m
WHISTLE
Copyright, 1952, MarshaU Field & Company
Issued Every Two Weeks By and For
the Employees of Fieldcrest Mills, Divi
sion of MarshaU Field & Company, Inc.,
Spray, North Carolina
OTIS MARLOWE Editor
Vol. XI Monday, Sept. 22, 1952 No. 5
Does Excess Profits Tax
Hurt Business Alone?
Decidedly not. Although the tax is
levied on business, everyone in America
pays part of the bill.
The tax hits customers, because taxes
are part of the selling price of every
thing on the market today.
It hits workers, because you can’t pay
money out in taxes and put in in the pay
envelope too.
It hits owners, because the men and
women who risk their savings to help
a business expand find that the Govern
ment takes four-fifths of the earnings
that come through expansion.
But perhaps the biggest long-range
loser may be America itself.
Our strength to produce exists only
because business management has
always been free to look and plan
ahead. Management has ploughed back
earnings and used the savings of in
vestors to build new plants, buy new
machines, develop new manufacturing
techniques.
Now there is little incentive to take
the risk that always lies in growth. For
after the risk is taken, the mislabeled
excess profits tax takes four dollars out
of every five that expansion earns.
It isn’t really a tax on excess profits.
It’s a tax on growth that affects every
body. The only way a business can avoid
it is by failing or standing still.
—Courtesy N. W. Ayer & Son, Inc.
Better Than What?
“What’s the matter with my quality?
I do better work than Joe over there.”
We’ve all felt like that at times.
Yet quality work is not a matter of
doing better than the next fellow.
Quality workmanship means coming up
to a quality standard that is set for the
job you are doing.
Sometimes that will mean doing bet
ter than the next fellow. Sometimes it
will mean doing better than you did on
a certain other job.
The question that counts is: Does my
work come up to the quality standard
for the particular job I am doing now?
While the average human cotton
picker can gather about 20 pounds per
hour, a mechanical cotton picker can
harvest almost 650 pounds in an hour.
CHEAPER THAN
YOU THINK
Every day we hear people complain
ing about the cost of living, and about
the way prices are going up. We don’t
blame them. We think it’s tough too.
However, we feel that the responsibility
for the high cost of living should be
placed on the proper shoulders.
Occasionally we hear somebody
growling about American business,
arguing that businessmen should hold
prices down. This we don’t like, because
American business is the one thing
which has given more goods to more
people than any other economic system
ever devised. There are three main fac
tors which have been involved in creat
ing the high prices of recent years, and
businessmen have not been responsible
for any of them. Briefly listed, there
are:
(1) Inflation caused by government
borrowing and spending.
(2) Shortages caused by govenment
regulations.
(3) Taxes.
This last item, taxes, is the one which
makes so many prices seem high. For
instance, the average man would feel
fortunate indeed if he could buy cigar
ettes for 9 cents a pack and gasoline
for 12 cents a gallon. The truth of the
matter is that these items do sell for
the prices mentioned above. The only
catch is that the merchant is forced to
collect TAXES amounting to about 12
cents on cigarettes and 9 cents on
gasoline. This makes the merchandise
seem expensive, but it is only the tax
that is high priced. The goods itself is
fairly reasonable.
Newsweek Magazine has recently
given the following figures to show
what taxes do to the cost of living. Ac
cording to Newsweek, a man earning
$4,500 per year pays $455 in direct taxes
and $1,039 more in hidden taxes. If a
man earns $7,500 per year, he will pay
$869 in direct income taxes and an ad
ditional $1,923 in hidden taxes. That,
of course, is the main thing whch makes
living hard for Mr. Average Man.
In the case of corporations, the levy
is even more deadly. The Du Pont Com
pany reports that last year it paid di
rect taxes amounting to $429,000,000 on
a gross income of $1,546,000,000. The
tax was three times as much as the
firm spent to build new plants and
irhprove existing ones.
The tax collector got more out of Du
Pont in 1951 than did the stockholders
who own the company. For every dol
lar paid in dividends, $4.25 was paid
in taxes. Then, of course, the stock
holders had to pay taxes of their own,
direct and hidden, on the part that was
given them.
So the next time you think prices
are high, just remember this. The
PRICES are cheaper than you think.
Yes even with our 54-cent dollars and
FI]
Folks You Know
Kenneth C. Brown, office janitor, haj
over 29 years of continuous service and
has worked at the Rhode Island, Wool'
en, Blanket, and Embroidered Bed
spread mills. He was born at Drap®
but now lives in Spray. Kenneth
seven children and seven grandchildren;
Before coming to work at FieldcreS
he had done construction work in tb®
Tr-Cities, had worked in West Virgini^
and in the Norfolk and Western Rai^'
road shops in Roanoke, Virginia.
Kenneth, with the help of his
and children operates a small grocen
store near his home. At Fieldcrest b*
work begins at 5:00 p.m. when th
general office and the Nantucket offi^
are closed and he works until 1:00 a.i»^
cleaning and keeping shipshape ^
offices in the two buildings. ,
He is a member of the 25-Year CW“
and made one of the talks when to
club met at the Club Martinique *
Martinsville four years ago.
★ ■
Costs Do Count
Some things are so important tb^*
we’ll do our best to preserve them
matter what the cost. Our nation
security for example. j,
But there are other things for wh|^
we look at the price tag before mak^^
up our minds. For example, many 8°°^
offered for sale will interest us only
the price is right, and the Price c
be “right” only if the costs of produ
ing it are kept in line. j
If you are ever tempted to treat
matter of costs lightly, remember tb
they show up in the price to custoin^
potatoes which were being thrown
one year and were bringing a premi
in the black market the next, merch3
dise and commodities are cheaper tb
you think. It is the tax man who ma^
things high. Therefore, we believe ^
time to stop blaming the farmer,
manufacturer, or the retailer. Once ^ ^
take taxes out of the picture, things 3
cheaper than you think.
LDCREST MILL W H I S T
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