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Show A LESSON IN OIL. One NV.v York statistician climates cli-mates that while the- avefatre earning per share of the oil companies last year was S 1 .02 the taxes averaged So. 32 per share, n.ore than five times as much. The innuemt people in the United State v. ho still believe in Santa Claus and still hug the delusion de-lusion that the rich can be compelled to pay the taxes, ought to find an eloquent illustration of the folly of their ideas in the oil bus'ness. There is perhaps no oilier industry in America as heavily taxed as the one producing, refin'ng and selling oil. Y'et the Rockefeller do not pay this tar'ff. The fellow who drives an automobile pays. There is now so much oil in the United States, still underground, that the government has had to step in and help the states and producers cut down the flow so that the market would not be flooded with the viscu-nus viscu-nus fluid at something like ten cents a barrel. Yet despite this tremendous oversupply, and new f'elds are constantly con-stantly being brought in and pinched down to a non-productive basis, the price of the finished product remains high to the motorist who has to drive ! up to the side of the road occasionally occasion-ally and have the old tank filled. What is the reason? There is only one answer taxes. Perhaps we could rot get along without these taxes, but the nation would benefit if they could only be lowered, i Y'et the fact remains that the oil barons do not pay the taxes. We drivers driv-ers of the flivver pay them when we buy the finished product. What is true of the oil business is true in a degree of other industries. The way to lower the tax burden on the poor man is not to try to push it off on somebody else, because that is impossible. impos-sible. The correct method is to cut out public extravagance so that fewer few-er taxes will have to be collected. |