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■hi-pel ill 11
The news in this publica
tion is released for the press on
.1
receipt.
the university of north CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
AUGUST 21,1918
CHAPEL HHJU N. G.
VOL. IV, NO. 39
^dUorial Board . F. 0. Branson, .T. S. deR. Hamilton, L. K. Wilson, R. H. Thornton! G. M. McKie.
Entered a.s second-class matter November 14,1914, at the Postotfice at Chapel Hill, N C., under the act of August 24, 1912.
WAR REVENUES NEXT YEAR
Secretary McAdoo’s position relative
to taxation for the coming year was
frankly and postiively stated in his
letter to Majority Leader Kitchin of
the House of Eepresentatives. He
wrote in part;
We can not aiford to rely upon
$4,000,000,000 only for taxation, be
cause we shall then have to relv on
raising’ $20,000,000,000 by loans. This
would be a surrender to the policy of
high-interest rates and inflation, with
all their evil consequences.
If we are to presei-ve the financial
strength of the Nation we must do
sound and safe things, no matter
whether they hurt our pockets or in
volve sacrifices—sacrifices of a rela
tively insignificant sort compared with
those our soldiers and sailors are mak
ing to save the life of the Nation.
The sound thing to do unquestion^
ably is to increase taxation, and the
increases should be determined upon
promptly and made eifective at the
earliest ])ossible moment.
The Secretary’s recommendations
briefly are that one-third (estimated
at $8,000,000,000) of the cash expen
ditures to be made during the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1919, be provided
for by taxation, a real war-profits’ tax
at a high rate upon all war profits, a
substantial increase in the amount of
normal income tax upon all so-called
unearned incomes, and heavy taxation
upon all luxuries.—Federal News Ser
vice.
WAR TAX ON LUXURIES j
If America is ever to learn the les- j
son of plain living and high thinking ,
the oppoitune time is now. If under!
war conditions we cannot or will not
cut out needless indulgences, we are j
doomed to drop into tlie bottomless pit
of debt. In the last analysis, this war'
must be paid for out of the savings !
of self-denial.
The best way to enforce this lesson ,
of national necessity is by heavy taxe^;
on the luxuries of the rich and'on the '
luxurious habits of the poor. Such:
taxes la.st year produced less than a'
third of a billion dollars. This year
they must be made to produce at least
two billion dollars.
“As a people we must abandon the
extravagances of vain display, of per
sonal adornment, of eating and drink
ing, of pleasure seeking, of unneces
sary travel on our sorely pressed war
transportation systems, gambling and
dissipation. Only by such taxes can
the vast resources of labor, capital,
and raw materials be diverted from
unworthy uses to the noblest services,
to the defense of America and of
humanity, to the production of neces
sities for our people and our armies
and those of the war-weary allied na
tions who have borne the burden of the
struggle thee four years,” says Finan
cial America.
So far the taxes on articles of vanity
and, folly have been trifling—only 2
per cent, for instance, on face powder,
perfumes, pomades and the like; only
3 per cent on jewelry, pool and billiard
tables, sporting goods, dice and so on;
only 3 per cent on imported diamonds,
pearls, and other precious stones; only
6 cents a gallon on champagne, only
10 cents a. gallon on soda fountain
■syrups!
A glance at our import list the last
year gives us a very good idea of our
extravagance as a people. Some of
these articles are duty free; on others
the war tax is merely nominal; while
on others no war tax at all has been
levied as yet.
Imported Luxuries
Laces, lace curtains, etc ■
Diamonds, pearls, etc 41,000,000
.. 31,000,000
Fine woolen gpods'25,000,000
Tobacco, cigars and cigar-
'Cigarette paper 1600^00
Millinery, feathers, etc. . .. {6,000,000
Paintings, statuary, etc. . . 17,000,UUU
Glassware, china, porct- g
Ivo^^T.moiheV^ofrtieari::;: MOM^^
Carpets and rugs 3 553,000
Chewing gum, chicle iVoo’oOO
Dolls and toys .• • • ^
Import dutfes averaging a hundt eU
per cent on a score or so of,sfh lux
uries would easily raise a ha
dollars for war purposes. “ '•"f
and the luxurious poor must have such
things, let them pay hea-vy war taxe^
forth; privilege. -Such taxe/ faU^on
the people who are best ah m
them. A heavy tax on luxuiles U
enable our law-makers
on sugar, coffee, tsa, and “ o
wise statesman will hesitate
the breakfast table. Houbled
War tax revenues must he
tihis year. Wasteful consump
unnecessai-y production must be dis
couraged.
