Smash Co-ops by Taxation Big Business Demands
Fraser, Hugh Russell
"Smash Co-ops by Taxation" Big Business Demands By Hugh Russell Fraser OUT of the Minneapolis Chamber at Commerce has coma a blitakrieg against the sasall faimsis at America. Known as the...
...W - i w ¦> r- "-.-I than to organise a nationwide organisation to tax the whole movement...
...J he co-opt art preparing to fight for their hardearned gain...
...England also has her own agents in Italian politics...
...Farmers are in no mood to trfle with NTEA...
...To the invitations to listen in on his radio broadcasts, Italians answer: "Give us less Poletti ('tripe') and more bread...
...say the co-ope, assames that the iaeosae the farmer gets will not show ap ia hia income tax...
...Such an organisation was bound to spring up sooner or later...
...Ia fact—and you can almost see NTEA pointing with alarm—as a result ef cooperation by those gigantic government agencies, Farmers Union mushroomed to 140 times its site in leas than a decade I This is truly one for the five-star final, and NTEA is fearful lest the prairie catch fire, and the farm co-op movement includes all farmers...
...Refer at random to any issue of this paper, snd you will find a long list of ambassadors, generals of the various belligerent nations, Church dignitaries, political leaders, as well as the newly sppointed officials of Italian communities...
...We repeat, England commands today in Italy, with the collaboration of Russia and the Vatican...
...The farm cooperatives, say the NTEA, must come naeer the aati-traat laws...
...Thus ths nation's No...
...Already the Kansss Grain, Feed A Seed Association has felt the wrath of the co-ops...
...England, however, could not—dud would'not l>* permitted to—dominate alone...
...Private operators, sitting on the sidelines, and watching, this phenomenon, have become jittt y. Sometning must be done to stop it...
...1 co-op, Farmers Union Grain Terminal...
...Can this be true...
...Doughton's use of the word "unfair...
...No sooner said than done...
...Echoes of it will be heard in Congress soon...
...Nsw members added reached a new high of 260,000...
...Poletti gets only criticism and maledictions...
...Chairman Doughton of the Ways A Means Committee has given encouragement The Waya A Means group, says Doughton, will study methods of "protecting legitimate companies against this unfair competitive situation...
...Nesrly three out of every Ave farm operators in America have a stake in the co-op movement...
...entanglement* and cntiosfon with the Vatican...
...The accusation and the available evidence were enough...
...Actually, of coarse, they do...
...Now we are getting down to the heart of the issue: The NTEA is operating on a wide front It u .<(«« gunning for the Farm Security Adminittrmtwn...
...Some members insist this figure will show an appreciable rise this year...
...Just as the Vatican played a part in establishing the fascist regime, with which it concluded the Late ran Treaty, the Vatican is now playing a central role in establishing the present regime...
...Savings to members have been effected by the purchase of whole plants— oil refineries, lumber mills, machinery works, etc...
...Of course, this 1 nsy does not belong to the co-ops—it is the property of ths members, and every dollar of it, apart from actual operating expenses, is returned to them...
...Italy is nominally under ths control of the Allied Control Commission, which Is in reality the combination of England, Russia, and the Vatican.' It requires' no extraordinary acumen to understand that at Teheran, Churchill and Stalin defined their respective spheres of influence, snd that Italy comes within that dominated by Great Britain.' Hence, the cordiality of...
...is this profit...
...And to snggeat that the co-op is te pay a tax ea it ia simply to suggest a S* to M per seat dividend cat to every co-operator...
...actually, it is oat to destroy the co-ops by taxation...
...And stop it before it gets to be too much of a good thing...
...Bonomi's government, slave of the three aforementioned powers, makes sppeals to America because the U.S.A...
...McCabe now says ths NTEA, of which he is president, represents s million businesses...
...future—units moat of the farmers of the nation in one great cooperative commonwealth...
...Is he presuming to sit in judgment on the case before it is tried...
...Farmers borrowed money from the FSA, NTEA charges, to Join the nation's No...
...Gross business of some of the individual co-ops hss—in many cases — trebled...
...the Allies, dominated by Britain,' towards the House of Savoy...
...Aad not only ars they Included under the boycotting baa, bat some potato aad milk co-op* have seen preeeeated...
