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PAGE SIX THE FRANKLIN PRESS and THE HIGHLANDS MACON IAN THURSDAY, OCT. 1 MM NR A LEADERS ALTER TACTICS Industrialists and Business Men Encouraged By Change (Special to The Preas-Macouian) WASHINGTON, October 17. The most noticeable thing in the National Capital these days is the comparative peace that has descend ed upon the city since the retire ment of General Johnson from control of the NRA. A new at mosphere, calmer and apparently more deliberate and reasonable, has already become noticeable in the offices of the Recovery Administra tion. Business and industrial lead ers who have had business at NRA headquarters in the past week or ttwo report that what they had to say was listened to with apparent respect. This is held to be en couraging to the belief that the Government may not, after all, frown upon the making of profits in business, and may be more in clined to modify some of the re strictions which have prevented the making of profits. Removing Obstacles Chief among these obstacles, it is realized now, was the effort to put wages ahead of increase in bus iness. The President's proposal for a "labor truce" in his recent radio address is being interpreted as in dicating that the Government will not use its influence to force un ionization, and will help to prevent the forcing of workers into unions by intimidation. The most recent interpretation of the famous "7a" clause of the Re covery Act is that, while a ma jority of the workers in any in dustry may elect to join and be represented by any labor union or organization they prefer, that does not compel the minority to go along. Every worker retains his right of individual bargaining, and a minority group can set up their own collective bargaining organiza tion. On this matter of labor and wages, there is a good deal of talk ing and some deep thinking going on about the suggestion made by the President that perhaps the best way to approach the subject is from the point of view of annual income of the workers, rather than rate per hour or week. That has a definite bearing on the building trades, which are traditionally seas onal, and the high wages which are justified by labor on the ground that they don't work all the year around. The President's reference to England as an example of re covery ' has led to inquiries about British wages. After making due allowance for differences in cost of living, which are not great, it seems to be the fact that building trades workers in England do not enjoy a much higher rate per hour than other industrial workers. Housing Work Booms The matter of wages in the build ing trades has a bearing on the program of the Federal Housing Administration. That is starting out to be the most successful of all the Administration's plans so far. Applications for "modernizing" loans are Increasing at the rate of 40 per cent a week, and the outlook for widespread new home build ing activity gets distinctly brighter from day to day. The question of labor costs will shortly become a distinct concern of the Housing board. The aver age annual income of industrial workers in this country is esti mated, in the best of times, at $1,500 a year or thereabouts. Can building labor be spread out over a great number of operations so as to give every one of the .four or five million unemployed in the building trades an annual income of that much or more, without loading labor costs too heavily on individual houses? In the AAA' they have just been taking a vote of farmers in the corn-hog belt, to see how many of them want to go along next seas on in the matter of crop reduction and birth-control in the hog fam ily. The replies received s far indicate that more than 80 per cent of the farmers are for the con tinuance of the plan. Now a Cotton Poll Another vote of farmers is to be called for soon, under the Bank head cotton control law. As the law stands, the total production of cotton is limited to 10,000,000 bales a year, with exact quotas allotted to each grower and a fine of $20 a bale for growing more than one's quota. But unless two-thirds of all cotton growers vote for a con tinuance of the plan, it is to be abandoned after one year. TODAY and TAXES . time to bait Helen Janet Raby, Age 2, Dies or Pneumonia Helen Janet, two-year-old daugh ter of Mr. and Mrs. Don Raby, died at their home at Oak Grove last Friday after an illness of sue weeks with pneumonia. Funeral services were held at the Oak Grove Baptist church Satur day morning at 11 o'clock, with the Rev. D. C. McCoy and the Rev. W. L. Bradley in charge. Surviving are her parents and two sisters, Barbara and Jacqueline. In Our Special 5c and 10c Dept. All Wool Boot Socks .:. 