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PAGE TEN
THE DALLAS POST, DALLAS, PA, FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1937
These P
WHO WANTS
THE STORE TAX?
NOT THE WAGE EARNER AND CONSUMER
For the Store Tax would increase the price of the food he buys, and have
the effect of reducing his wages. It would be a concealed sales tax on food and
tall most heavily on those who can least afford it. The Democratic Party im
Pennsylvania, which has expressed its opposition to a sales tax, cannot
logically favor this sales tax on the first essential of life.
NOT THE FARMER For the chain stores are the best customers
Pennsylvania farmers have. They have
helped farmers organize the marketing of their crops. They have helped to
develop a market for Pennsylvania potatoes, and for the first time in years
Pennsylvania farmers get a premium for their potatoes. The chains have
increased the sale of Class 1 fluid milk, and pay the highest prices for it. They
have jumped in and helped sell crops from all over the Nation that otherwise
would have sold at a great loss. In the last year the chains have co-operated
with thousands of growers of apples, grapefruit, beef, lamb, turkeys and other
farm products, in moving surplus crops.
As Pennsylvania farmers know, the chain stores of this State stand ready
at all times to help them solve their selling problems. The annual purchases
from farmers, producers and manufacturers in Pennsylvania amount to over
$218,000,000.
NOT THE LAND LORD Formany landlords depend solely on
the rents received from chain stores
for their livelihood. Chain stores pay the highest rents and are sure pay. Chain
stores raise the value of real estate by attracting other retail businesses to the
neighborhoods in which they have stores. Chain stores pay rent in Pennsyl-
~ania that amounts to about $21,500,000 annually, a substantial part of which
is returned to the state and municipalities in the form of taxes.
NOT THE BUSINESS MAN For business men realize that
once Pennsylvania has taken this
slep to penalize efficiency and discriminate against the very companies which
Lave done the best job, the doors are wide open for similar legislation aimed
at any line of business in the State. They realize that it would be just as reason-
able to pass graduated taxes on milk wagons, cows, taxicabs, etc., so that a
man or a company owning many would pay on each one a tax 500 times higher
than that of a competitor.
NOT THE BANKER For the chain stores maintain substantial
deposits in hundreds of local banks through-
out Pennsylvania.
NOT THE CHAIN STORE EMPLOYEE For the Store
Tax threat-
en: the jobs of thousands of native Pennsylvania citizens. There are nearly
4000 chain stores in the State— about one-third of all the chain stores in Penn-
sylvania-—not one of which is making as much as it would be taxed under this
bill. There are over 62,000 chain store employees in Pennsylvania, most of
them born and raised in this State. Their families, friends, and customers,
together with 116,000 chain store stockholders, would be injured by this
lezislation.
NOT THE THINKING CITIZEN For the Store Tax Bill is
unfair. It places an annual
tax of $500 on a little food store making $500 a year because it happens to be
owned by one of the popular chains, and taxes a huge department store making
eves $1,000,000 only one dollar. Its supporters claim on the one hand that
it will not raise the price of food, while on the other hand they claim that it will
help independent grocers by making chain stores raise their prices.
THE THINKING CITIZEN realizes that the cost of government must be met by
taxes and that chain stores have always paid their fair share willingly. He knows
that chain stores pay local, state, and federal taxes — as high, if not higher,
thas other stores doing a similar volume of business.
"N mn
TELL YOUR SENATOR TO VOTE 0
but it's pretty
fough going”
says this mother, whose name and address
will be furnished to accredited Welfare
Agencies upon request.
*My husband is a paperhanger. We've been married ten
years. When we got married, my husband made good money.
Then times got bad. We don’t have as much money as we
used to, and we've got three children now.
“My husband gets jobs that bring in enough to eat if
we are careful. Of course, we watch every cent. The chain
store on the corner has been our friend during these times.
{ don’t know what we would have done without it. Some
say a big company is tough, but the chain store on our corner
is not that way. Bill O’Brien, the manager, understands us
and helps us in every way he can. Everybody here knows Bill.
“Bill has told us about this tax. He says it will raise the
price of food and maybe close his store. If his store goes,
we will l6se a good friend, and if the other chain store down
the street goes, too, we'll probably have to pay more for food.
Everybody knows that chain stores have always sold the
cheapest.
“Rich folks can pay a few cents more fcr food and not
miss it. We can buy a pound of onions for four cents. An
increase of one penny, and lots of people I know would have
to do with less onions. They say children ought to have
“We're getting along, somehow
milk, but my children aren’t getting enough milk now. Evem
a few cents put on the price of food, would cut down the
little milk they are getting now.
“They say food prices are going up anyway. Why do they
have to put a tax on our food so that it goes up still more?
If they do, it will take food out of our mouths.”
Mrs. M. W. Ketchum, Secretary of the Kensington
Neighborhood House, and the Richmond Soup
Society, who has devoted over forty of her seventy-
eight years to welfare work, says:
“] have not visited this family, but I know of thousands and thousands
of similar cases. The plight of the family in this advertisement is repre~
sentative of a large percentage of our population—at least one-third.
The statement does not exaggerate. There are many, many who are
worse off in Pennsylvania.”
“We've worked hard to build
up our milk
business”
says Edward R. Fuller, President of Silvan
Seal Milk Co.
“During the depths of depression in 1932 we started :
milk business which we thought would be successful if wc
saved the consumer money. We decided to use the cash and
carry method of distribution exclusively. The chain stores
lent their support, and today this business is successful
kealthy and growing. It employs 200 people, and takes
zailk from about 800 fine Pennsylvania farms. Last yea:
alone the housewives who bought our milk through the
stores saved almost three hundred thousand dollars, and
the farmers received higher prices. The closing of stores
in any considerable amount would seriously affect the devel:
cpment of such a company as ours.
