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Show Economic Highlights Industrial News Review - Happenings that Affect the Dinner Pails, Dividend Checks and Tax Bills of Every Individual. Nation-al Nation-al and International Prolems In' separable from Local Welfare. 0U0 A few weeks ago a group of men assombled in a Washington, D. C, hotel. Some were young, some middle-aged, some old. Some came from towns of a few thousand people, some from cities with a population of 1,000,000 or more. But all of them were drawn together by a common interest the problems of municipal government. They were mayors of representative American communities, communi-ties, attending the annual U. S. Conference Con-ference of Mayors. High onthe list of items which interest in-terest and trouble the heads of our municipal entities, is taxation. Many municipal governments are notoriously notor-iously wasteful not only in spending tax money, but in collecting it. A continual undeclared war exists between be-tween municipal and state tax-collecting departments, due to the fact that there is much overlapping of the functions of the two. The mayors, may-ors, thinking of this, heard good news when they, called on the president. presi-dent. He told them he planned to call a conference of city and state officials offi-cials before the end of the current winter, to study the problem of taxation tax-ation with the object of evolving a system of revenue whereby funds may be "earmarked," or equitably shared among governmental units, without waste in collecting and without with-out overlapping. Secretary of the Treasury Mor-genthau Mor-genthau deyoted his speech to the mayors, to the tax subject. He said that no more important question faces governmental officials, whether whe-ther they be local, state or federal. , He suggested that it was necessary to establish definite "zones" of tax- ( ation, some of which would belong exclusively to cities, some to coun- ties, some to states and some to the federal government. It is forecast that the congress which meets in j 1937 will find tax . allocation on the j list of problems with which it must cope. Not less troublesome to the mayors may-ors than taxation, and even more imminently im-minently important, is the burning k subject of relief.' During 'the past four years city officials have turned gray trying to keep their needy clothed, fed and housed. When a man i gets out of a job, he looks first to (Uontin'ied on last page) ; Economic. Highlights . (Ciuitiuued from page 1) bis city government to can y him through. Most American cities have done relatively little to aid their needy they ha e borrowed federal j money, and have left the biggest 1 part of the job to federal agencies. They want more federal money and still more federal money, as speech after speech showed. The recent announcement an-nouncement that federal direct relief would soon be ended was highly displeasing dis-pleasing to them. They also want the federal machinery to be better oiled, so that they will have to go fhi-nugh less red tape to get funds. Some hope that all would be well was given them by the president, who said that the federal government had seen to it that no one starved so far, would continue to see to it in the future. fu-ture. Principal resolution adopted by the conference was a demand for more federal dollars for cities. Like all such conferences, little was actually accomplished but it seems that groundwork was laid for good tasks for the -future. If the chaos of overlapping municipal, state and federal tax collections can be even partially clarified, and some of the waste attendant on tax collections collec-tions eliminated, the American taxpayer tax-payer will obviously get more and hpt.tpv p-overmnental services for less money. ; oOo The spark is rapidly1 approaching the European powder-keg. Mussolini has definitely said that if Italy's, neighbors apply sanctions and shut off from her such necessities as oil, fshe will fight. And other great pow-lers, pow-lers, led by France, are determined that the stiffest possible sanctions shall be put into effect, war or no Iwar. Here is something that has Washington Wash-ington worried, and has American exporters wondering. The United 1 States is officially neutral. The president, following the resolution ' approved by the last congress, pro-' pro-' claimed neutrality as soon as Italian-Ethiopian Italian-Ethiopian hostilities began, warned Americans to stay off ships of combatants, com-batants, forbade Americans to sell J arms and implements of war to the j battling nations. j So far so good. But there is great 'difficulty in deciding just what "war materials" are, beyond such apparent appar-ent fighting essentials as rifles, cartridges, tanks, airplanes. Example: Exam-ple: Italy is a large buyer of Am- erican oil, cotton, scrap iron and copper. cop-per. None of these commodities is on the prescribed list, as each serves a useful purpose in time of peace. Yet it is a fact that each of them is likewise used in war- and that if J Italy were entirely unable to get ' them she could not carry on in Ethio-j Ethio-j pia or elsewhere. The difficulties inherent in this suitation are enormous. We might r-'p.ke it illegal to sell such commo-j commo-j dities to Italy, inasmuch as she is j not a big customer. But what if war j struck in Germany, Japan, England and France which are big customers custom-ers ? In that case, an embargo on oil, jscrrp iron, and the rest would be a serious blow to American commerce, (would be reflected in unemployment and business retrogression at home. So the big question is: How can v.e keep peace, remain strictly neu-; neu-; tral, and still not penalize ourselves I too heavily ? |