Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-03-06
PRESIDENT WILLIAM H. TAFTS INAUGURAL ADDRESS IN Full

which followed the financial panic OF
1907, the revenue from customs aud
other sources has decreased to such an
extent that the expenditures for the
current fiscal year will exceed the rev
ceipts by $1O0,O0O,O00. 1t is imperative
that such deficit shall not continue,
and the trainers Of the tariff must of
course have in mind the total reve-
nues 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 recommend graduated
inheritance tax, as correct in prin-
ciple 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 pos
sible, is plain and should be affirmed
in every declaration of government
policy. This is especially true when
we are face to face with heavy de.
felt But when the desire to win the
popular approval leads to the cutting
off of expenditures really needed to
make the government effective, and to
enable 1t to accomplish its proper OBJ
jects, the result is as much to be con-
demned as the waste of government
funds In unnecessary expenditures.
The scope of modern government in
what it can and ought to accomplish
for it's people has been widened far
beyond the principles laid down by
tho old OF foir cohon1 Nf rN1itioo1
writer's, and this widening has met
popular approval.
The Department of Agriculture.
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 nee
essary tax upon government which
did not exist half century ago.
The putting into force of laws
which shall secure the conservation of
oul lCSSul SCSy oo ldl clS CllCy lldy NC
within the jurisdiction of the federal
government, including the most i'm
portant work of saving and restoring
our forests, and the great improve
ment of waterways, are all proper gov
eminent functions which must in
volve large expenditures If properly
performed While some of them, like
the reclamation of arid lands, are
made to pay for themselves, others
are of such an indirect benefit that
this cannot be expected of them. A
permanent improvement like the
Panama canal, should be treated as a
distinct enterprise. and should be
paid for bv the process of bonds, the
Issue of which will distribute it's cost
between the present and future gen.
erations in accordance with the bene.
fits derived. 1t may well be submitted
to the serious consideration of con.
gress whether the deepening and con-
troll of the channel of great river
system. like that of the Ohio. or of
the mississippi, when definite and
practical plans for the enterprise have
been approved and determined upon,
should not be provided for in the
same way.
Then, too, there are expenditures of
government absolutely necessary If
our country is to maintain its proper
place among the nations of the world
and Is to exercise its proper influenc
in defense Of its own trade interests
in the maintenance of traditional
American policy against the colonial
tion of European monarchies in this
hemisphere. and in the promotion OF
peace and international morality. ! re
fer to the cost of maintaining proper
army. a proper navy and suitable forti
fcations upon the mainland of the
United States and in its dependencies
The Army and Navy.
We should have an army, SO or
ganized, and so differed as to be cap
able in time Of emergency, in cooper
alton with the national militia, anG
under the provisions of proper ma
tional volunteer law, rapidly to expand
into a force sufficient to resist al
probable invasion from aboard and tt
furnish respectable expeditionary
| force, if necessary, in the maintenance
of our traditional American policy
which bears the name of Presiden
Monroe.
Our Notifications are yet in state
of only partial completeness, and tbs
| number of men to man them is insult
| ficient In few years, however, the
usual annual appropriations for ouI
coast defenses both on the mainland
and in the dependencies, will make
them sufficient to resist all direct at
tack, and by that time we may hope
| that the men to man them will bt
provided as necessary adjunct. The
distance of our shores from Europe
and Asia Of course reduces the neces
sity for maintaining under arms {
great army, but it does not take ava.
the requirement Of mere prudence
that we should have an army sufficient
ly large and so constituted as tt
form a nucleus out of which a suit
able force can quickly grow.
What has been said of the army ma,
be affirmed in even a more emphati
way of the navy. A modern navy can
not be improvised. 1t must be bull
and in existence when the emergenc,
arises which calls for it's use and opeI
alton. My distinguished predecesso
| has in MANY speeches and message