Tuesday, June 8, 1948
Tax
Jack was in Washington where gave a speech in the House of Representatives arguing against a new 3% sales tax for the residents of the District of Columbia. He served on the House committee with oversight of the district and he felt the tax unfair to the largely African American community that it was levied against.
The tax was upheld by the House by one vote, but Jack scored political points with most District residents. He received a laudatory write-up in the Washington Daily News:
“The Congressman who did the most to save the District from the burden of a sales tax is a tousle-haired bachelor name ‘Jack.’ He looks like the Saturday Evening Post‘s idea for the All-American Boy, and his vote-getting appeal to New England’s womenfolk must be terrific. He is also something of a political curiosity … born with a silver soup ladle in his moth, but with the welfare of the humble in his heart.”
[156, p. 461]