Disquisition by Scripps, E.W., Is there any ground for fearing that a business panic will result from the passage of the war tax bill?, August 31, 1917

              IS !REB:I A:NY GROO1ID FOR RmmG !.IU.!!
A BUSImtBS PANIC WIIJ.. :Bl!ISUm FlWi
TRB PAS&GE OF TIm WAR !AX BILL?
In a previous diary-disqulsi tion, I gave the substance of a. oonf'erenee held
a.t Airlia between Jolm. Fi tzpatrlck, Ed. Nookels, and Jom WsJ.ker (labor leaders J.,
and .elf and Heg. Ooohra:n.
Our visiton took great pains to impress upon us the danger of' great disturb­ances
8lIl.OIIg8t labor men on aacomt of the high and increasing cost of living.
It me only a few evenings later tha:n Henry L. Doherty (the head and principal
stoCkholder of a. oorporation bearing Doherty's nam.e) called at Airlia aud discussed
w:1th Mr. Cochran and myself what he stated was a. great danger tbreatenlng the
cotlllt17 ~ aooo'tlIlt of the excess-prof! ts feature of the pending revenue bill in
Congress.
The Doherty Compeny., a great holding lnst.i tution., controls and., in a way, O'WllS
a~er of publio utility institutions in some~ llka forty different oities.
These consist of' street railway, gas., and electrio light and power plants, etc.
Beyond these it O'WIlS some :forty thousand acres of oil-bearing lands Which are now
producing some forty-two thousand barrels of crude oil per day. !]he oompanies om
various pipe lines and some tank Ships.
In his in terTiew., Doherty said that the aggregate value of his oompanies was
not less than five himdred million dollars.
He stated that according to the tams of the bill as it uis'te4 at the time of
the interview, his companY's oil produoing properties would have to pay a t_ of
8ix million dollars a;onually to the government on aocount of excess pro:fi ts. He
sta.ted., however, that the public utili ty business was in bad shape: the ootlllt17 over,
and tha. t there were actually very large losses being sU'f'fered by 111$ mati tn.ti.ES! en this
8.000lmt. He in t1mated that his company' 8 losses on the losing propertles~ ••
""1ft .. , H\til-
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Ohio University Libraries, E.W. Scripps Papers, MSS 117, Series 4, http://bit.ly/scripps_mss117