A National Disgrace
Frugality is not yet a national vir
tue. Criminal extravagance and waste
are still a national disgrace. And we
need to feel sensibly' the rough hand
of law, whether it prove tio be a re
venue producer or not.
A heavy tax on luxuries will be most
valuable perhaps when it yields the
least revenue to the tax collector. This
is particularly true of alcoholic patent
medicines—which, strange to say have
not yet come into consideration as a
source of war revenues.
Quack nostrums with a large content
of alcohol ought to be tiaxed out of ex
istence. At present ours is a patent-
medicine civilization, say the Scotch
with scorn.
You like the stuff all right enough,
a Lowlander once said to us in Carlisle,
buti you piously take it under the label
of Peruna, Tanlac and the like instead
of Dong' John straight.
TAX WAR PROFITS FIRST
The statement from Washington
that the House Ways' and Means Com
mittee will adopt the proposed taxes
on luxuries only as a last resort is
reassuring. It evidently implies that
the committee will first review
the whole situation respecting the pres
ent income and excess-profits taxes
and see what can be done to improve
the revenue yield from those sources.
Tax revenues under existing law
amount to about $4,000,000,000, and
$8,000,000,000 is wanted. It is ad
mitted by all that the first subjects to
be considered by war taxes are war
profits. It is accordingly for the 'Ways
and Means Committee first to consider
whether the so-called excess-profits
taxes are fully and justly reaching
war profits.'^
That they are not seems to be gen
erally understood in Washington. The
President has stated that war-profit
eering still flourishes. Large bodies of
statistics are being submitted to Con
gress which prove that \var-profiteer-
ing still flourishes. Senators and
Representatives are daily delivering
speeches denouncing the profiteers.
The Government is charging that the
revenue has been defrauded in hun
dreds of millions of dollars by the prof
iteers, who have been helped at the
job by the Confusions and uncertain
exemptions growing out of the attempt
of the present law to tax excess profits
rather than profits arising from war
conditions, which can easily and defi
nitely be determined.
The inference from all this is that
the profits of the war-profiteers are
not flowing into the Federal Treasury
as it was intended that they should
flow.
Just how large is this current which
is being diverted from the Treasury to
private pockets ? The facts have been
made knowable to Congress by the re
cent tax returns. How to turn the
whole private profiteering proVlem to
the profit of the public Treasury m the
prosecution of the war these facts must
reveal.
If an extended system of consump
tion levies upon luxuries, to inclu'!' ;
also the finer qualities of living neces-!
saries. such as clothing, is required to
raise the needed increase in tax re-|
venue, the country will accept itj
willingly. But it wants to know fi_Ts^ i
whether the war-profiteers are being
taxed as they should be.—N. T. World.
wake and strike back with savage
ferocity.
Germany has gone over the crest of
the hill. Her way to the end must now
be downward, and the descent to Aver-
nus is always easy.
In the last analysis, the fault lies
not in Germany’s stars but in herself
—in a fundamental defect of national
character. The Prussian is by racial
nature a big blonde beast, cruel and
coward at the core, Nietzsche supplies
the epithet and Goethe the character
istics we have cited. He is brave in
aggressive winning warfare, and cow
ard as a cur when he is beaten. He
lacks the bottom of the English Tom
my, whose power to endure defeat has
always been the wonder of the world.
It was Napoleon’s complaint. The
English are too stupid to kno^w when
they are beaten; it is useless to defeat
them, because it must be done all over
again; they always lose every battle
except the last, said he.
