The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-12-11


50 cents per horsepower on automooiles
and internal explosion engines. $lS.oOo.ooo.
a stamp tax on bank checks, probably
SIS OOo. 0o0: q tax OF . cents per ton on
pig iron. 5000 900; a tax OF 80 cents per
ton on fabricated iron and steel, Prooa-
bly, SI0.OO0o0O. In q country Of great IN
dustries like this it ought to be easy TO
distribute the burdens OF taxation with
out making them anywhere bear zoo
heavily or too exclusively upon any one
set of persons or undertakings What Is
clear is that the industry OF this gener-
alton should pay the bills OF this genera
ton
The Danger Within.
have spoken to you today. gentlemen,
upon q single theme. the thorough prep
aration OF the nation to care for It's
own security and to make sure OF entire
freedom to play the impartial role In this
hemisphere and in the world which We
all believe to have been providenialiy
assigned to it I have had in mind no
thought OF any immediate or particular
danger arising out Of our relations with
other nations We are at peace with all
the nations of the world, ana there Is
reason to hope that no question In con-
troversy between this and other govern
ments will lead to any serious breach OF
amicable relations. grave as some oineT-
ences Of attitude and policy have been
and may yet turn out to be- am sorry
to say that the gravest threats against
our national peace and safety have been
uttered within our own borders There are
citizens of the United States, blush 10
admit. born under other flags but welcomed
under our generous naturalization laws
to the full freedom and opportunity OF
America, who have poured the poison OF
disloyalty into the very arteries OF our
national life; who have sought to bring
the authority and good name of our gov
eminent into contempt, to destroy our in
dustries wherever they thought IL efec-
tive for their vindictive purposes to strike
at them, and to debase our politics to the
uses OF foreign intrigue Their number
is not great as compared with the whole
number OF those sturdy hosts by which
our nation has been enriched in recent
generations out Of virile foreign stocks;
but IT is great enough 10 have brought
deep disgrace upon US and to have made
it necessary that we should promptly
make use of processes Of law by which
we may be purged Of their corrupt dis
tempers- America never witnessed any
thing like this before It never dreamed
it possible that men sworn into its own
citizenship, men drawn out OF great free
stocks such as supplied some Of the best
and strongest elements OF that little, but
how heroic, nation that in high day of old
! staked its very life to free itself from
every ENHANCEMENT that had darkeneo
! the fortunes Of the older nations and set
up new standard here-that men OF such
| origins and such free choices Of allegi-
ance would ever turn in malign reaction
| against the government and people who
| had welcomed and nurtuTed them and
seek to make this proud country once
| more a hotbed of European passion
little while ago such thing would have
| seemed incredible. Because ii was in
credible we made no preparation for it
We would have been almost ashamed to
/ prepare for it, If we were suspicious
of ourselves, our own comrades and
| neighborsI But the ugly and incredible
| has actually come about and we are with
out adequate federal laws to deal with
- -rr~r- 1~a- 81
| the earliest possible moment and feel that
/ in so doing 1 am urging you to do moth
/ ing less than save the honor and self
respect Of the nation
Must Be Crushed Out.
| Such creatures of passion. disloyalty
| and anarchy must be crushed out They
| are not many, but they are infinitely ma
| Iignant, and the hand of our power should
! close over them at once. They have
I formed plots to destroy property. they
| have entered into cOnspiracies against the
neutrality OF the government, they have
| sought to pry into every confidential
| transaction of the government in order
| to serve interests alien to our own 1t is
possible to deal with these things very
! effectually. need not suggest the terms
| in which they may be dealt with
wish that it could be said that only q
few men, misled by mistaken sentiments
| OF allegiance to the governments under
which they were born. had been guilty Of
disturbing the self-possession and misrep-
resenting the temper and principles Of
the country during these days Of terrible
war, when il would seem that every man
| who was truly an American would in
stinctively make Il his duty and his pride
| to keep the scales OF judgment even and
prove himself partisan Of no nation but
| his own But il cannot There are some
men among Us. and many resident abroad
who, though born and bred in the Unit
ed States and calling themselves Amer
leans, have so forgotten themselves and
their honor as citizens as to put their
passionate sympathy with one or the 9TH
er side in the great European conflict
above their regard for the peace and dig
nifty of the United States They also
preach and practice disloyalty- No laws
| suppose can reach corruptions Of the
mind and heart: but I should not speak
Of others without also speaking of these
and expressing the even deeper humilia-
ton and scorn which every self-pOssessec
| and thoughtfully patriotic American mus
| feel when he thinks OF them and OF the
| discredit they are daily bringing upon US
Many conditions about which we have
repeatedly legislated are being altered
| from decade to decade, IL is evident. IN
der our very eyes, and are likely TO chang,
even more rapidly and more radically il
! the days Immediately ahead Of US Eher
peace has returned to the world and na
tons Of Europe once more take up thei
| tasks of commerce and industry with tn,
energy of those who must bestir them
selves to build anew Just what thes'
changes VIII De no one can certainly fore
see or confidently predict There are .,
calculable. because no stable elements Il
the problem The most We can do is I,
make certain that we have the necessarl
instrumentalities Of information consta ut
~ at our service so that we may be sur
that we know exactly what we are deal
| ing with when we come to act. II
|. | should be necessary to act at all w
must first certainly know what IL is tia
we are seeking to adapt ourselves to-
may ask the privilege of addressing yol
more at length on this important matte
| little later in your session
Transportation Problem.
The transportation problem is an ex
| ceedinsly serious and pressing one in thi
country There has from time to tim
| Of late been reason to fear that our rail-
| roads would not much longer be able [
cope with II successfully as at presen
equipped and co-ordinated- I suEEes
that IL would be wise to provide for
? | commission OF inquiry to ascertain BY
= | thorough canvass Of the whole Questso
| whether our laws at present frame
| and administered are as serEiceabIe q
| they might be IN the solution OF the prot
{ | lem 1t IS obviously q problem that lie
at the very foundation of our efdcienc
as a people Such an inquiry ought [