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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.