| Show Bruc karts washington digest home folks fed up on war talk want wan L to know about tax problem considerable transition from froin interest in Ettro european affairs to domestic concerns on part of public f noted Treas treasury tiry to borrow more alore money aloney by WILLIAM BRUCKART service Nat national lonal press washington D 0 washington observers hero here in washington have a little way of their own by which they oro are able ablo to forecast tho the trend of public thought and interest it Is a meth od that was waa developed solely from experience most ot of us ud who attempt to servo e you of washington os as eyes and cars n rs have learned to watch tho the demand for speakers and subjects upon which public men ore are asked to talk it Is not tin an ln in fallible method but it Is usually cor the only fly in the ointment Is dint we must learn to distinguish between the propaganda preachers and the legitimate desires of groups to havo have government questions ex to them it is to be noted here by way of review that three months ago the bulk of the speeches by men from washington had to do with waro war ou our r ilk chances of getting involved neutrality tr tra lity allty etc there were interspersed with these of course the L usual truckloads truck loads of guff from score tary wallace and the other self 3 op appointed pointed spokesmen for agrical t rinds and cracklings crac klings from seclure X detary ickes and about the usual quantity of mou things from the superior minds whose owners are greatly concerned in development of ri culture liberal thinking but it was about the war ar and rela related teel subjects that most people wanted to know the scene Is changing now indeed a considerable transition already has taken place home folks cro getting fed up at last and are desirous of knowing more about home problems and what the government intends to do about them it Is a trend most pleasant to contemplate there simply can be no doubt about the fact that it if the people of the united states forget about that war in europe and pay atten alien tion to their own own business we will bo be able to stay out rather easily comesana comes an awakening to the problem of taxation with this background then let me call attention to the number of persons who appear at long last to have awakened to the problem of taxation federal state county and city obviously when there la is an interest in taxation there Is a parallel interest in what government does docs with the money taken from its citizens this interest surely exists now to a greater extent than at any time within recent months more and M more ore inquiries are being re y celvid more and more requests v for discussion of the subject ar are reaching in washington and if my information from outside sources be correct there Is a similar or interest being shown in the states and cities in this period of changing interest secretary Morgen thou announced that the united states treasury Is prepared to borrow more mone money y in the next two months according to the secretary the treasury will borrow an additional half a billion dollars it will refund some something thing like a billion and a quarter alsot also but that process Is imply trading new bonds or notes tj horold ones that fall due the bor rowing is now new money in the sense ty that new bonds will bo be sold cold and the 11 proceeds used by the treasury to meet expenses and naturally the 4 national debt will be increased by that amount it Is well to homem ibar that as of november 1 the public debt was and i tl that there are several other billions of bonds issued by such agencies J j BS as the reconstruction finance cor po horation por atlon ration the rome home owners loan corporation and debts guaranteed t by agencies like the federal hous 1 ing administration tor for which the 4 treasury trea tred sury Is morally it if not actually y responsible r it Is not curious curl buB therefore that t folks are asking each other where Is this spending going to stop or how baw aie are we going to pay oft off that t debt or what are our taxes going t tobe in the future I 1 tax T ax areces reces receipts F ati for nation astounding in magnitude 4 1 I am indebted to the federation of ct tax adelm administration tor for some to tala of tax receipts tor for the nation thata not only astounding in their i 1 magnitude I gitl tude but startling in the im s they give the statistics disclose that the i Ameri american ciri people paid A in taxes in 1938 this money was 1 collected by the federal state coun ty and city governments and some odds odda and ends of special taxing districts which levied taxes for es burp purposes oses of this amount the federal government collected state governments collected and local v governments government s took a toll tall of one ol 01 the new taxes tax esthe the tax on payrolls to maintain pensions and rp ant yielded in excess of or almost one tenth of all of the money taken by the tax baco ll ector its total seems to give 4 substance to the complaint that this tax is a tremendous burden on any one who hires workers the payroll tax according to the administrators tra tors analysis was the third largest of single items of taxation only the property tax and the income tax brought in more money for the spenders of federal state