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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1936)
MEDFORD MAn, TRIBUNE. MEDKOKl). OREGON. FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 14. 10Pfi. PAGE FIVE ) John L. Nealon Takes Final Fling at Townsend Plan To the Editor: If you leel like affording us. the space, we would appreciate the chance to reply to Mr. Crews just once more, but we hereby promise this will be the last, for we find that we can't raise hay and regulate the monetary system at the same time. Mr. Crews has presented us with some very impressive figures, almost as startling as some we saw In "chain letters" about a year ago. We wish to thank Mr. Crews for pointing out the difference between a "transaction tax" and a "sales tax" "transaction tax paid by the seller." It seems as though wo have heard of this Idea before. We wonder if Mr. Crews really believes a transaction tax Ib paid by the seller at no cost to the buyer? As It Is much more convincing to let your opponent prove your point, we would like to take you back to the matter of the California sales tax. You and your colleague, Mr, New Deal, seem to think the sum of forty-eight million dollars ($48,000. 000) Is really very Insignificant. No doubt It Is to you. but lets take a look at what It meant to the people GENUINE OLD FASHIONED APPLE JACK BRANDY Carefully distilled and slowl) aged in heavy oak barrels FULL 90 PROOF old speas Fine OH Apple Brandy 'SWT who paid It. As previously stated. a 2i per cent sales tax In California raised aproxlmately S48.000.000 in 1934. According to your own figures and argument, a sales tax won't raise more than 5 per cent of what your 3 per rent transaction tax will. It should be obvious to anyone that If you are going to raise 20 times as much money under one system of collection as under another, the peo ple you expect to collect from will have to pay 20 times as much. The census report of 1930 showed the en- the population of California to be 5, 677.251. We will grant tnat the in crease since would bring It up to six million. This means that this $48, 000,000 paid out of the pockets of the people of California equaled a per capita cost of 98. If you don't care to accept Uncle Sam's census re ports, look around you a little and we think you can readily sec that there are not more than one person out of four who is gainfully employed or otherwise capable of supporting himself end family. It should be very plain to see that the cost to the average "bread winner" In California was $33 per year. The census report of 1930 showed aproxlmately 600,000 people In California 60 years of age and over. As we have pointed out, the $48,000,000, divided equally be tween these 600,000 people would give each a monthly allowance of $6.65. If It cost the man of average- In come In California $33 per year to provide an allowance of ' $6.65 per month, how are you going to provide $200 per month without Increasing the per capita cost of $8 to approxi mately $240 per year to $960 to the head of the average family? What difference does it make whether you raise $100 by a transac tlon tax, sales tax. or property tax; It Is still $100, isn't It? Or does It make any difference from which end of the lemon you extract the Juice; the lemon will be minus just whatever you take from It. wont It? We are sorry to correct you, Mr. Crews, but our statement in our first letter was: That there Is one person eligible, by age, in the United States, to a pension of $200 a month under the Townsend plan to every four per sons gainfully occupied, and that the average Income of the four persons Is approximately $1,000 per year. Doesn't this mean that these four persons would have to shoulder a load of $2, 400 among them? If you will get a World's Almanac for 1933 and turn to page 330 and page 875, you may verify this statement. ' You state. "That the total aggre- . gate value of all business transactions In this country wojjld equal $600, 000,000.000 a year. According to re cent estimates, the total Income of : the nation will reach $60,000,000,000 1 for 1935. By this It would be evident ' that ftiirh dollar ctt Inrnmi would participate In ten transactions during the year (your statistician. Mr. Owen, estimates 23). Through the manipu lation of your transaction tax it would be nicked for 3 cent on each transaction, ultimately coming out with 80 cents of purchasing power In stead of the original 100 cents. Or we might take aa an example the shoes you are wearing. From the time the steer Is sold on the range until your shoes are banded you from your retail dealer there are at least ten transactions consummated, each adding 3 per cent to the cost of the shoes, eventually increasing the cost to a little over 10 per cent. There fore, when a working man buys a pair of shoes for $6 he gets $5 worth of shoes and contributes .