Chairman Reed Smoot of the Senate Finance Committee and Secretary Mellon of the Treasury engaged last week in a solemn exchange of letters-for-publication. Senator Smoot suggested, Secretary Mellon agreed, that it might be wise to "delay" action of the Revenue Act of 1928 until after March 15, when the 1927 income tax returns will be available.
The longer the new tax rates remain unknown, the longer must business be restless. Washington wiseacres interpreted the Smoot-Mellon "delay" as an adroit political shift by the Administration to chastise those business groups (notably the U. S....