Morris tribune., 1910-10-21

| the Atlantic and Pacific to be ad-
m1tted as states, and thus for long
! time to come the drama of new state
| hood is finished.
have been a member of the Senate
for over Is years and during that time
| Congress has not, at any other ses-
sion, passed so many valuable, import
ant, and far-reaching measures of leg
isIation as at the last session. The
session is a notable one for the num-
| ber of important acts passed, and Pres
| ident Taft deserves more credit than
any one else for this great work, for,
early and late, in season and out OF
season, he spurred Congress on in the
work. His recommendation were not
of a perfunctory character; he was in
dead earnest about the passage OF
these great measures and never failed
to press them.
Congress, as you know, also passed
the tariff act of Aug. 5, 1909. This act
did not go as far, in the matter OF
tariff reduction, as hoped and expect
ed, and did not, from my standpoint,
wholly fulfill the promises made and
therefore could not see my way clear
to vote for it, While it effected some
reductions along certain lines and
classes, it's great defect, to my mind,
was the increase in the cotton schedule
and leaving the wool and wOolen sched-
ule-one of the highest in the whole
list-untOuched. AS a whole, and in
the aggregate, the act effected slight
reduction below the Dingley law, and
it has proved good revenue proVlder
and under it the importation Of non
dutiable goods has been greater than
ever before in our history, SO that, on
the whole, the act is not as bad as our
political enemies paint it. The Demo
Gratis of the Senate can certainly claim
no credit on the tariff law. To my
knowledge the majority of them re-
peatedly voted with the stand-pat Re-
publicans for the higher schedules.
When Senator McCumber and sought
to put lumber on the free list, or at
least to obtain a substantial reduction
from the Dingley rate, we encountered
the opposition of a majority Of the
Democratic senators voting on the sub
ject. A majority of the Democrats, as
a rule, voted for the higher schedules
when they we're considered in detail
and finally eased their conscience and
sought political capital by voting
against the bill as a whole on it's final
passage. The bill had one good fea-
ture, that of practically providing for
tariff commission, which has been
appointed by the president, and for
which a liberal appropriation was
made last session. This will be the
means of securing proper and requisite
tariff data for Congress, and with the
information thus furnished Congress
should take up each schedule separate
Iy and dispose of it by itself, and
thus avoid all kinds of trading and So
called log-rolling.
At the same session that the tariff
act was passed, Congress also passed
another very important act. Some
years ago the supreme court decided
that under the constitution congress
was powerless to pass practical and
adequate income tax law An attempt
was made by the Democrats and few
Republicans to have such law as that
of 1894, which has been declared un-
constitutional by the court, engrafted
upon the tariff act Of 1909. To most
of us Republicans this seemed vain
and futile, for it was not likely that
the supreme court would retrace its
tiona1 course by passing an act pro-
viding for the submission of a cOnsti-
tutionaI amendment, for ratification by
the several states, which, when duly
adopted and ratified, will give Con-
gress ample power to impose a suit
able and reasonable income tax. re-
gard this constitutional amendment as
of the utmost Importance. It's aim is
to reach, for purposes of taxation, a
specie of property-the income of the
rich and weIl-tO-do-that is now wholly
untaXed. There is no good ground for
limiting the Federal government to
tariff and internal revenue taxes. In
the event Of foreign war with
large naval power, our tariff taxes
might become scant and insignificant.
During our great civil war, the govern.
ment was obliged to resort to income
taxes.
Even if we do not feel called upon
at once to resort to such taxes, yet
the Federal Government ought, never.
theless, to be constitutionally equipped
with the power to levy such taxes in
cases Of great emergency. Every 9th
er government, great and small, has
this power, and there is no good rea-
son why our government should not
be on par with the governments of
countries in this respect.
I trust our legislature will, at its next
session, ratify this amendment.
have thus briefly, though somewhat
in detail, called your attention to the
great legislative and administrative
work wrought and accomplished by
the Republican party for the welfare
and betterment of our country under
the leadership of our great Presidents.
Mckinley, Roosevelt, and Taft. I feel
that can present no stronger argu-
ment than the recital of this record. |
1t shows how our party has steadily
aimed, by legislation and administra-
ton, to keep pace with the evolutions
and changes that have taken place and |
are taking place in our economic and |
industrial progress and development; |
and when, in consequence of new |
schemes and methods of business, new |
and new laws are re-
quired for the relief and protection of |
the public, our party is ever alive to
the occasion, ever ready to meet the |