$1 to the Townsend pension fund. This wouia noia true with practi cally, every article of merchandise an urban dweller would buy. If he spent the average of $1,500 per year, he would be forced to contribute $300 per year toward your pension fund. We have at hand a life insurance rate book showing that a young man 25 years of age could take this same $300 and purchase $10,000 of 25-year endowment Insurance, thereby insur ing to a great extent his own Independence. Which do you think would be oet- ter for the morale of the country to have the young men loafing around mochlng from the old folks' pension or have them husltlng and saving for themselves? We feel sure that you people be lieve In equality and fairness. We would like to cite you to an example of two families we could point out to you at any time.. One man has a wife, no children, somewhere In their forties, with a combined salary of about $3,000 a year. His father and mother are both living and past 60 years of age. The same with his wife. Four old folks eligible under your plan to a total of $800 per month or a total of six people with $1,050 per month at their disposal. The other case Is a man also In his forties supporting, besides himself, d wife and five children on $65 per month. Neither he nor his wife have any near relatives eligible to your pension. Do you believe that after his living costs have been increased 20 per cent by the manipulation of your transac tion tax that he and his family will be on any equality whatsoever with the other family? Do you think his wife and family would appreciate your plan? Naturally, you will contend that his wages will be Increased, but don't forget that the men's wages will be increased too. who produce his com modities of life, therefore raising his living costs proportionately to any wage Increase. You ask us for a plan. Although we have none to offer, we will say that there Is a man In the While House who we believe that. If not constantly annoyed by peddlers of panaceas and advocates of boot-strap legislation, will work out some plan whereby all really needy old ptople and others worthy of consideration will be amply taken care of. How ever, it won't be any plan that will take from 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the people's money to provide a penison of from $100 to $200 per month. Weeds grow rapidly but any worth while or lasting reform will take time and probably never reach a state of perfection. Wo don't want any mush room proposition that will fall of its own weight within a short time, leav ing all of us worse off. What does It gaiu a drowning man to pull others that might help him down, too? It would be very unchrlstianltke to not be willing to reach down and give a hand to those In need and less fortunate than ourselves, but we do not believe it wise to glorify poverty, at least not to such an extent as to encourage absolute shlftlessness as we sincerely believe would be the case under your proposed plan. JOHN L. NEALON. Table Rock, Feb. 12. EE H CONTINENTAL BLADES 7c 25c Pkg. of Five Swedish Steel Gem Type Blades TUMS FOR THE TUMMY 3 for 17c Regular 10c Priced at only.. 5Qc Nature's Remedy 31 c P. & G. White Naptha Soap A Real Buy. . ...... .3 bars 10c Black Psyllium Seed,' full pound box 19c Criterion Alarm Clock guaranteed 89c 60s AUm-SELTZER 49c 35c Gold Medal Haarlem Oil Caps ..... 26c $1.15 Half and Half, pound vacuum tin 59c $1.00 Thermos Bottle. ... .79c . FLASHLIGHT Qgnjjy wwMU BATTERIES delicious DOG and CAT FOOD 101X0 LIFE BOSTON MINTS FILLED 5c Bull Duke's Buffalo Golden Grain. ....... .4 bags 15c Antiseptic Solution pint for throat gargle. ... . ... . . ... .29c $1.00 Zonite for modern hygiene 69c 1 50 TAICARA DOUCHE POWDER SPECIALLY PRICED at 89c 75c Doans Pills for the kidneys .49c 50c Burma Shave no brush, no lather lb. jar ...... ,29c $1.00 Biso Dol Antacid-Alkalinizer 59c S MA BABY FOOB A Renl Buy 9c SARAKA The Natural Intestinal Lubricant $1.25 Size 7c SOAP POWDER LUX RINS0 IVORY 0XYD0L 25c Pkgi. FRIDAY THRU MONDAY SELLING SEATTLE COW TAKES SEATTLE. Feb. 14 (AP) Carna tion Ormsby Butter King, milch cow owned near nen;, was acclaimed the new world's champion today when the Holstein-Frieslan association of America approved her year's record of 33.606.8 pounds of milk ( 1,403 02 pounds of butterfat the equivalent of 1752.S pounds of butter.) She broke the 1923 record of the Canadian cow, Dekol Plus Slgls Dixie, who produced 1364 pounds of butter fat, and the 1920 record of Se?ls Pletertje Prospect, whoroduced 37. 