The French soldier has limitless re
sources within himself. It is the very
finest flower of French democracy.
The strength of the Teuton lies in his
organization. It is as perfectly and
as delicately adjusted as the mechan
ism of a Swiss wateh; but when his
When the war is ended, interest
charges, less the interest collected
from our loans to our allies. Govern
ment insurance expenses, and other
necessary expenditures growing out of
the war may 90nservatively be esti
mated at something like $1,000,000,-
000. We are confronted, therefore,
when peace comes, with raising only
a couple of billions a year revenue, a
slight task for a Nation of such
tremendous wealth, capacity, and re
sources.
The resources of Germany before
the war were estimated to be $80,-
000,000,000. The annual expenditures
then of the Imperial Government were
about $800,000,000. Her debt now is
$30,000,000,000, and her resources and
man power have been severely impair
ed. After the war she is confronted
form of liberty bonds, certificates of in
debtedness, saving stamps and the like.
The new revenue bill that is being
considered by the ways and means
committee of the house prorHses to get
the necessary increase (1) by laying heav
ier burdens on luxuries and on the
people of the country rich and poor
who willfully indulge in luxurious
habits, (2) by a real war-jirofits tax at a
high rate upon all war-profits, and (3)
by a substantial increase in the amount
of normal income tax upon all so-called
unearned incomes.
As we have seen, the burdens under
the present law fall almost entirely on
wealth and luxury—on excess business
profits, on individual and corporation
incomes, inheritances, munitions, and
the like.
It so lightly touches the pocket of
with additional expenditures growing average man, in direct ways, that
out of the war totaling some $4,000,- j Secretary McAdoo thinks the Ameri-
000,000. I can people are likely to miss one of
The interest of her war debt, even | most valuable disciplines that can
if the debt grows no larger, will be j come to a nation in time of war—
about $1,500,000,000. Although she is namely the habit of cutting out waste
niggardly in her pensions to private
soldiers and their families, $1,000,000,-
000 a year would hardly suffice to pay
even small pensions to her injured and
and saving the last possible penny, on
high levels of patriotic motive.
We give below a briel of the tax on
luxuries that IMcAdoo proposes, as it
war machine or any part of it collap- been killed. Her war debt must be:
.ses the individual German throws up | paid some time and a sinking fund of;
his hands and cries “Kamerad!”
What the Teuton lacks and what the
soldiers of the allied nations have
without limit is staying power—-what
the jockeys call bottom.
It is sheer grim grit that will win
this war in the last half hour of the
death grapple. Th,e Teuton does not change the relative situations,
have it and the lack of it is fatal for
Germanv.
the families of her soldiers who have comes to us from Mashingtoii:
Luxury Taxes
Preparations for framing the new
increase of 54,000,000,000 all due *o | j,,,
the war. ijgj suggestions for new or higher
Of course both the United States and taxes on luxuries submitted yesterdav
Germany may greatly increase their ^ the treasury department!
debts, but; the increases will not “Members of the committee indicat-
ange the relative situations. led that the list would form the basL
The German Government has drain-^ consumption taxes In their draft of
e German people of their gold ; the bill, though some of the proposal
w.a, ---- their jewels, and heirlooms, and; ,, f fUnno-Prl A,, j-
long years of nightmare. The end is yet the Imperial Bank of Germany now i ^ otheis disie-
not yet, but peace and the honie-com- has but little over $500,000,000 of gold-j ^ riouhHr.(r
ing of our boys are in sight. The war in its vaults. The United States has | j- ^orf and tohacef ® r
is not yet over to be sure and hiu’d made no special effort to obtain gold | ^ d P
months are ahead of us, just as Andre has made no call upon the people foi , . nfiip,. goneiai in
Tardien the French High Commission-1 the precious metal, and yet today has: =„n.rrft=tioTis I’npifi i
er said the other night in Paris, but,'in its Treasury vaults practically Eeasuij sugge.stions include taxes of
the red streakings of a glorious vie-1 $2,500,000,000 of gold coin and bullion.
torv line the eastern horizon.
