Norwich bulletin., 1909-03-05

Of the country. It IS lmpefdIlVeiy nec- essary, therefore, that a tariff bill be drawn in good faith in accordance with promises made before the cleo ton by the party in power and as promptly passed as due consideration will permit
 Inheritance Tax Advocated.
 Tn the making of a 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 1OOoO0O00 It is impera- tive that such deficit shall not con tinue, and the framers 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 l recommend a graduated inheritance tax as eorrec' 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 lev. 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.
 l In the department of agriculture the | use of scientific experiments on large scale and the spread of information derived from them for the improve ment of general agriculture must go 1 on.
 The importance of supervising busi- | ness of great railways and industrial combinations and the necessary tnves- i tigation and prosecution of unlawful business methods are another neces- sary tax upon government which did not exist half a 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 reelama- tfon 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 provement. like the Panama canal should be treated as a 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- cordanee with the betehts derived. Ii may well be submitted to the serious consideration of congress whether the deepening and control of the channel of great river system like that of the Ohio or of the Mississippi when def mite and practical plans for the enter prise have been approved and deter mined upon should not be provided fol in the same way.
 Then, too. there are expenditures oi government absolutely necessary if ouI country is to maintain i1s proper place among the nations of the world and i: to exercise it's p-opof influence in de fense of it's own trade interests in tht maintenance of traditional American policy against the colonization of Flu ropean monarchies in this hemispherC and in the promotion of peace and in ternationa morality. refer to thu cost of maintaining a proper army. ; proper navy and suitable fertilization. upon the mainland of the UniteG States and In it's dependencies
 The Army and Navy.
 We should have an army so organ fzed and so oficered as to be capabl fin time of emergency in cooperation with the national militia and unde the provisions of q proper nationa volunteer law rapidly to expand int a force sufficient to resist all prObabl invasion from abroad and to furnish
 respectable expeditionary force. if nee essary, in the maintenance of our tra ditional American policy which bear the name of President Monroe
 Our Notifications are yet in stat of only partial completeness. and tb number of men to man them is insud cient In a few years. however, tn usual annual appropriations for ou , coast defenses, both on the mainlan ! and in the dependencies, will mak } them sufficient to resist all direct al tack, and by that time we may hop that the men to man them will be pro Yided as a necessary adjunct. Th distance of our shores from Europ I and Asia, of course, reduces the nt 5 cessity for maintaining under arms Q great army, but it does not take ava ] the requirement of mere prudence y that we should have an army sui F cientiy large and so constituted as a.