Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1914-10-14

Hague to be used for a fort or a
barracks. ,IG&[ ~ z
a VALUABLE EXPLANATION OF,
PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND
POLITICAL CONDI-
TONS. ~ "
(By j.. K. Dougherty.)
d. Washington, d. c., Oct. l2-Spacia]
Corraspondence-The republican mem.
bers OF congress are firing their heav
lest artillery at the war tax. They
nave seizeE upon it as a campaign
issue" as "a drowning man grasps at
a straw because they had seen the
campaign open without an issue on
which they could go before the voter:
and ask that the Wilson administra.
zion, which had won the widespread
approval Of the people in its first
eighteen months of continuous work,
should be turaed out OF office.
It&was incomprehensible to the re
publican members that the Wilson
administration and the democratic
party should, by legislating to levy
a tax to sustain the credit Of the
government during this period Of in
ternational stress, give the opposition
his issue. 1t would have been wiser,
lccording to their school of poll
tics, for the democratic congress to
nave delayed the question and de-
yeived the*people until after the No
1ember elections, as Congressman
cortland OF Missouri expressed it
during the debate, instead of boldly
q, - ,.o.@l,E I, r. otiv,r tb % rncn0n chill.
tiles of government and trusting to
the good sense andt$clear vision OF
the ,American people.O r it wouldshav
been mere adroit and crafty to have
borrowed the money and issued GOV
ernment bonds to supply the needs OF
tshe federal treasury, even though the
financial market is strained to- the
lttermOst.y Such bonds would have TO
BE issued at a high rate Of interest,
,lna the money derived from their
sale would be withdrawn from the
channels Of trade at a time when
the farmer is trying to- move his
crops and the merchant is laying in
his fall stock of goods and the bust
ness worlG is in need OF the finap-
cial resources of the country to car
ry on business.
The democratic party, Mr.. Rorland
said, did not admit either the wis
dom or the sincerity of these criti-
cisms. 1--WE cannot admit he sale,
that the American people would
have justified the Democratic party
in n underhanded, secret, or hid
den. course. The administration has
chosen to meet the situation frankly
and take the American voter into
its confidence. 1t prefers to do bust
ness in the open"
What the democratic leaders be-
lieve the people will not lose sight
of is that more than half the civiliz-
ed world is at wal, that the commerce
inc manufactures Of great nations
are paralyzed, and the financial sys-
tenn of the world is strained to the
breaking point, due to an information
al catastrophe which ninety days ago
could not have entered into the
widest dreams OF the American peo-
pie. Not only has the withdrawing
of men from industry in the war
stricken countries exhausted public
and private credit in those countries,
but in the countries not engaged in
the war the indirect effect has been
almost as great. ..-
The one country ON the globe, the
Democratic leaders insist, which has
been able to stand the strain n
which will weather the commercial
and financial storm is the United
States. It is the one country to-day
whose public credit is at par and the
one country where private credit on
any terms is possible for the business
man The Democratic leaders have
declared 1t to be their inflexible de-
termination to preserve the credit OF
the federal government. II the pres
ent administration had failed to do
so through incompetence Or political
cowardice, these leaders declare, no
more relentless critics would have
appeared than these same Republican
office-seekers who are now cr1tislz-
ing the emergency tax.
The attacks of the Republican
speakers on the tariff have largely
because it has come to be re-
allied that but fort income tax
feature Of the Underwood tariff a war
tax Of. double that contemplated would
be necessary. Under former tariffs
most of the expenses of government
were met by high protective duties
ON imports. Since the war started
imports have practically ceased. The
country has been nearer absolute pro-
lection from foreign competition than
ever before. 1t would make no differ
ence how high or howlow tariff had
been in operation when the goods
from which the venue could be col
lected we're not shipped in from a.
broad. Here the income tax stepped
in. and in ten months of it's operation
in the last fiscal year brought in
$40, 900, 900, saving a loss of revenue
which would have nearly doubled the
inevitable deficit of the Treasury, due
to customs reductions. And the In
come tax collections will this year
a steady flow of revenue that
will approximate 500, 600, 900. But
for the aid OF the income tax, Demo
cratic leaders believe, it would have
been impossible for the federal treas
Try to have left any Of its money in
in the banks. The banks
would then have had to call in all OF
heir loans from farmers, merchants
nd manufacturers business enterpris-
3 would have been psralyzed and the
of labor would have
7
What rsally happened was that,
Icfng 4 great International catastro-T
which has wrecked the business