The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1907-06-21
The inability Of the railroads OF N.

The inability Of the railroads Of the
United States to meet the demands
upon them has drawn public attention
forcibly to the use of our waterways
for Evaporation. But II In obvious
that this Is only one of their many
uses, and that a planned and orderly
development Is impossible except. b.
taking into account all the services
they are capable of rendering. 1t was
upon this ground that the inland wa
terways commission was recently APP
pointed. Their duty Is to propose a
comprehensive plan for the improve
ment and utilization OF those great
waterways which are the great poten-
tial highways of the country. Their
duty Is also to bring together the
points Of view of all users of streams.
and to submit a general plan for the
development and conservation of the
vast natural resources of the water
ways OF the United States. Clearly IL
Is impossible for the waterways COM
mission to accomplish its great task
without considering the relation of
streams to the conservation and use of
all other natural resources, and l have
asked that 1t do so. Here. then. for the
first time. the orderly developemnt and
planned conservative use of all our
natural resources 10 presented as a
single problem. One by one tho indl-
Nidudi tdShb III tuiS BTtdt ptoDltiH ndNo
already been undertaken. One by one
in practical fashion the methods OF
dealing with them were worked out.
National irrigation has proved itself
a success by Its actual working. Again.
actual experience has shown that the
national forests will fulfill the larger
purpose for which they were created
All who have thoughtfully studied the
subject have come to see that the solu-
ton of the public lands question lies
with the home maker. with the settler
who lives on his land and that sov-
eminent control of the mineral fuels
and the public grazing lands is neces-
sary and inevitable. Each of these
conclusions represented a movement
OF vast Importance which would confer
large benefits Upon the nation. but
which stood by itself. They are con-
nected together into one great funda-
mental problem-that of the ON
scrvation of all our natural ~sourc
Upon the wise solution of this. much
of our future obviously depends. Even
such questions as the regulation Of
railway rates and the control of COR
porations are in reality subsidiary to
the primal problem of the preservation
in the interests of the whole people of
the resources that nature has given us.
If we fail to solve this problem. no
skill in solving the others will in the
end avail us very greatly.
Now as to the matter of taxation.
Most great civilized countries have an
income tax and an inheritance tax.
In my Judgment both should be part
of our system of federal taxation. I
speak diffidently about the income tax
because one scheme for an income tax
was declared unconstitutional by the
supreme court by a five to four vote;
and in addition 1t is a difficult tax to
administer in it's practical workings.
and great care would have to be exer-
cised to see that 1t was not evaded
by the very man whom 1t is most de-
sirable to have taxed. for IL so evaded
it would of course be worse than no
tax at all, as the least desirable of all
taxes is the tax which bears heavily
upon the honest as compared with the
dishonest man. Nevertheless. a gradu-
ated income tax of the proper type
would be a desirable permanent fea-
ture of federal taxation. and l still
hope hat one may be devised which the
supreme court will declare constitu-
tional.