Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1920 — HIGH PRICES AND PROSPERITY [ARTICLE]

HIGH PRICES AND PROSPERITY

. The pessimists complain about high prices and the mounting cost of living, but the fact remains that in spite of it all we are getting along better and saving more money than ever before in the history of the country. The comptroller of the treasury has issued a statement of the condition of the national banks on May 4 of this year which shows that those institutions on that date had 20,380,350 deposit accounts, or an average for one for every 5% of our population. That was an increase of 12,689,882, or 165 per cent in 10 years. The national banks of Indiana had 606,319 depositors on May 4. The total resources of the national banks was shown to be $22,038,714,000, which was an increase of $1,213,723,000 over the amount reported in May, 1919. It should be borne in mind that those figures relate to national banks only. The state and savings banks of the country, recent figures for which are not available, have in excess of s>l2,•000,000,000 of deposits,. The savings banks of the country in 1917 had 11,367,013 depositors. The banking

institutions not included in the comptroller's statement unquestionably have shown progress equal to that of the national banks. We complain about extravagance and bewail the fact that the workers are buying automobiles and silji shirts; that money is being wasted and the country is headed directly toward a rude awakening. There is waste and extravagance, but there can be no denying banking statistics which show that the people.are accumulating nest eggs. Prices are high and we are paying more than ever for what we eat, wear and use, but we have more with which to pay, and after we get through paying we have a larger margin than formerly left for our savings account. Thrift is a fine quality and should not be underestimated by an individual or a nation, but what might have been called economy under other conditions very easily could be classed as parsimony in these times. We are living on. a new plane of prices. It is human nature to complain about what we have to pay, compared with prewar costs, but we should bear in mind that income is not the same as it was. In spite of all our grumbling and anxiety we are better fed, better clothed, have better times and more money in the bank than ever before. —lndianapolis Star (Rep.)

THE TAX SITUATION In speaking of the unprecedented muddle which the Republican state ( administration has got Indiana into through the handling of the new tax law, the Indianapolis -News (Rep:) says, in attempting to shield those responsible for the present situation: The legislature is, as every one can see, facing a job of extraordinary difficulty. Who is responsible for the mess in which the state now finds itself it is, just now, profitless to inquire. It is the duty of the best men in the legislature, without regard to party, to find a way out of the tangle. Whether the pending bill would afford the needed relief is a question, and a rather serious one. The supreme court recently decided that the legislature had conferred no power on the state tax board to make equalization orders differentiating between different taxing units within counties, and that therefore all such orders are void. As a result vast sums of money will, unless something is done, be lost to the various treasuries' affected. It is now proposed to confer the needed power, and, by retroactive legislation, to validate these orders. ' There is a question as to whether orders that have been declared void can be validated and made effective by subsequent legislation. They were illegal under the law as it existed at the time they were made. What the state tax board did, therefore, is the same as though it had never been done. If the legislature attempts to legalize what the board did it will amount to an attempt to legalize act'S that had been illegally performed. Almost certainly the proposed bill, should it become a law, would be attacked in the courts, and with some chance of success. There । are also constitutional questions on ! which the supreme court did not 1 pass. It simply decided that the needed power had not been conferred. No one can say that it would hold as to the authority of the legislature to confer the power. ■ Here is another possibility that must, be considered.