Zodiak . Mirrur
{ x . Published every Saturday at Kodiak, Alaska
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Entered in the Postoffice at Kodiak, Alaska as Second
Class matter under act of Congress of March 3, 1878
THE ISLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY
Sig J. Digree, Editor and Publisher
Betha Digree, Associate Editor
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use or republica
tion of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in
this paper and also the local news published herein.
<9Vr<n>5 of (America's Last frontier
The Damp Firecracker Went THUD!
Waking up on a rainy 4th of
July, to a child, must be like wak
ing up on a Christmas morning
and being told there isn’t any
hanta Claus. Gone is his day of
parades, races and general fun,
when the whole proceedings are
called off or postponed.
The celebration of the 4th this
year in Kodiak had all the ear
marks of an excellent program.- It
was weU-orgatn*ed, and a splendid
program. But old mother nature
decided this was the day to settle
the dust with percipitation.
Anybody Object2
A state governor who believes
in getting to the heart of things
once said: “Nobody objects to high
taxes except the people who have
to pay them.”
Well soon .see whether he was
right. Beginning July 1 the federal
rgas tax jumped to three cents
per gallon. The purpose of the
higher rate is to finance the na
tional highway program there’s
been so much tub-thumping about.
The motoring public has been
exposed to plenty of pictures and
stories about the "dream” high
” ways' this program is suppos-ed
to build. They haven’t heard so
much about the gas tax increase
• that goes with it. When they buy
! gasoline :.ow and find the tax rate
‘has gone up another cent, they’ll
be face to face with stern reality.
) Tht "dream” superhighways will
’ he completed far in the future.
' The higher gas tax will be with
us here and now, and will stay
• with us for at least the next 16
> years according to the plan.
• Furthermore, this federal gaso
line tax is stacked on top of a high
; territorial gasoline tax. The two
■together make a very tall and
Sugly-looking totem pole.
Tax Reform Needed
* L6t': gat rid of the income tax!”
JThat baa been said by many a be
.Ivtguered citizen, after sweating
,1ns way through the tax forms and
dredging deep to find the money,
t > pay the bill. Usually it is am
plfued with unprintable adjectives.
But now that has been said, in all
seriousness, by a top authority—T.
Coleman Andrews, the former
Commissioner of Internal Reve
•fie. It is the title to a strong ar
ticle which Mr. Andrews recently
.contributed to The American
|Weekly.
j Mr. Andrews denounces the in
jrome tax, as it is now constituted,
Jen just about every conceivable
ground. Here, in summary, are
r>jme of the things he has to say.
j The tax amounts to legalized
pnfiscation. It begins at 20 per
r *nt and goes up to 91 per cent.
A man with a $40,000 income pays
f'7 times more tax than the man
with a $10,000 income. And peo
ple receiving income from divi
dends get even a worse deal—tfie
However, since all the prepara
tions are made, and the program
is scheduled to be run today in
stead, the postponement should
not detract from the fun of the
small-fry, or the grownups for that
matter.
Hear ye! Hear ye! Line up for
the parade: See the soap box der
by, the tug of war, the boat races
and the children’s races They
will be just as good or even bet
ter. But, Mr. Weatherman, please
cooperate!
The federal tax cost of the high
way program will top $38 billion.
The gasoline tax part of it alone
will be over $29 billion—or about
77 percent of the total. If Mr.
Gasoline Consumer uses his ve
hicle just the average amount, he
will shell out more than $360 in
federal gas taxes alone over this
program’s financing period.
How will he take this?
Some politicians think nobody
objects to high taxes any more- -
not even the people who have to
pay them. They believe years of
heavy taxes have numbed people
so they don’t care. There’s a
theory going the rounds that: the
average taxpayer ought to be
plumb grateful for any crumb of
his own earnings the tax-spenders
are kind enough to let him keep,
after they’ve gorged themselves on
his money for this project and that
program.
It will be interesting to learn
how folks reacted on July 1 What
did they say when they drove into
their favorite gas station and came
face to face with a new tax on
gasoline.
When will they object to pyra
miding tax on tax?
corporation tax takes about half or
corporation profits before they are
divided among the share-holders,
where they are taxed again. Mr.
Andrews says: ‘ We have failed to
realize, it sems to me, that through
our tax system we have been play
ing into the hands of the Marxists,
who gleefully hail the income tax
as the one sure instrument, that
will bring capitalism to its knees.”