“There must be throughout the State any number of suck
manufacturers that would be similarly affected. It does
seem that whenever a large industry such as the chain store:
3s menaced through confiscatory taxes, or similar attacks
not only the stores but many other industries dependent
on the stores for the sale and distribution of their prod-
ucts are also seriously injured. In our dealing with the
stores, we have h~d nothing but the most able and consistent
co-operation and support. We strongly hope that no hastily
considered legislation will ‘jeopardize the livelihood of our
200 employees and our 800 farmers, as well as the savings
that we can give to the consumer through the use of cash
and carry.”
A FEW OF THE INDIVIDUALS, COMPANIES AND ASSOCIATIONS
WHO ARE OPPOSED TO THE STORE TAX BILL
YES, THIS ADVERTISING
COSTS A LOT OF MONEY
Some people have said that if the chain stores can afford to spend so much
money on this advertising campaign, they can afford to pay the Store Tax.
We expected this criticism before we started. The amount of advertising
space we have used may seem enormous. But all the advertising we have
bought, including. this advertisement, has cost less than 59% of the annual
tax under this bill. This is a tax that would go on, year after year. We think
we are justified in investing one-twentieth of the amount of what this tax
would cost in one year to protect our customers, our employees and ours
selves. We not only think we are justified, but we consider it our duty to
tell the facts as we see them.
INDIVIDUALS
James C. Bay, Supt. of Schools, Eas
ton, Pa,
Mrs. Mary. Hendershot, P-T As. mem-
ber, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. Harry R. Schaefer, Pres. Hous
ton Post No. 3, American Legion
Auxiliary, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. Kathryn Algayer, P.G.P. Degree
of Pocahontas, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. Clara Bunting, PWM, Fernwood
Chapter, Order of Eastern Star,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. Thomas S. Armstrong, Pres, and
Mrs. Frances Nelson, Temple
University Womens Club, Phila-
delphia, Pa.
P. F. Stewart, Attorney, Turtle Creek,
Pa.
Rev. H. F. Obenauf, Pastor, Lawrence
Park, Pa.
Rev. D. L. Houser, Wesleyville, Pa.,
Pastor.
R. W. Thompson, Physician, Wesley-
ville, Pa,
Walter J. Allison, Wesleyvills, Pa.,
Dentist.
Mrs. J. Aspen, Ladies of the Most
Precious Blood Parish, Phila., Pa.
Mrs. T. Kelly, State Secy, American
War Mothers.
Mrs. Walter N. Hagerman, President,
Jenkintown Womeas Club,
Miss ‘Margaret M. McNalley, Presi-
dent, Court of St. Francis Saviour
No. 371, Catholic Daughters of
America, Bryr Mawr.
’
Mrs. Frank B. Lynch, Chairman of
the Hygiene Committee, Women's
Auxiliary, Phila., | County Medi-
cal Society.
Mrs. Taylor Leonard, | Pres. Keyser
School P-T As., also Pres. of
National League of American
Penwomen.
MISCELLANEOUS COMPANIES
Wayne Ice Co., Erie, Pa.
Keystone Coat, Apron & Towel Ser-
vice, Erie, Pa,
Erie Warehouse Co., Erie, Pa.
A. J. Louch & Son, Erie, Pa.
McEldowney Bros., Co., ‘Altoona, Pa.
Buchanan Lumber Co., Altoona, Pa.
J. C. Fleck, Altoona, Pa.
Altoona Advertising Service, Altoona,
Pa.
C. A. Turner, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Reichle Electric Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Mutual Supply Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Harry Gilbert, Germania, Pa.
J. Shoemaker, Lock Haven, Pa.
Erie Trucking Co., Erie, Pa.
pat Trucking Co., Hollidaysburg,
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Fred Lafferty, Altoona, Pa.
Vance Transfer Co., Altoona, Pa.
Voltz Trucking Co., Altoona, Pa.
James Devine, Altoona, Pa,
John Devlin, Altoona, Pa.
M. N. Asper Department Store, Blairs-
ville, Pa.
Wilson Products Co., Tyrone, Pa.
Love Mfg. Co., Johnstown, Pa.
Lockhart Mfg. Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Cooked Foods, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Colonial Biscuit Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Pittsburgh Pretzel Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Brillo Mfg. Co., Philadelphia, Pa.
International Salt Co., Scranton, Pa.
Blumenthal Bros., Philadelphia, Pa.
Hachmeister, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Holtzman's, Inc., Myerstown, Pa.
Perfect Foods Co., Lansdale, Pa.
ASSOCIATIONS
Chester County Dairymen’s Coop.
Assn., Avondale, Pa.
Lehigh Valley Coop. Farmers’ Assn,
Allentown, Pa.
South York County Dairpmen’s Assn.,
Delta, Pa.
Food Distributors’ Assn. of the Phila-
delphia Trade Area, Phila., Pa.
Penn. Canners Assn., York, Pa.
Berks County Fruit Growers Assn.,
Reading, Pa.
FARMERS
William Wetzel, Carroltown, Pa.
Orville Snowberger, East Freedom, Pa.
B. A. Baker, Hollidaysburg, Pa.
Lawrence Baronner, Hollidaysburg, Pa.
P. C. Strittmater, Patton, Pa.
L. A. Cretin, Patton, Pa.
R. H. Farabaugh, Loretto, Pa.
C. W. Baney & Sons, Warriors Mark,
Doyle Stutzman, Homer City, Pa.
Hamilton Proctor, Renovo, Pa.
J. B. Schrack, Logantown, Pa.
Lyal Wagner, Lock Haven, Pa.
H. W. Dromgold, New Bloomfield, Pa.
Me & P. Stephens, Pine Grove Mills
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