-Federal News Service.
SHALL THEY GO TO WAR?
50 per cent on retail prices of jeweln-
watches and clocks, except those sold
to army or navy men; 20 per cent on
Awwn cYTi^ikfirn automobiles, bicycles, musical instru-
OUR SUrlPlER atnUuL rnents, etc.,; 10 cents a gallon on gaso-
The 31st session of the University of: line, to be paid by the wholesaler; 10
We must have 5 million men on the' North Carolina summer school, char-1 per cent on hotel bills for rooms over
battle front, says Secretary Baker. We acterized by a spirit of purposeful; $2.50 a day or American plan over $5;
will send 10 millions if necessarv, says ^ study and fine patriotism, has just | 10 per cent on all cafe or restaurant
Secretary Daniels. ' | ended, and its 618 members, drawn bills; and taxes of unstated amounts
But class one of the war draft is from 87 North Carolina counties, have on men’s suits selling for more than
now exhausted, and when congress returned to their homes. $30, women’s suits over $40 and coats
meets in September, the draft age; Although not as largely .attended as over $30; men’s hats over $4; shirts
must be dropped below 21 and raised in recent years, the session has been over $2; pajamas over $2; hosiery over
above 31. | most distinctive in many ways. North -
Shall our 18 year old boys be called Carolina has never witnessed a more
to the colors ? Yes, if necessary, but patriotic, and ai the same time beauta-
otherwise. No. ! ful celebration than that given by the
The point we make here is that it^ school in Battle’s park July 4, and few
will be necessary, unless public senti-1 schools in the country have equaled
ment compels the sheriffs in every the record of the 428 Carolina teachers,
state to round up the deserters. Al-1 when on June 28, war savings stamps
most: everj-where in America the sher- day, pledged a total of $42,800 in
iffs are timid. We won’t say cowardly;, stamps to be bought by December 31.
we say timid. There are six well; Of the total enrollment 518 mem-
known deserters in this county. There bers of the school were women and 100
are some in well nigh every one of were men. Four hundred and eighty
the 3000 counties of the United States.' of these were teachers and 111 w®!’®
If public sentiment cannot be aroused preparing to teach. Four hundred and
against deserters, our 18 year old boys fifty-three, or 73 3-10 per cent, of the
mav have to go into the trenches in total number had training above hign
their stead. I school. The ratio last year was i2
They may have to go unless anoth- | per cent. Two hundred and thirteen,
er thing Is done. Class two ought to ■ or 34 5-10 per cent., were studing for
be promptly overhauled by the draft: college credit. Last year the ratio
officers everj'where. This class is in- j was 31 per cent, and the year beiore
tested with slackers who ought to be | 26 per c®nt.^ ^
35 cents; shoes over $6; gloves over
$2; undei-w’ear over $3; all neckwear
and canes; women’s dresses over $26;
skirts over $15; hats over $10; shoes
over $6; lingerie over $5; corsets over
$5, and all furs, fans, etc.; children’s
clothing, including suits over $15;
purses, toilet articles, etc., over $2.
“In addition to all these taxes,
which would be levied directly upon
the consumer, the list proposes doub
ling the present motion picture admis
sion' tax and imposing- a tax of five
per cent on moving picture theatre
rentals, with the present film tax
eliminated.
moved up into class one. Theie aiej . ! attempted to raise. No, you would find
had signal success
And if the Department of Agricul
ture at Washington offered you free of
charge pamphlets summing up all that
SQUABS AND BABIES
If you were going to raise squabs for
a living, of whom would you wish to
learn the business? Surely not of
someone who had lost a sixth or a
quarter or a half of the squabs he had
—ten or more in tms coum^w >Vnm vorious the business,
are not in class one because they im-, Fnends, 12, and ^0 fram jf ^he D
portuned their wives and blood km to
sign reluctant affidavits.
