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Show THE CITIZEN lie is the living example of a workman who by his own effort had risen from the ranks to great riches. His wealth is so great that it can be assumed he would not stoop to support a tax measure merely to add a trifle to his personal income. Therefore, an interview with Mr. Ford on the tax question, obtained by Samuel Crow-thof publication in Colliers Weekly, is of great interest to the American public. Mr. Ford says : Every cent the government spends, just as every cent we as citizens spend, has to come from somewhere. Any administration or man. er any set of legislators that advocate high taxes ought to be run out of office, because what they are really advocating is the high cost of living. We have to pay some taxes, but the greater part of what we pay ought to go for productive purposes for good roads, for schools, for better health and all those things which make life easier. But we ought to pay as we go and not attempt to have things we cannot afford to have. We could afford to have a great deal more than we now have and pay out less money. That we can do by wasting less than we now waste. But there is nothing more dangerous to the prosperity of the country than putting heavy taxes on those who seem to have more money than they need. High taxes on the rich do not take burdens off the poor. They put burdens on the poor. Ase far as our company is concerned, we can go on about as we are now, whether the surtax is 25 or 50 per cent. We can make some improvements, but we cannot do the great things we should do had we more money. From a purely selfish standpoint, it does not make the leas difference to me whether the government taxes me one per cent or 99 per cent. I do not know exactly, but I imagine I could live as I now live on 1 per cent of my income. I am not in business to make money, but to do many things which I believe are of public benefit, and I believe I can put my money to better public use than the government can. Take the Ford car as an illustration. With the high surtaxes advocated as a benefit to the poor man or the man of moderate means, I doubt if ever we should have reached a point where we could have produced a car under $1,500, and that only by paying very low wages. The men who tell the country that the high incomes must be cut down are not working for the benefit of the masses. What they are really saying is something like this : You workmen and farmers have got all you ought to have. Let us stop right now. From now on this country must be run for .the benefit of politicians. I am interested in seeing everybody getting a better living with less effort. I am against anything which stops the country where it is. One of the great troubles with Europe is that the people exist for the government. Taxes take up what surplus ought to be used for bettering conditions. EASTERN RAILROADS ASSAILED. Mismanagement and corrupt practices charged to some of the eastern railroads and this is what Representative Tague of Massachusetts said on the floor of the house at Washington: I want to direct the attention of every member of this house to the railroad situation of this country. It cannot be said that the condition of some of the railroads of the country today was caused by the war. It can not be said that their deplorable condition was caused by accident. It was rather the acts of unscrupulous men who robbed and plundered the treasuries of some of the railroads of this country for their own benefit. I know whereof I speak. In my own state of Massachusetts, I served on the committee which investigated the theft of the capital of some of the railroads in New England. I also want to refer to the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad scandal, to the Boston & Maine railroad scandal, to the street railway scandal, to the destruction of competing steamboat lines by the New road, and then ask yourselves why the people of these United Stan will not put their money into these securities. Mr. Chairman gentlemen of the house, these are only a few of the exhibitions these men in high finance that cause the people to hesitate befe :i again trusting them with their savings. They took from the pi of New England over $400,000,000 and drove the value of their sec ities in these railroads to practically nothing. Railroad stock sell at over $200 a share are now selling at $13 a share; street railroj lines and railroad companies in the hands of receivers ; steamboj lines sold upon the market for practically nothing ; and then the men come forward after their unscrupulous methods and say, Q, us more of the money of the people of this nation that we maypfc with it ., Reference was made here today to the Rockefeller millions, was men like Rockefeller and his associates who wrecked the Bos & Maine railroad and the New York, New Haven & Hartford n road. For years Mr. Rockefeller played with the money of the peoj; of this nation, and when old age was coming and he thought he k played with the peoples money long enough he took his earning out of industry and stocks and placed it in security where it could not be touched by the taxation system of the goven ment, which had protected him all these years. I am not afci of securities. There will be a time when we will ret securities, and the time is not far distant. Whenfi railroads apply to the people of this nation for more money, let c say that the people of the country have lost confidence in railra stocks and bonds and will no longer take them. We will have more investigations in time to come perhaps r we will have exposes as we are having today at the end of the capitc but, my friends, business will never be good, the people will m trust the men in high finance again, until they resort to differe methods than those of deception, bribery and corruption. Hi-ve- I i rai non-taxab- non-taxab- non-taxab- le le le A MONEY MAKER. Not long after the armistice was signed, Mr. McAdoo resign: his dual job, secretary of the treasury and dictator of railroads i such other commerce carriers as had been seized by the governme At once he became an important lawyer. Great concerns, oil co: panies, moving picture corporations, and others of like charade began to pursue him with proffers of employment. Each was acco: panied by larger retainer fees. Allowing a liberal discount for efi geration by interested parties, it has been estimated that Mr. I Adoos income from this source within a few months after he rete from the cabinet mounted to more than $1,000,000. What had happened in the meantime to make his services valuable? Other lawyers, who really had distinguished themse! in the profession, were passed by, in order that this new firm mi? be employed. Some reason for the preference must have exist: What was it? . Did Mr. Doheny send Mr. McAdoo on a million dollar nii: to Mexico because he was an astute international lawyer? On the oil magnate understand that the late secretary of tin treatf tea in the cabinet of Woodrow Wilson, his father-in-lapossessed ot at tili attributes that would be valuable on such a quest? of1 Perhaps a little more complete inquiry into the native and other phases of Mr. McAdoos extensive legal practice, "'k grew up over night, like a veritable Jonahs gourd, might bring1 in renlf to something the public ought to know. Especially, when v e her that a considerable part of the gentlemans time was pent 1919 and 1920, when he was supposed to be earning tl eseb xU fcj rewards, in pursuing the democratic nomination, or in dob g w, picture stunts. A long list of questions is waiting Mr. McAdoo. He should no every consideration that is due a witness, but there will be wash about his next appearance on the witness stand. Omaha |