Alleged Government Proposal No Further Inflation Moves "Cannot be Accepted'
Contemplated Nanking, Oct. 13.
The Chinese Cotton Mill-owners! Association, in a petition to the Ministry of Finance through the Internal Revenue Administration, opposes the alleged intention of the Government to increase the consolidated tax on cotton yarn.
According to private information. the petition states, the Ministry of Finance is contemplating an increase of the tax.
This measure, however, cannot be accepted by the cotton mill-owners, who are already labouring under serious difficulties in maintaining their business, Due to the inferiority of native goods and the low purchasing power the people, as well as to the recent increase of the import duty on raw cotton and the reduction of the imort duty on cotton piece-goods, the petition continues, the cotton industry in China is in a most precarious condition.
Increase To Consumer may be contended that any increase would merely fall on the consumer, instead of on the cotton trade. Tt must however, be borne in mind that due to the series of natural calamities, such as floods and drought, which have befallen the country, and to the rural bankruptey which has spread all over the country, the pur chasing power of the people has been so reduced that even when cotton foods are sold at the lowest prices, the cotton mills in many eases have been unable to maintain their busl-
It "the alleged increase should be imposed, it would merely force all cotton mills in. this country out of business, the petition warns. It is {therefore urged that the proposal for the increase be dropped, Washington, Oct. 12 The Treasury announced to-day that it intends to repay on April 15, 1985, $1,870,000,000 of the Fourth 43% per cent. Liberty Bonds.
"This will leave about $1,300,000,000 these bonds outstanding next Washington, Oct. 12. Further inflation in the immediate jruture is not contemplated, financial experts declared to-day, basing their [prediction upon the latest Treasury Inflation would seriously jeopardize the success of this huge conversion operation, the experts say, while the Jannouncement by the Treasury pre-[supposes assurances of ce-operation have been obtained from the bank-
Jers, who must on their part have required Treasury assurances there will be no inflation.
President Roosevelt's repeated es of his desire for "sound are considered strong. support for the Government offering. The very fact that the Government plans such re-tnancing is also taken by many authorities as assurance that it has a long range programme jof steady and orderly public finane-{ng in which inflation has no part.
Moreover, and perhaps most important of all, the action of banks and business' men towards other such offerings in recent months hints fat the reaction now. At times when rumours of impending inflation were stronger even than at present, refinancing issues of the type believed planned by the Treasury have been heavily over-subscribed, some them as much as ten or twelve times, Petition to the same effect has also been despatched to the Ministries}
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.