We’ve had too much waving of petti
denominations. Twenty-six failed to
THE TURN OF THE TIDE
For four long years the Hun has
terrorized the earth. For forty yeaisj
the German has been perfecting a war
machine and organizing a nation to
reduce a peace-loving world t® slav
ery. He has wreaked his fiendish will
upon Christendom, with the drift in
his favor until Foch turned the other
day ’n the Marne valley and inflicted
upon him the greatest defeat m Ger
man militlary history.
America has at last gotten into the
battle front', and the turn of the tide
has come. July 15 may Pe^aps be
reckoned as the
war says Norregaard the Swedish
mtlitary critic of well-known German
'^'Germany’s troubles have begun and
they will swarm about her ears like
hornets. When she begins to cave in,
her collapse will be sudden and cer-
tnin Hei allies will desert her as
rats’flee a sinking ship. The first to
.r will be Turkey, and the next wil
L rustiS-Hungary. The little necrtral
T^attons will pluck up courage to defy
hi will. The Balkan states are a
seethteg volcanic areatimod for erup-
tfnTin the heart of middle Europe
when German hopes are clearly at an
end It is not wholly impossible for
Russia, a hulking drowsy giant, to
indicate their church affiliations.
Six Rundred students were from , u • ■ - i,
- , ,1 , 44 u - TPnrespTitine- 87 coun-! experts m squab-raising could teach,
up, nights to study
ily^'tove to go °tiwar.^®‘'' ' | tetives. Virginia was represented by it comes to learning the business of
An inspection of the records in any: seven students. South (^lolma b\ \e.
draft office will show that class one | Georgia by three and Oregon b> on .
can be increased at least ten per cent. represented,
It means 300,000 more men for the
front.
Why take our stripling sons for war,
and leave such men at home in sorry
disgrace ?
But it must be done, unless cour
ageous souls can be nervpd to speak, school.
among them being 95 students from
the State Normal, 72 from the Univer
sity, 32 from Greensboro College toi
Women, 26 from Meredith and 23 from
East Carolina Teachers’ Training
There were 260 from various
now afflicts almost every community
in America.
right out against , the disgrace that otlmr^ collejes.^,
ed on for more teachers than it is pos
sible to supply. There is a great de
mand for grammar grade and tegh
school teachers and pnncipals. ihe
inducements offered by the government
are so much greater than those offered
bv the school boards that it seems im
possible to fill many of the places that
have hitherto been flooded with appli
cations for positions.
GERMAN BANKRUPTCY
Pessimistic Americans who view
with alarm our increasing national ob
ligations may derive a great deal of
comfort from a comparison of . the fi
nancial condition of the United ' States
contrasted with that of Germany.
The total resources of the United
States are estimated at about $250,-
000,000,000; our annual earnings are
estimated at about $50,000,000,000.
Our national debt, including the third
liberty loan, may be put around $12,-
000,000,000.
Before the war our Government was
spending about $1,000,000,000 a year.
baby-rising we women are too apt to
go about it differently. We start right
in without any training or study. We
blindly take the advice of old Mrs. So-
and-So next door, without stopping to
think that she lost a third or a fourth
of the babies she attempted to bring
up. We follow old superstitions and
practices, without learning that scien
tific experiments have developed oth
er and better ways.
Let us begin a systematic training i ’
child culture, studying the pamphlets
the government has put at our dispo
sal, just as we should do if we were
learning to raise squabs.
If you can afford it get help in your
business of baby-raising from the best
child specialist in your community. If
there is no such doctor there seek the
advice of the general practitioner who
has had the most recent experience in
a large city hospital. He can help keep
your baby well by teaching you its
proper diet and care.
Any mother who does not know what
to do for her baby has only to write.
to the Children’s Bureau of the De
partment of Labor at Washington, and
helpful pamphlets, written by special-
r.,,we riahrbiTlio'ns'by taxes and twelve igts, will come to her at once.—Rutii
OUR NEW WAR TAXES
During the year just closed on June
30, the direct war taxes paid by the
people of the Unjted States amounted
to nearly 4 billion dollars.
Next year the government needs to
raise eight billions by taxes and twelve ....
billions more by popular loans m the j Danenhower Wilson, of the Vigilantes