The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1914-09-10
ASKS BIG WAR TAX
PRESIDENT IN MESSAGE TO CON.
eREsa ASKS s1oo,ooo,ooo MORE
REVENUE.
MUST SUSTAIN BUSINESS
Nations Chief Executive Declares Ad-
dltionaI Revenue Is Needed and Ma
ture of lmpost ls Left to Lawmakers
pleads for Prompt Action.

dltionaI Revenue Is Needed and Ma.
ture of lmpost Is Left to Lawmakers
pleads for Prompt Action.
Washington, Sept. Tin the pres
ence of crowded galleries and practi-
cally a full attendance of the two
houses, President Wilson read his mes
sage before joint session Of the SEN
ate and house held in the house cham
Der on Friday advocating emergency
revenue legislation to replace the
losses caused by decreasing customs
duties during the European war period.
The address of the president follows
in part:
Gentlemen of the Congress: leone
to you to discharge a duty which l
wish with all my heart l might have
been spared; but it is duty which is
very clear, and, therefore, perform it
without hesitation or apology. ! come
to advise very earnestly that addi-
tional revenue be provided for the gov
ernment.
During the month of August there
was, as compared with the correspond
ing month of last year, falling off
of $1O,629,53S in the revenues>collected
from customs. A continuation of this
decrease in the same proportion
throughout the current fiscal year
would probably mean loss of customs
revenues of from sixty to one hundred
millions. | need not tell you to what
this falling off is due. 1t is due, in
chief part, not to the reductions re-
Gently made in the customs duties but
to the great decrease in importations;
and that is due to the extraordinary
extent of the industrial area affected
by the present war in Europe. Con-
ditions have arisen which no man fore
saw; they affect the whole world Of
commerce and economic production;
and they must be faced and dealt with.
1T would be very unwise to post
pone dealing with them.
The treasury itself could get along
for a considerable period, no doubt,
without immediate resort to new
sources of taxation. But at what cost
to the business of the community?
Approximately $75,0OO,000, large
part of the present treasury balance, is
now on deposit with national banks
distributed throughout the country.
1t is deposited, of course, on call.
need not point to you what the prob
able consequences of inconvenience
and distress and confusion would be
if the diminishing income of the treas
ury should make it necessary rapidly
to withdraw these deposits. And yet
without additional revenue that plainly
might become necessary and the time
when it became necessary could not
be controlled or determined by the
convenience of the business Of the
country. 1t would be determined by
the operations and necessities Of the
treasury itself.
Such risks are not necessary and
ought not to be run. We cannot too
scrupulously or carefully safeguard a
financial situation which is at best,
while war continues in Europe, diff
feat and abnormal. Hesitation and
delay are the worst forms of bad pol
icy under such conditions.
And we ought not to borrow. We
ought to resort to taxation, however.
The country is able to pay any just
opd ROO ocopo h1a fovoc u,ithOuf dictracc
The people Of this country are both In
telligent and profoundly patriotic.
They are ready to meet the present
conditions in the right way and to sup
port the government with generous
self-denial. They know and under
stand, and will be intolerant only of
those who dodge responsibility or are
not frank with them.
The occasion is not of our own ma
king. We had no part in making it.
But it is here. 1t affects US as di.
rectly and palpably almost as If we
were participants in the circumstances
which gave rise to it. We must accept
the inevibtale with calm judgment and
unruffied spirits, like men accustomed
to deal with the unexpected, habit
uated to take care of themselves, mas
ters of their own affairs and their own
fortunes. We shall pay the bill,
though we did not deliberately incur it.
In order to meet every demand
upon the treasury without delay or
peradventure and in order to keep the
treasury strong, unquestionably strong,
and strong throughout the present
anxieties, respectfully urge that an
additional revenue of 1000, goo be
raised through internal taxes devised
in your wisdom to meet the emer-
gency. The only suggestion take the
liberty of making is that such sources
of revenues be chosen and will begin
to yield at once and yield with GER
tain and constant f1ow."
The president concluded his mes
sage at 12:42 o'clock.