...But it does not seem to lack for money...
...Farmers Union Tormina!, of course, Is the horrible example, because it happens to tower over the landscape In McCabe's own Minnesota...
...To make matters worse, bota Farm Credit aad Commodity Credit earns to the aid of Farmers Union drain Terminal...
...1 farm co-op, the Farmers Union Grain Terminal of St.' Paul, has $6,000,000 in a separate reserve account...
...Oftentimes It is put in a reserve fund...
...America's role is simply that of providing Pollettis—snd the big Jab of sending food...
...They are angry...
...The Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association, a co-op, is today the country's biggest grain trader...
...Ths tnjtk of the matter is it will...
...Hunger is louder than oratorical phrases...
...It is only necessary to read the Ottervatore Romano, the Vsticsn paper, to lesrn of the actual political activities of the Pope...
...Known as the National Tax Equality Aaaoeiation (NTEA), it ia oatonalbly designed to curb "unfair privileges" of the cooperatives...
...The added moaey is not the co-op's...
...The farm co-op movement has become so powerful that, unless checked, it may—in the nea...
...Resentment against NTEA tactics is spreading...
...If one should ask why the Vatican does not actively participate in attempting to alleviate the disastrous economic conditions in Italy, the answer is that the Pope is concerned with spiritual problems primaily, and has not time for political and economic questions...
...Objective of the organisation is to tax the money tie co-ops handle for their clients...
...But sometimes this money stays in the co-op accounts for seme considerable time...
...So Ben C. McCabe and B. F. Scheunemann, Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce grain traders, decided to do something about it...
...P« thetically, Charles Poletti can only spread hia won's of hope and encouragement...
...Whether it be, sales, baylag, or marketing co-op, each and every farmer ia it pays s tax on the amount added to hia gross Income...
...Pot the co-ops stand at the peak of their prosperity...
...Just how far do the allied authorities go without first consulting the Pope...
...LaGuardia has become the idol of certain sections of the public for having discontinued hia Sunday broadcasts to Italy...
...Whether NTEA doesn't know this, or chooses to ignore the record, ia not apparent from their propaganda One thing is clear: the NTEA is geared to a farreaching legislative program...
...The former was believed to be lending aid and comfort to the NTEA...
...Nor is this all...
...Free Italy From Foreign Domination Naples.— From observations on the economic situation of various parts of liberated Italy, one sad reality stands out: Italians are starving and demoralised while black market speculators, fascists and ex-fascists reap the upoils...
...Russia, partner in the pact, exercises control through the Communist movement and the Vatican collaborates through the exercise of ecclesiastical authority and ths Christian Democrats...
...Why mutt England, Russia and the Vatican command irhilr America take* all the burden and responsibility for feeding Italy't million*t .;, Italy must bo ssVed—hot Italy -cen be saved only by Italians who are absolutely free of all tSreigr...
...A drive in Congress is promised...
...it ia the farmer's...
...In taking this stand, LaGuardia has joined in the protest *f those who condemn the Allies, and especially the protest of those millions condemned to hunger...
...Exactly who they are, other than the big grain traders, is a mystery, ft" ried as to a membership list, Its officers declined to prerent the slightest specific clue to its membership...
...Hunger is blind, and often unjuat...
...Last year the co-ops did a little leas than $1,000 worth of business for each member...
...Five of the co-ops in the Kansas group quit KGFSA cold...
...Last year their total business was Just a shade under $3300,000,000—almost four billions...
...The Vatican today exercises far more influence than It did under the Fascists...
...The farmers of North Carolina will be interested in Mr...
...is extending lend-lease aid...
...The Ways A Means Committee can vote taxes, but only the House and Senate can write them into law...
...And propaganda of the organisation is beginning to flood ths farmers...
...The purpose ef the NTEA is clear...
...LaGuardia made it clear that until the Allies come to clear-cut decisions as to the political situation in Italy, He "has nothing to say...
...The NTEA...
...Thus the Italians, who are hungry, reason somewhat blindly: instead of blaming fascism for their sad state, and instead of blaming those who rule the liberated sections, they blame the' Americans for not sending the necessities of life...
...This is cooperative business, without benefit of middleman...
Vol. 27 • September 1944 • No. 38
