THURSDAY. AUGUST 24. IMS
THE SPRINGFIELD NEWS
PAGE TWO
THE SPRINGFIELD NEWS
Publlahed Every Thueaday at
S prlncflald. L aae Coanty. Oregon. by
THE W ILLAMETTE PRESS
M. E. M A X E Y . E ditor
Entered aa »econd class m atter. F ebruary 34. IM S . a t th * poatornc*.
Springfield. Oregon
M A IL S U B S C R IP T IO N R A T E
O «e Year In Advance
$140
S x M onth*
Tw o Y e a r* In Advance
$2.40
T hree M onth*
................
$1 00
40c
T H U R S D A Y , A l ’G l S r 24. IS33
T IIE TAX SITUATION
We are inclined to think that nine-tent ha of the people
vt ho are not paying their taxes are delinquent because they
hate not the money nor a place to borrow it. Public offl-
! ials blame the 1931 act of the legislature, reducing interest
on delinquent taxes to eight per cent and cutting out penal
ties, as responsible for the fai t that taxes are now 45 per
cent delinquent.
We don’t believe that the old law would have squeexed
much more money out of the people and it would have
greatly increased the tax burden against property with
wholesale tax foreclosures. While there are some people
who could pay and do uot because they look for some con
cessions and there are others who think that the only way
to reduce public expenditures is to hold back tax payments,
the great majority of people are not paying because they
simply have not the money.
%
Power, railroad, telephone and other public service pro
perties have all paid their taxes in order to keep their bonds
good. But for the opportunity of soaking them plenty and
collecting the money government would be twice as hard
hit as at present. There would be wholesale closing of
schools and public employees would be working for a mere
pittance. We often wonder who will be the goose to lay the
golden tax eggs, when the rest of the tax flock is barren,
after the country turns to public ownership of tax-free
utilities.
We think that the only solution to the present tax pro
blem, with resultant crippling of government on the scale
we have known it, is to reduce public expenditures as low as
possible. When the public's income returns to something
like normal then delinquent taxes will be taken up. To keep
on laying heavy tax mortgages on property Is to force a
great deal of property out of private ownership. This will
greatly delay the time when government’s can operate on a
cash basis.
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IT’S UP TO THE FARMER
The regulation of the cotton and cigar tobacco crops
by the Federal Government is now in effect. The regula
tion of wheat production is practically in operation. Next
to be regulated will be corn and hogs, so Washington an
nounces. Milk producers are under license in several im
portant districts.
Whether this policy will work or not depends, naturally,
upon individual farmers. Government has no power under
the law, as we understand it, to force any farmer to keep
land out of cultivation or to reduce crops; It cannot dictate
to him whether he shall sow wheat or corn, raise hogs or
sheep. But it can and does offer to make It more profitable
to him to comply with a general program of adjusting agri
cultural production to demand.
This is not the first time in American history that there
has been an attempt to control production. In the early
1700’s Maryland and Virginia were producing more tobacco
than the market v/ould take, so their Colonial governments
ordered that no planter should plant more tobacco than
6,000 plants for each Negro slave between the ages of 16
and 60. As Professor Tugwell pointed out the other day,
France attempted about the same time to control the over
production of wine grapes; and today France actually con
trols its wheat acreage and imports so that the French
farmer now gets the equivalent of about $2 a bushel for
his wheat.
If this allotment plan works it will be because our farm
ers are intelligent and far-sighted enough to make It work.
If the majority of them do not cooperate in the effort to
bring American agriculture up to its proper place as not
only the major industry but the most uniformly profitable
one, the failure of the Administration’s plan will be their
fault and nobody’s else.
Pres. Roosevelt
Says:
“It's up to the womeu to
see the new deal through.
You must give |>atrlotic help
to the greut plan to banish
the misery of unemployment
from the land. If you pledge
yourself to buy from stores
who have signed the presi
dent's agreement. If you will
ask for goods marked with
the N. R. A. Symbol bread
lines will vanish. IToaperlty
will come.”
’’Because Buying Supports
Your Job.
“It Is essential that people
buy now those commodities
which they need or will need
in the immediate future to as
sist those who are assuming
increased operating expenses.
"The public’s part is to sup
port those employers and em
ployees who do their parts to
put the breadwinners back to
work.”
-----------«-----------
ALL IN SAME BOAT
We hear some unfavorable criticism, usually of an in
volved nature, of the fact that the consumer must pay the
bill for the degree of re-employment that will produce in
dustrial recovery. Occasionally a critic, who perhaps has not
become adjusted to very materially changed conditions in
our country, will leave the impression that this obvious fact
constitutes some sort of unjust discrimination against a
particular class of citizens.
Let us consider a moment: Just as many industrialists
have come to a realization during the past few weeks that
the workers they laid off cannot continue as their customers
and that they in fact had been their customers; so also the
man from whom we buy foodstuffs, furniture, automobiles,
radios, clothing, and anything else of the innumerable pro
ducts we sorely need to buy, is also a consumer. He like
wise must buy his supplies from others. The manufacturer
is not only a consumer of raw materials in his plant, but he
is a consumer of all that all of us consume away from his
plant.
So a little deduction brings us to the realization that
when we say the consumer must pay the bill we actually
mean that every American citizen and resident of American
territory must carry his share of the increased costs incident
to reemployment and business and industrial recovery.
Certainly no class is discriminated against. All are in
the same boat.—N. R. A. News.
------------ • ------------
Uncle Sam threatens to boycott to death all business
places which refuse to quit cutthroat methods and conform
to the NRA. Yet Uncle Sam continues to use that method
in printing envelopes in direct competition with printers.
Perhaps he doesn’t see anything inconsistent in such prac
tices, but if he doesn’t business men themselves should see
it. Yet there are millions with blue eagles all around them,
elated to think that cutthroat competition is coming to an
end, sending letters in the government printed envelopes.
Perhaps that is one of the things which makes the eagles
blue.— Harrisburg Bulletin.
WE DO OUR PART
Shorter hours, more help and more pay has increased
the operating expense of the grower, manufacturer and
merchant, who have done their part by signing up as
N. R. A. members.
Mr. Consumer, you must do your part by buying now because
increased markets are needed to bring back prosperity. The
success of the President’s plan rests squarely upon you.
You
must buy now if you are to ‘do your part’ to maintain higher
wages and more employment.
BUY NOW FROM THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS OF N.R.A.
FULOP’S DEPT. STORE
G. H. TURNER NOVELTY STORE
WRIGHT & SONS
v» i BO OUB
►A»’
We are Members of N. R. A.
The Springfield Laundry has signed the National
Recovery code and complied with the provisions of a
laundry code for Oregon. We pledge our heartiest co
operation with the letter and spirit of the President’s
Reemployment Agreement and the National Recovery
Administration.
The code calls for shorter hours, minimum pay
and increased employment. To make this agreement
successful in Springfield we solicit your cooperation.
Ar.y work given the Springfield Laundry Increases
(mployment and helps bring prosperity back to thlB
city.
SPRINGFIELD LAUNDRY
ANDERSON MOTORS, Inc.
WHITE FRONT GROCERY
C. F. EGGIMANN
IDEAL GROCERY—
Springfield's Red and White Store
INDEPENDENT MEAT CO.
W. A. HALL
SCOTT’S DRUG STORE
J. M. LARSON SERVICE STATION
IRISH-MURPHY CO.
SPRINGFIELD CREAMERY
MATT HART SERVICE STATION
FLANERY’S DRUG STORE
PAUL GARBODEN GARAGE
MOUNTAIN STATES POWER CO.
THE WILLAMETTE PRESS
FRANK LOGAN SERVICE STATION