The tax is too complicated. Com
paratively few people can accur
ately figure their tax without help.
In this connection, it is significant
that members of Congress com
monly call on Revenue Service ex
perts to prepare their returns.
Few people, if any, really un
derstand the tax. As an example,
20 months after the Income Tax
Code of 1954 became law, the of
ficial Treasury Department inter
pretations had not been issued.
The difficulty lies in trying to fig
ure out what Congress meant in
wording the law, and then trying
to plainly express Congress' in
tentions.
It costs the government too
much to collect. Mr. Andrews has
high praise for Internal Revenue
Service personnel. But even the
50,000-plus people in the Service
cannot assure adequate enforce
ment. It also costs the taxpayers
too much. Huge sums of money
go to lawyers and accountants to
fill out and to defend tax returns.
It is unstable. As Mr. Andrews
puts it: “Being based upon income
it’s a low producer in slack times
and a high producer in good times:
Thus theoretically, rates must be
raised when people are least able
to pay, and they may be lowered
when everybody is most able to
pay.”
It is destroying the middle class.
This is among Mr. Andrews’ most
serious indictments: “ .... the
middle class is being taxed out of
existance and the nation, thereby,
is being robbed of its surest guar
antee of continued sound economic
development and growth and its
its staunchest bulwark against the
ascendancy of socialism.”
Mr. Andrews proposes the ap
pointment of a Hoover-Commis
sion type group to completely
study the income tax and the
whole tax system. Then a program
can be adopted, he believes, for
starting afresh. And time's a-wast
ing!
PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, the activities for the
180th observance of Independence
Day were postponed due to incle
ment weather and
WEHEAS: Large amounts of la
bor and time were expended in
preparation for the 4th of July
NOW, THEREFORE, be it re
solved that Saturday, July 7th, be
set aside as the date for all offici
al ceremonies, contests and pro
grams commemorative of this oc
casion.
(s) Wilton White
Acting Mayor
NEW SISTER SUPERIOR
EXPECTED TODAY
Sister St. Callista is expected to
arrive today from Ogdensburg,
New York to head Griffin Memor
ial as Sister Superior.
Sister St. George, who has been
studying laboratory work at Hep
burn Hospital in Ogdensburg the
past year, will return with Sister
St. Callista. She will be the new
laboratory technician.
Sister St. Dorothy will remain
here as Administrator of Griffin
Memorial.
GRIFFIN MEMORIAL NEWS
Those admitted to Griffin Mem
orial Hospital during the past
week included Ivor Jarvick, Kelly
Simeonoff, Eugene Wright, Tichon
Peterson, age 15, of Alitak and
Teresa Augustyn, age 12. Others
admitted were John Lawhead, Mrs.
Ruth Kallio, Wayne Berg, Louis
Larsen of Lazy Bay and Mrs. Dor
othea Pearson.
Also Teresa Kraft, age 3, Wil
liam Wickberg, Mrs. Melvina Wol
ling, William Cummings, age 15,
and Wilbur Wright.
Those discharged were Patricia
Anderson, Mrs. Florence Skon
berg and infant, Wayne Berg,
Mrs. Ruth Kallio and Ivor Jarvick.
Also discharged were Mrs. Agnes
Hansen and infant, Peter Thors
vaick, Mrs. Helen Leite and infant
and Mrs. June Sargent and infant.
ULRICH’S RETURN
Mr. and Mrs. B. Ulrich, and
daughters Mary Jo and Genevieve,
returned on the USS Funston last
week after a two months vacation
trip. They visited Washington,
Oregon and California, with most
of the time spent in southern Cali
fornia.
Ulrich is employed on the Naval
Station in the Fire Department.
The Butler type building in the
rear of the Kodiak Telephone Co.
is well along to completion with
the framework already erected
and the siding going on. This will
be the Company’s warehouse.
_(CROCKETT Jr.
UNCUE 7EKE USED T'DO CAR
TRICKS i.l A MEDICINE SHOW...
BUT HE SAYS NO ONE
appreciates
TALENT?
tUtcutd bf Smuh si
Dcoiifwt N. i
Thrifty McBear Says:
My sponsor has just closed it's
books for the year and I am pleas
ed to report increased business xor
the year as follows:
Deposits increased $635,000 14%
Securities increased $700,000 23 %
Capital increased $ 95,000 25%
This is a fine showing that any
bank may well be proud of.