Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-03-05

ected, and as these are most impor.
tant, it ,disturbs the whole business OF
TIE country. 1t is imperatively neces.
sary, therefore, that a tariff bill be
| drawn in good faith in accordance witt
promises made before the election by
the party in power and as promptly
passed as due consideration will per.
nit. 1t is not that the tariff is more
important in the long run than the
perfecting of the reforms in respect tC
anti-trus. legislation and interstate
commerce regulation, but the need for
action when the revision of the tariff
has been determined upon, is more
immediate to avoid embarrassment of
business. To secure the needed speed
in the passage of the tariff bill. it
would seem wise to attempt no other
legislation ut the extra session. I VEN
ture this as a suggestion only, for the
course to be taken by Congress, upon
the call of the Executive, is wholly
within it's discretion.
in the making of a tariff bill, the
prime motive is taxation, and the Sc
curing thereby of q revenue. Due
largely to the business depression
which followed the financial panic of
1907 the revenue from customs and
other sources has decreased to such an
extent that the expenditures for the
current fiscal year will exceed the re-
ceipts by $10o, 100000. 1t is Imperative
that such a deficit shall not continue,
and the trainers of the tariff bill must
of course have in mind the total reve-
MUGS likely to be produced by it, and
so arrange the duties as to secure an
adequate income. Should it be impos-
sible to do so by import duties, new
kinds of taxation must be adopted, and
among these I recommend a graduated
inheritance tax, as correct in principle
and as certain and easy of collection.
The obligation on the part of those
responsible for the expenditures made
to carry on the government, to be as
economical as possible, and to make
the burden of taxation as light as
possible, is plain and should be
affirmed in every declaration OF
government policy. This is especially
true when we are face to face with a
heavy deficit. But when the desire TO
win the popular approval leads to the
cutting off Of expenditures really
needed to make the government effec-
tive, and to enable it to accomplish its
proper objects, the result is as much
to be condemned as the waste of
government funds in unnecessary ex-
penditure. The scope of a modern
government in what it can and ought
to accomplish for it's people has been
widened far beyond the principles laid
down by the old laissez faire school of
political writer's, and this widening has
met popular approval
In the Department of Agriculture,
the use of scientific experiments on a
large scale, and the spread of informa-
ton derived from them for the i'm
provement of general agriculture, must
go on.
The importance of supervising bust
ness OF great railways and industrial
combinations and the necessary in
vestigation and prosecution of unlaW-
full business methods, are another
necessary tax upon government when
did not exist half a century ago.
The putting into force of laws which
shall secure the conservation of our
resources, so far as they may be within
the Jurisdiction of the Federal Govern
ment, including the most important
work of saving and restoring our
forests, and the great Improvement OF
waterways, are all proper government
functions which must involve large ex-
penditure if properly performed
While some of them, like the reclama-
ton Of arid lands, are made to pay for
themselves, others are OF such an in
direct benefit that this cannot be eX-
pectod of them. A permanent i'm
provcment, like the Panama Canal
Should be treated as distinct enter
prise, and should be paid for by the
proceeds of bonds, the issue of which
will distribute it's cost between fht
| present and future generations in ac'
| cordance with the benefits derived. L
| may well be submitted to the seriou
consideration of Congress whether thu
deepening and control of the channe
of a great river system, like that of tn
| Ohio or OF the Mississippi, when dc
finite and practical plans for the enter
prise have been approved and deter
| mined upon, should not be provided 70
| in the same way.
| Then, too, there are expenditures o
government absolutely necessary
orr country is to maintain its prope
| Place among the nations Of the Worit
and~is to exercise it's proper inf1uenc
in defense of it's own trade interest!
in the maintenance of traditiona
American pblicy against the colonial
ton of European monarchies, in thi
hemisphere. and in the promotion {
peace and international morality.
| refer to the cost of maintaining pro
per Army, a proper Navy and suitab
Notifications upon the mainland OF tn
United States and in its Dependence
We shall have an Army so organ
lied. and so Differed as to be capab
in time of emergency, in cooperate
with the National Militia. and undo
the provisions of a proper nation
volunteer law, rapidly to expand int
force sufficient to resist all probab
invasion from abroad and to furnish
respectable expeditionary force,
nece ssary. in the maintenance Of OF
traditional American policy whit
bears the name of President Monroe
Our Notifications are yet in a sta
Of only partial completeness, and Il
number of men to man them is il
sufficient. In a few years, howeve
| .bo ,,c,,aI annual CONCENTRATIONS &