or local governments property taxes levies on everything you own your house or farm or horses or automobile paid a total tribute of if you are good at figures you will find that sum to be 32 per cent almost on one e thir dof all of the taxes paid by the united states lost last year income taxes ranked second in the sums produced for governmental use tho the income taxes laid by federal state and city go governments supplied and that Is 22 per cent of the revenue another group includes the concealed levies but there Is another group of taxes a long list of items that include most of the sneak thief taxes takes unseen and concealed levies that really Is bearing down these general and special sales taxes federal stamp levies excise and license taxes were responsible tor for slightly more than one fourth of all money paid into treasuries of government this money came from tobacco liquor gasoline sales taxes of various kinds which you saw only by close examination or could not discover at all licenses etc the gasoline tax was the largest revenue producer federal state and local governments obtained because most of us burned up gasoline through use of the motor cars liquor revenue amounted to it is said by some authorities that this type of tax has about reached its peak to increase it more will mean that bootleggers can begin to operate once more because added taxes will send the price of liquor to a point where bootlegging becomes profitable such Is not the case with the other taxes in the group you pay them and like it all in all the administrators analysis shows ten general groupings ingson of taxes throughout the nation and it is interesting to note that each of these ten major items is used by more than one level of government ern ment that is to say the federal and state governments will be found using income taxes states and counties and cities will be found using some types of sales taxes along with a similar tax by the national gov government emment and some of the other taxes may be found employed as revenue producers by two or all three of the levels of government which brings us to a recent speech made by john W hanes undersecretary under secretary of the treasury mr hanes arrived at a conclusion that only a goner general al increase in business would provide enough income for all of the tax eaters caters lie he suggested that there were few if any untapped sources of income insofar as the federal government is concerned and other students have talked frankly about the similarity of tax problems among the federal state and local governments cut in per personal tonal exemptions would add only GO 60 millions the school of thought that has advocated broadening the base of income taxes by the federal government by reducing the personal exemptions empt ions lons from 2500 for married couples couple and 1000 for single persons was shown by mr vines hones to be somewhat ignorant of facts he pointed out that nn an exemption of 2000 for married couples and for single persons in sted of the present limits would add only a year to the nat national lonal revenue that is not a good drop in the bucket it if all of the present income tax amendments that have been mentioned were now in force the total tota taxes they would yield would be only about according to mr hanes hence mr hanes hancs said with reference to the federal government you the american public have the final control demands from back home upon the congress for more and more federal expenditures tor for less and less needed projects are at least a partial source of difficulties we have developed our countis a appetite with a pocketbook I 1 think our problem is not so much when we balance our budget as where in other words how much federal expenditure are you going to demand and how do you propose that the government raise the funds 1 I am hoping that the apparent trend toward a public consciousness of the governments financial In ancial condition whether that government be national or state or local will expand and begin to roll like mountain flood waters E EUROPE cause celebre this said prime minister chamberlain Is not a state of war but a state of siege ile ho was not far wrong the french claimed nine of their U S made planes had downed one third of a 27 plane german force over the western front there was also a mysterious battle in the north sea from which the V wilhelmina AND LEOPOLD their peace exploded frk royal roal reportedly limped home with a captured vessel but as usual the biggest war news was made far from the front some 20 nazi divisions stationed on their frontiers worried king leopold and the netherlands queen Wilholm wilhelmina ina moreover they heard rumors that adolt adolf hitler would invade on november 15 claiming as an excuse that the allies would do likewise it if germany invade first though steadfastly denying any german ultimatum for a statement of their positions the king and queen held oll all night consultations with their foreign ministers result A fcc peace a appeal was dispatched to all combatants oll allering ering belgian dutch mediation s services C arvic as britain rejected it politely fuehrer hitler was less polite not waiting to reply directly he haster hastened hasterlik lid to the beer hall tit at munich where his notorious putsch took place in 1923 