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WALLACES' PLRMER I o w a H o m e s t e a d Good Farming; Clear Thinking; Right Living D A N T E ANNE PIERCE M . P I E R C E , PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER SCHNABEL SECRETARY TREASURER THE J A M E S M . P I E R C E DES M O I N E S , RAY S. P I E R C E CORPORATION IOWA March 28, 1945 / Hon. M. S. Iccles Chairman, Federal Reserve Board Washington 25, D. C. Dear Governor Iccles; I appreciate your letter and am glad to get the full statement on capital gains* Inclosed is the editorial page of our issue of March 17. The lead editorial will interest you. Farm land has eased off a l i t t l e here, hut I fear that since ceiling prices for farm products will last thru 1945, this will build up more optimism than the future justifies* I would guess that there would he a slight check to land prices after V-B day, and then a boom as folks find that farm product prices are s t i l l higjh. If congress would move even to stretch the income tax period from six months to two years it would help some* Tour suggestion of three years is much "better, hut I am now in the mood to take half a loaf or less rather than no bread at all« In our territory, some of the folks who remember 1919 have kept their heads fairly well, but the risk is that younger operators, with no personal recollections of the crash and with the normal desires to get established, will continue to buy in a speculative market. I am grateful for your leadership in this and other matters in the financial field. Was it back in 1932 that I first read your testimony before a senate committee? That was a revelation in dynamic thinking and vigorous speech. Tours very truly, Donald H. Murphy Editor DEM:tb Ine* March 7, 1945* Mr. Donald ft. Murphy, Editor, 1 Wallaces Farmer, Des Moines, Iowa. Dear M r . Murphy: Spike Evans was good enough to show me your letter to him of March 2 and I was, of course, gratified to have your favorable comment in regard to the suggestion for a special wartime capital gains tax, which is a matter, I think, of particular interest to the farmers of this country. I am taking the liberty of enclosing a copy of an explanatory statement on this matter. I think there is a possibility of getting some legislation, if not in the form I suggested, then perhaps in an alternative form which in effect would reintroduce the former principle of having capital gains realized within a period of, say, three years subject to the current income tax rates and then have a step-down period thereafter. The opposition to any such step will come, I think, chiefly from the New York financial district. I am thoroughly familiar with their arguments, .which to my mind have little validity, if any, in wartime and in view of the alternatives available for dealing with this serious situation. Sincerely yours, M . S. Eccles, Chairman. This article is protected by copyright and has been removed. The citation for the original is: Wallaces’ Farmer and Iowa Homestead, “Editorials: Speculator Should Pay More Tax,” March 17, 1945.