Show cost of government must be cut from a radio address by COL ROBERT R MCCORMICK editor and publisher of 0 the chicago tribune before the war ou our r public expenditures were per year including Inc including ludin state and local governments five years after the war they were before the war our national indebtedness including states and counties was 4 while five years alter after the war pt it had risen to how to account for this phenomenon on 1 I 1 am not sure increased income irom from property was responsible for bu but t a small part the effect ol of spending borrowed money mon cy had bad some share the energy creat ed by war enthusiasm and the natural optimism following victory all contributed the consequence has been that property of every kind was raised Rs as a ship on a wave and left by the receding wave high and dry on the jagged rocks of ruinous taxation I 1 earnings never were high enough to support the levels ot of taxation which were imposed the unbearable load was concealed like the face of mephistopheles behind a mask or of plenty now under the grinding load of taxation industry is everywhere slowing up incomes are falling and disappearing industries c contracting on tr or closing down altogether are unable to furnish employment to workmen ork everywhere we find economies and hardship excepting on the part of those people who have their hands under color of law jaw in tin the pockets ot of others and even these are suffering as the pockets become empty they are like the wolves of Anti antiposti costi at one time the island of Anti antiposti costi was populated by limitless droves of caribou one year some labrador wolves were carried r to the island on the lee ice the island was favorable to the pursuit of the wolves and its shores prevented escape to the pursued the wolves waxed in number finally they destroyed all the caribou and then with nothing to leed feed upon all died of hunger that Is the prospect which lies before our tax eaters the evil talk ot of tax strikes Is heard throughout the land but tar far more serious than strikes Is the growing I 1 inability nabi lity of taxpayers to pay strike or no strike it Is absolutely impossible to pay the taxes assessed owners of buildings are tearing them down because the taxes are mors more than the receipts owners of unimproved property fire are unable to pay their taxes and tax buyers cannot be lound found to evict them individuals estates and co corporations rp orations are beginning to find it impossible possible to meet federal taxation extorted with all the ruthlessness of the germans in belgium obviously by the continuation of the principle of exacting tribute on val values acs as they rise and returning nothing when they decline sooner or later the government will have extorted the entire value of all property the great industrial enterprises terp rises which pay so large a part of all kinds of taxes real personal and income started from small beginnings and have been built up from accumulations it these accumulations had been sequestered in the post as they will be in the future the industries never could have biown it if we stop accumulations at this time no more industries may grow to take up the slack of unemployment and to pay the cost of government A no less vital factor Is the repayment ot of debts the existence ot of banks am and I 1 hence the existence of bank depositors depends upon the ability of debtors to pay to the non producing theorist on the outside perhaps a strictly limited return on capital may seem sufficient wid and all that Is morally justified but for the borrower a return sufficient to pay not orly the interest but the principle of his I 1 debt is necessary lest he lose his all it if the opportunity ot of repaying his debt Is 1 denied him he cannot venture and if the government will take from the borrower the money which Is needed to repay the lender this man dare not lend nothing Is more popular today than the progressive estate tax it if it is argued it Is fair that the creator ot of wealth is isi entitled to its use this right does not extend to his children his heirs who did nothing to produce it an argument plausible to those who wish to see it that way but one which carried to its logical conclusion injures the very people it is supposed to benefit modern property is no longer in the patriarch stage the rich man does not own one th thousand 0 usand goats or ten thousand sheep of which five hundred or reven thousand and fifty may be taken by pharaoh still leaving the heirs belts a considerable quantity 0 of mutton and wool in its simplest form tor for the this wealth will be found represented in bonds and shares of stock listed on an exchange part of which cari can b 1 sold to pay the tax on the whole forced sales of stocks to pay taxes are another form ot of bear raids ot of short selling stock which in the natural order of events would be kept off the marke marlat mar lct ciul tec be forced on the market breaking breaking the market the forced sale of the stock sold de destroys the value ol of that retained any glet glee caused by the confiscation fis ol of the estate of a rich man will be turned to dismay when it Is found out that all block in whose ever hands it maybe is thereby depreciated in value not only every share ot of the particular stock sold will be depreciated but as th these ese fall in value they will bring all I 1 th recent the 0 ther other shares down with them the recent collapse ot of the stock market Is I partly due to stocks forced upon ti the 1 market by government exaction andhor which buyers tire are wanting I 1 the cobrae which our rulers have laid out tor for us and from which they show h no ao sign ot of deviating Is the road to e complete comno m and inescapable ruin it if they pr proceed 0 as they are going they will dry i up a every profit every interest payment and every payroll II if you ask me what Is the alternative I 1 will make this statement and I 1 will continue to make it there Is not a cabinet officer there Is not a member of congress who can demonstrate that one halt half of the money appropriated tor for any department of government Is used for the purpose designated I 1 will be specific no not t one halt half of the money appropriated tor for the war department Is spent to make an army not one halt half ot of the money ap tor for the navy department Is spent to build operate and maintain a combat fleet not one halt half of the money appropriated lor for the Post postoffice office nce department Is spent to move the mam malls As for other great branches ot of the gov government the department of commerce the department part ment ot of the interior the department 0 of f agriculture are not much better than rackets rackets I 1 regret to say which are supported by a small element of our population who ore are persuaded that 1 they hey are receiving from them special benefits at the expense of the general taxpayer it took centuries for enough wealth to accumulate to raise our civilization from the misery of the middle ages to the high estate we have witnessed it has taken ten years ot of excessive taxation to bring us down to the beige 0 ot ruin the tax bill passed by the national house destroys all hope for the future like the nobility of royal prance and revolutionary pre england our office holders are a privileged class becom hereditary holding sinecures sine cures established by law they look down upon civilians with contempt as fit only to tor for the support of their masters they dominate and ex exchange charge place with elected officers with whom they conspire for special benefit civilization could not start until the old privileged aristocracy was overthrown now it Is reestablished established re in another form and Is again sucking the life blood of the tha working world if I 1 you pre to exist you must tear these weasels from the throat of the nation to attend meetings Is not enough to pass ie solutions is not enough our salvation and the sa salvation lation of our country depends upon an immediate call to action by the producers of all wealth there Is no time to be lost your daughters average income oh about in the m mom ma tog ah sir I 1 want your daughter tor for my alft and 1 I air am not willing to barade trade |