OCR Text |
Show Our Declining Income The Bureau of Domestic and Foreign Commerce gives us the astounding information that the national income in the United States dropp;xl from $81,000,000,000 in 1929 to $49. 000. 000,000 in 1932. a decrease of forty per cent. As is usual in times of depression, wages have suffered suf-fered most. The decrease in wages has been sixty per cent, in salaries, forty per cent and in property income in-come thirty per cent. Interest payments pay-ments were maintained rather uniformly uni-formly up to 1932. Dividend payments pay-ments were pretty well maintained in 1930 but declined after that more rapidly than wage payments. A decrease of forty per cent in the national income in three years is of itself significant, but there is something some-thing else to be taken into consideration. consider-ation. During the same time taxes did not decrease. On the other hand their tendency was to grow. And indebtedness mounted rapidly, too, and will continue to mount for some time so far as the federal government govern-ment is concerned, at least. New taxes are paid by the people themselves, them-selves, out of their incomes. With the national inoome decreasing forty for-ty per cent and taxes having a tendency ten-dency to increase, it is easy to see how much greater the tax burden is now than it was in 1929. In view of this fact it would seem that sooner or later we will have to have some economy in the ordering of our Jocal, state and national affairs. af-fairs. Otherwise we may have a breakdown in government and real, instead of theoretical revolution. President Roosevelt, as a candidate, candi-date, hit the nail on the head in a speech delivered July 30, when he said: "Let us have courage to stop borrowing bor-rowing to meet continuing deficits. Stop the deficits. Revenue Reve-nue must cover expenditures by one means or another. Any government like any family can for a year spend a little more than It earns. But you and I know that a continuation continua-tion of that habit means the poor house." o |