Transcription
Irene,- Since Bob is such a good, staunch Republican, I wish you would send him your copy of this letter together with the Friedman article. Bob: You’ll find the Friedman article right down your alley. Uncle Willard
THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE -or-
The Day After The Midnight IRS Deadline
1977
My dear Children,-
I have commented upon Anne’s cartoon ash tray before, so Judy & John and Bill and Jeanne should be able to visualize the head of a man/xxxxxxx emerging from the mouth of a big circus cannon with the caption: “I work well under pressure.” I get more done when I am working under pressure, so I guess I like to work under pressure. I have written before on my experiences at the Post Office shortly before midnight on April 15th as I worked my way up to the mail slot in a long line of “fellow tax payers” - exchanging jokes and wisecracks. After the long struggle with the complicated tax form and the volume of confusing instructions, it was a relief for the “fellow sufferers” to relax and joke, sharing their woes. Well, all the fun of being in the crowd of “deadline mailers” and hearing the banter between strangers as though they were old friends is gone. Now you don’t mingle with the crowd - don’t get in a long line working its way up to the mail slot - you stay in your car and hand your envelope addressed to the IRS to a P.O. employee who drops it immediately in a big portable container stationed at the curb. Last night there were two lines of cars going by these employees at the curb, with the result it was all over in a jiffy.
Tax-preparation time is an annual inventory time, and it is very depressing for me to see how my inventory for my children is continuing to lose value due to inflation. Back in the early years when our family was getting started, I wanted to protect your Mother and you children in case something might happen to me, and took out more life insurance than I was able to carry during the long depression of the ‘30s. I had to borrow to meet my payments for many years. But I managed to hang onto every one of my insurance policies, which as long as your Mother was living would have amply taken care of her and you. Now, that originally generous amount of insurance, when divided three ways, will probably take care of your inheritance taxes, Federal Income taxes, State Income taxes and Personal Property taxes, but will leave very little surplus for each of you. From the enclosed clipping you will see that last year the salary of Dem. Representative John Frederick (Buckler) - no longer a representative of the Seiberling family - was $44,600. and, with the 29% increase all the congressmen let themselves get without voting for it, his salary now is way above the salary your Grandfather got as President of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and then as President of the Seiberling Rubber Company, the two companies he founded. When Dillon Read got control of Goodyear through the stock market crash of 1921, they offered to increase his salary to $50,000 if he would stay on as Chairman of the Board, but instead he chose to start the Seiberling Rubber Company with his salary at $25,000.
Now, before reading further here, please take full time to read very carefully the enclosed article by Milton Friedman, reprinted from the March Reader’s Digest.
Democracy is the rule of the majority. When the majority wants xxx our country to build for a strong future, you have a government with long-range policies that are sound, basic, - good for the future. When the majority is more interested in the immediate present with little concern about the future, you have a government that is borrowing from the future to spend it now – a liberal government, a Santa Claus government, a WELFARE-STATE government.
A politician’s first job is to get elected - and then to get re-elected. John Frederick (Buckler) does not vote as a Seiberling, interested in a sound fufture for his children, because, to get re-elected, he has to win the support of labor by voting against MANAGEMENT. “Seiberling cosponsors bill breaking up oil firms” was the heading on a B.J. article about our liberal representative who is more of a Buckler than a Seiberling. To keep the support of labor, if it was necessary, I dare say he would cosponsor a bill to break up the rubber companies – would vote against the Management of the Company founded by his xxxx Grandfather. All Seiberlings belong on the side of MANAGEMENT – on building for a sound future.Transcriber
Cindi RokeLanguage
English