Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-05-19

nth.
dent Lincoln only assented to the
levy on. this understanding. But
Lincoln died from an assassins bull
let and for some inscrutible reason
the law was never repealed. Uncle
Sam has been making money out of
the whiskey business ever since. 1t
is a good source of revenue. In
hthese times of billion dollar con-
crosses the Government couldn't af-
ford to lose as tidy sum as the dis
tillers and brewers pay into the
treasury.
"The distillers and brewers aren't
anxious to have the levy repealed.
Uncle Sam gives them a measure Of
protection against the enforcement
of certain state laws in return for
the tax. They are willing to pay it,"
Pence proposes to solve the prob
! lem by repeating the measure and
substituting as a revenue producer
the income tax. He has figured out
that this will more than cover the
receipts which the government gets
from the internal revenue taxes. He
contends that it will give the states
! a free hand in dealing with the
liquor problems.
The, former congressman is plan
ming non-partisan campaign of
education to put his plan before the
people. He will head a delegation
which will meet Roosevelt and try
to get him to endorse the scheme,
He also will seek the approval of
Williams Jennings Bryan.
Are the members of the Life
Saving Service, who patrol the
coasts day and night in all kinds of
storms and weather as much entitled
to pensions after period of enlist
ment as soldiers and sailors? This
question is being decided now in
Congress and the life-savers have
found an ardent champion of their
cause in the Secretary of the Treas
ury MacVeagh, whose department
directs their efforts.
Defining retiremeIt as granted to
the Army and Navy as "the acknowl-
edgement by the Government of a
moral obligation on account of past
meritorious service, and a compen-
sation for the loss of earning capaci-
| ty incurred through injury, disease
or the devotion of the productive
years of life to the performance OF
duty" Secretary MacVeagh, writing
to Senator Frye, Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Commerce
says;
Relative to the dangerous nature
of the service, it may be said that
the risk of death, injury and disease
incurred by the life-saver is not less
than that of the soldier or naval
sailor. If his service is less danger
Gus in time of war, it is much more
so in time of peace, which is the
generally prevailing condition that
has been interrupted but four times
in our national history.
Extra hazard, therefore, is in
Cured by the soldier and naval
sailor only at intervals of many
years, while the perils of the life
saver run through the entire period
of peace as we'll as war. Every en-
listment of the life-saver is entered
with certainty of exposure to danger
while the vast majority of those
who enlist in the Army and Navy dc
so with scarcely a prospect of in
curing the dangers of war service
The life-saver's hatitudes and
course of life are very similar tC
those of the soldier and naval sailor
He is enlisted for a specified term
of service after a rigid physical ex
amination-to which is added a pro
fessional one not required of the
soldier and, sailor-is subject tC
rigid discipline. to constant guard
duty, the performance of daily drills
and when occasion requires, to dc
battle. The nightly patrol of the
life saver, however, involving long
difficult and wearisome marches il
all conditions of weather, is one oi
especial hardship and exposure
which finds no parallel in the cor
responding duty of the soldier ant
sailor"
In this connection the Secretary
points out the admirable adoption
of life-saving stations for militar!
outposts or pickets and recalled the
good work done by them in thu
Spanish war, saying;