29c Leather Shoe Soles Men & Women 10c Leather Shoe Laces for Boots 23c Cups and Saucers, both 10c I, t Aluminum Ware Assortment 10c Putnam Dye, package 10c Cotton for Quilts, 3 lbs 59c Wool for Quilts, 3 lbs 89c No. 2 Lamps complete 50c Pudding Pans, 2 quart size 10c 32 Piece Dinner Sets China Ware $3.49 Thread for Spreads 2 lbs, cone 3 and 4 ply 89c Bouclet Thread for Bags and Dresses 2 ounce balls 39c Flower Vases, each 10c 8 Quart Convex Kettles 49c MANY OTHER USEFUL THINGS ON DISPLAY Sanders' Store Franklin, N. C. I-don't know of any community, county or state in which taxes have not gone up in the past two or three years. Certainly there is- none in which taxes are not ma terially higher than they were ten years ago. I've just got my tax bills for 1934, and perhaps I'm un duly concerned; but I can't help coming back to the belief I have long cherished, that sooner or later we've got to abandon the tax on capital and find other and more equitable ways of raising money with which to run our various gov ernments. The real estate property tax is a tax on capital. Nothing like it ex ists anywhere else in the world, so far as I am informed. It was adopt ed in America in the pioneer days when there wasn't , anything else, much, to tax except land. I like the English system much better. There property is taxed on the basis of what it earns the income tax carried down to the income of everybody who owns a piece pi property that is rented. Of course, there are other taxes, but they do not constitute a lien on real prop erty. Property taxes can't go much higher, in most parts of the nation, without stirring up a revolt against the present system. INCOMES . . the average The average income in the United States is said, by Henry Wallace in his new book, to be about or under $1,500 a year. That includes everybody who works for a living except farmers. He figures that the average farm income has been cut down from about $1,300 a year to something like $500 a year. Of course, Mr. Wallace is talk ing about cash incomes. Out of his $1,500 a year the industrial worker has to pay for food and lodging. If he has $500 a year left he is either a financial wizard or just plumb lucky. But the farm er, out of his $500 cash income, has to pay taxes and, like as not, mortgage interest, to say nothing of insurance and other items he can't "work out," so it's about as broad as it is long. The fallacy, it seems to me, lies in comparing the farmer with the wage-earner. The proper compar ison is between the farmer and the business man, owner of his own business. The farmer is a capital ist, and subject to the risks that all capital is subject to. That isn't to say that he doesn't have plenty of trouble, but at the worst he is not in such imminent danger of starvation as the unemployed in dustrial worker. STAMPS for all taxes I don't know how many kinds of Internal Revenue stamps there are, but it strikes me that the easiest and most painless way for any gov ernment to collect taxes is by making it illegal to sell anything that doesn't bear a Government stamp. I know that's merely an other way of saying "sales tax," which is a phrase that always makes politicians see red. Never theless, some of our most impor tant sources of revenue are from the sales taxes, already in force. There are revenue stamps on every bottle of liquor, every barrel of beer, jeVery pack of playing cards, every pack of cigarettes or box of cigars. Shares of stock cannot be legally transferred with out sticking revenue ' stamps on them. Everyone is familiar with the sales tax cm gasoline. The only reason' why stamp or sales taxes are not imposed upon flour, potatoes, shoes, hats and can ned goods, is the fear of the poli ticians in power that the ordinary man would thus be forced to real ize that he is paying taxes, and would vote the politicians who im posed them out of office. There isn't any other reason at all. REALITIES . . . are few Most of us live in a dream world, in which we think that there is some magic process, if only we could find it, which would make us happy and prosperous. When something unpleasant happens we are prone to attribute it to ma licious fate, which can only be overcome by finding some new in canation which will work the right magic to set everything straight again. Few ' people are courageous enough to face realities. The reali ties of life are terrifying to those who have been brought up to be lieve that "somebody" is always go ing to look ottt for them. They are not all frightful to the few realize that nothine in life is essential to happiness except food and shelter. I try to be tolerant of every body else's foibles and frailties, but I get disgusted with people who think they are being badly used merely because they don't have everything they desire at the mo ment they desire it CHILDREN? CMOS MnWHHmiB'll'lllhiMlBFIIIlllHHi m ' "AA" QUALITY FERTILIZERS Agrico-Mohawk and Camel Brands Superphosphate FOR SALE BY G. C. STAMEY We Take Produce in Trade and Allow You Best Market Prices FRANKLIN, N. C. WHAT GASOLINE HAS 99 MILLION FOOT-POUNDS PER GALLON V , I I I cimd a i a I mm If H C CSASOLINE H Drive in and Try This Gasoline at HENRY-ANT.FI MOTOR INN CD amvi in m r STELLA BROWN'S, ON GEORGIA ROAD MRS. W. M. PARRISH'S, OTTO, N. C. BRYANT'S Is Headquarters For Stoves, Ranges, Heaters We carry the largest stock of heaters, stoves, heatrolas and ranges in Macon County. Here you can find exactly the kinds of stove or range you want, and at a price to suit your pocketbook. We buy in large quantities and therefore can sell cheaper. Bryant Furniture Co. Franklin, N. C.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Oct. 18, 1934, edition 1
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