Harding answered those who either fear or hope that American membership in the permanent entrance to the court of international justice would be a back-doleague of nations. He set forth plans which would bar the possibility of league interference. They follow : First, empowering the court itself to fill any vacancy arising from the death of a member or retirement for whatever cause, without interference from any other body; second, continuing the existing authority or the permanent court of arbitration to nominate and transferring the power to elect from the council and assembly of the league to the remaining members of the court of justice. A simple plan involving only one difficulty. That difficulty takes the form of a question: Would the other nations consent to this change? If they would not consent, then the President charges that they would prove themselves adverse to the making of the world court precisely what its name implies, and in an ironic strain which show's him familiar with the greedy desires of some European powers, he or sternly asks: Can it be possible that, despite their protcstatioiis to the contrary, this is not what some of our sister states here desire? Must pt REFORMERS. Magnus Johnson of Minnesota says that President Harding should call an extra session of congress upon his return to Washington in order to straighten out many necessary things. Johnson has come to the conclusion that the farmers should be guaranteed cost of production, plus a reasonable profit. How Magnus intends to work this out nobody knws and while he has figured it all oivj on paper where it looks bright for the farmer, lie cannot sec the abyss beyond for which he is blindly headed. In the first place if every farmer can secure a government guarantee for his work and production, it will not be long before the cities will be deserted and the people will all become farmers. Why |