The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-04
inns..--.-- .-x ~>cvooated.

In the making of q tariff bill the
 prime motive is taxation and the se- curing thereby of a 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 receipts by S100.000.c0O. 1t is impera- tive that such a deficit shall not con tinue and the fra mers of the tariff bill must of course have in mind the total revenues likely to be produced by it and so arrange the duties as to se- cure an adequate income. Should it be impossible to do so by import duties new kinds of taxation must be adopt ed. and among these I recommend & graduated inheritance tax as correc' in principle and as certain and easy of collection.
 Government Economy Urged.
 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 pol icy. This is especially true when we are face to face with heavy deficit. But when the desire to win the popu- lar approval leads to the cutting off of expenditures really needed to make the government effective and to en- able it to accomplish its proper objects the result is as much to be condemned as the waste of government funds in unnecessary expenditure.
 In the department of agriculture the use of scientific experiments on a large scale and the spread of information derived from them for the improve ment of general agriculture must go on.
 The importance of supervising busi- ness of great railways and industrial combinations and the necessary inves- tigation and prosecution of unlawful business methods are another neces- sary tax upon government which did not exist half century ago.
 Proper Forms of Expenditure.
 The putting into force of laws which shall secure the conservation of our resources so far as they may be with in the Jurisdiction of the federal gov ernment, including the most important work of saving and restoring our for ests, and the great improvement of wa terways are all proper government functions which must involve large expenditure if properly performed. While some of them, like the reclama- tion of arid lands, are made to pay for themselves, others are of such an indirect benefit that this cannot be ex- pected of them. A permanent i'm proyement, like the 1ep,nama canal, should be treated as ;f distinct enter prise and should be paid for by the proceeds of bonds, the issue of which will distribute its cost between the present and future generations in ac- cordance with the benefits derived. It may well be submitted to the serious consideration of congress whether the deepening and control of th< channel of great river system like 1 at of the Ohio or of the Mississippi when defi- nite and practical plans for the enter prise have been approved and deter mined 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 pIpper influence in de- fense of it's own trade interests in the maintenance of traditional American policy against the colonization of Flu ropean monarchjes in this hemisphere and in the promotion of peace ahd in- terpatonal morality. 1 refer to the