381 pounds of milk. High School News by STUDENT REPORTERS 11 Kthel Moore. A literary contest Is Qne of the Interesting features being sponsored by the Crater magazine staff. Prises will be offered for t'ue best poem or prose selection sent In- First prize Is a free picture In the Crater and a free Crater; the second priee 1b a free Crater. The aenlor edition of the Crater magazine will be Issued on May 29. MlMi Mlgnon Phlpp. editor, states that plana for the publication we already under way. "This edition will be slightly larger than the mid-year edition and will have several added attrnc tione." said Mlsa Phipps, A snapshot contest is also being sponsored in order to obtain some interesting snaps for publication. The two prizes offered are free Craters. ,H Ted I.tmlley. A special assembly was called at the high school February 13 for the purpose of paying tribute, to Abra ham Lincoln. The assembly opened with the band playing the school song after which Mr. Wilson Walt led the stu dent body in the oath of allegiance. Miss Floy Young, music teacher at the high schcol. then led the sing ing of "America.' Billy Wilson, a student, gave the Gettysburg ad dress and the assembly ended by singing the school song. By Bert Oaiiglierty. On Monday. February 1 , In the boys' gymnasium, the sophomore class held an election of class offi cers. The results were : President, Ruth Oarlock: secre tary, Josephine Bullis; treasurer, Kenneth Raymond; yell leader, Cath erine Conroy. Vice-president was not voted on as Billy Holloway. elected In the fall, Is still a sophomore. The only close contest was the election ot yell leader. The meeting was advised by Mr. C. D. Thompson, an Instructor. Betty Fowler was temporary secretary. By Roy Hensley. Morn In? classes in bays physical education, under direction of Mr. Kirtley, are now engaged In learning the fundamentals of wrestling. The object of this training Isn't to Increase the present crop of pro fessional wrestlers but to teach the boys some of the science of the game. During the time that wrestl ing Is tnken up In the classes each boy will be taught approximately five holds and how to break them. Boxing will probably be taken soon to further increase the boys' knowledge of how to defend and protect themselves. By Ethel Mucker. Yesterday in room 8 the H. E. C. A. members sponsored a luncheon, at which Dr. Jensen was guest speaker. The topic of his speech was his Journey through Italy. The teachers and mem tier who attended enjoyed his speech very much and are looking forward to his return. Dr. Jensen enjoyed apeaktng to the high school students and after his speech an opportunity was given to the teachers and students to ask questions concerning the talk. E HELD EMBEZZLER LA GRANDE, Feb. 14. (AP) Guy I. Patten of Elgin was released on 95000 bond when he was brought before United States Commissioner L. Den ham here today charged, with embez zlement of $2109 while he was receiv er for the defunct Stockgrowers and Farmers National Bank of Wallowa. Patten was arrested this morning by Deputy U. 8. Marshal Dan Markcl of Portland and George Rogers, state po lice of Enterprise. Patten was for several years assist ant cashier of the First National Bank of Elgin and operated a pool hall there before his appointment as re ceiver of the Wallowa bank. He has lived In the Grande Ronde valley all his life. Patten Indicated that he Intended to "fix It up." saying that he was trying to help others. Use Mall in Mine want ads Pear Market Yesterday fancy, $23.70, average 12.29; 00? fancy, tl.80r2.59, average i2.17. NEW YIRK, Feb. 13. ( AP-UEDA) Pear auction market. Two cars ar rived; 1 Oregon car. 2 Washington unloaded; 4 cars on track. Orecon D'An.ious: 740 boxes extra! V lT2 ' .tHlEEiilll I W&P It MS . h. I I I mi i uu to QJJ. DIGESTION Hh SHERRY BuqGUASTI to CHjOif the wine GOOD win bfor, during offer a Tta relax, nrv male conversation castor and appo tit,t keonor. You can afford Iho boot with prlcos to amazingly low on GUASTI Win In bottl.t (21 varloHoa from which to choos) tho bott of California's most glorious gallons. x - ''J'it s ttJ v 1 1 ill 1 it- srf" h 7 ' ' T JA - Hi. 1 4 ,H m -1 4 ; t it-". mmnA 1? . tlfly " t Chesterfields! well that's different their aroma is pleasing they're milder -they taste better they burn right they don't shed tobacco crumbs T H--' C Wit, LltOlTt ft Mvim Tosacco Co,