there on sixteenth birthday he scorned pence peace there can be only one victor that is we hardly had hitler left the beer hall before a mysterious blast in the empty attic upstairs sent its heavy ceiling crashing on oil the hangers on who had stayed behind next day while the nazi press railed at jews and the british secret service as instigators of the plot the wil helm strasse offered a reward ward for capture of tile the perpetrators while seers wondered if the munich explosion might not prove another cause celebre like Saraj evo or the neiping bridge incident pro hit alit ler sentiment began crystallizing crystal izing in germany dead as a dodo was the belgian dutch peace plea in fact the dutch opened their dykes in self defense following border clashes that smelled suspiciously like those before the polish invasion CONGRESS committee tinte time home to the stamping grounds went most senators and congressmen when the special neutrality ses sion adjourned but between sessions Is a fine finc time for committee hearings still in session is martin dies un americanism group billy bally oo 00 ng for anothy another appropriation two other groups working out legislative suggestions for next janu arys term are house tax subcommittee opening its hearings under Tennes sees rep jere cooper the committee talked about broadening inc income ome tax bases but there was a disinclination to offer concrete proposals it was announced final determination of a program will await the opening of congress two official reasons 1 the treasury is studying shudyin g taxes soliciting suggestions from business and industry 2 national defense n needs tor for the ne at fiscal year are not yet known besides the committee Is wondering about taxes on excess w war ar profits not knowing where to turn equally important how would tax revision be received in an election year like 1910 at al washington secretary ot of the treasury Morgen told reporters any initia the lor for raising the U S debt limit e must conic come irom from congress riot not from himself himsel or the white house present debts debt about NLRB investigating CommIK cc deferring bearings until its chairman howard smith dem va gets well the house labor committee found new kindling tor for its campaign against the labor board in a new strike technique the slowdown defined rep harry the slowdown is al 10 most the same as the sit down its origin he sold said could be traced to the northwest lumber camps thence to the recent chrysler strike agriculture cotton and lecat news for cot c 1 l three items made november ton and wheat farmers as got underway of surd sur 1 with bales under govern stored plus cotton ment mention join and with an y 1938 less than slightly bale a a crop kicul lc the ag forecast for this year loins loans announced turo ture department based at 83 cents a pound on seven be would eighths inch plait 1 who available to 1939 1030 growers ed cd within their acreage allotments A week earlier the loan program seemed sty stymied micel by increased cot ton consumption thanks to uie the war 2 the bureau ot of agricultural economics forecast the same me wheat acreage for 10 1940 10 as for 1039 1 e would produce 6 acres which about bushels bushe Is of 0 spring and winter wheat but next years y yield feld will be under par unless unusually favora favorable ble weather comes along 11 reason cason drouth his has already damaged much seeded winter wheat b beyond recovery 3 closing its first year the federal corporation was crop insurance sad having taken bushels of wheat as premiums from farmers the corporation had claims frog from one fourth its customers indemnities paid totaling bushels brought a loss of about RUSSIA unhappy birthday twenty two years ago a bloody revolution gave birth to the U S S H R only a month ago soviet premier Vla cheslav molotov showed dussias Rus sias strapping maturity by denouncing noun cing president Roosevel ts intervention tion in the finnish russian scrap when moscow began its three day anniversary celebration premier molotov again slapped ed the T HANS THOMSEN AND W WIFE most alost radiant of all V U S in the case of certain countries neutrality only serves as a mask to conceal their activities on that same day in washington the soviet embassy decorated lenins statue with red roses assembled scotch whisky and russian soda green green sherbet in crushed rasp berries and cakes smothered in rum sauce awaited were the guests to help charge dAf faires dmitri celebrate but ho he was embarrassingly disappointed absent were all supreme court justices cabinet members senators and high ranking state department officials only china turkey and ecuador sent their diplomats only prominent new dealers edwin smith SECs leon henderson and mrs thurman arnold wife of the assistant attorney general most beaming visitors hans thomson thomsen german charge daf daff faires alres and his pretty wife accompanied by four start staff members next day observers noticed franklin roose velt had sent the U S S R no mes magr sage a of congratulations POLITICS no ham hain no eg eggs 9 s the tumultuous have brought an unprecedented thirst for security taking form in unorthodox pension schemes schemas most schemes were born in california like Townsend ism and EPIC in 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