Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-12-10

and naptnd would yleid at the preset. |
estimated production, 10.00O0O0; tax OF
so cents per horsepower on automobiles |
and internal explosion engines. SIS, 900; |
a stamp tax on bank checks. probably |
$4,000, 900; a tax of 25 cents per ton on |
pig iron. $4,000 10000; tax of SO cents per |
ton on fabricated iron and steel, proba- |
bly, s1OO00.0O0 In a country of great IN
dustries like this it ought to be easy to
distribute the burdens of taxation with
out making them anywhere bear too
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 a single theme, the thorough prep
aration of the nation to care for Its
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 providentially
assigned to it. l 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. and 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 diHer-
ences of attitude and policy have been
and may yet turn out to be. l am sorry
to say that the gravest threats against
our national peace and safety nave been
uttered within our own borders. There are
citizens of the United States. / blush to
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 or
disloyalty into the very arteries of our
h-f,,
the authority and good name of our gov
ernment into contempt, to destroy our in
dustries wherever they thought it effec-
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 to 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. 1t 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 it's very life to free itself from
every ENHANCEMENT that haS darkened
the fortunes of the older nations and Sc,
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 nurtured them and
seek to make this proud country once
more a hotbed of European passion. A
little while ago such thing would have
seemed incredible. Because 1t was in
credible we made no preparation for 1t.
We would have been almost ashamed to
prepare for it, as if we were suspicious
of ourselves. our own comrades and
neighbors! But the ugly and incredible
has actually come about and we are with
out adequate federal laws to deal with
it. 1 urge you to enact such laws at
the earliest possible moment and feel that
in so doing l 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
| lignant, and the hand of our power should
| close over them at once. They have
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. It is
possible to deal with these things very
| effectually. l need not suggest the terms
| in which they may be dealt with.
1 wish that it could be said that only a
| 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
| fha 11fr drlrf do Rf 0r0
| war, when it would seem that every man
| who was truly an American would in
| stinctively make it his duty and his pride
| to keep the scales of judgment even and
| prove himself a partisan of no nation but
| his own. But 1t 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
| icans 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 1 should not speak
| of others without also speaking of these
and expressing the even deeper humilia-
ton and scorn which every self-possesssd
and thoughtfu1ly patriotic AmericGn must
!t-Sl when lie tHl1kS OF IHem ana OF the
| discredit they are daily bringing upon us
Many conditions about which we have
repeatedly legislated are being altered
from decade to decade. 1t is evident un-
der our very eyes, and are likely to change
even more rapidly and more radically ir
the days Immediately ahead of US, wher
peace has returned to the world and ma
| tionS of Europe once more take up theil
tasks of commerce and industry with ths
energy of those who must bestir them
selves to build anew. Just what These
changes will be no one can certainly fore
see or confidently predict. There are nc
calculable, because no stable, elements il
the problem. The most we can do is Il
| make certain that we have the necessary
instrumentalfties of information constant
ly at our service so that we may be sur,
| that we know exactly what we are deal
ing with when we come to act, If
should be necessary to act at all. W,
must first certainly know what it is tha
we are seeking to adapt ourselves to.
may ask the privilege of addressing 20,
more at length on this important matte
little later in your session.
transportation Problem.
The transportation problem is an ex
ceedingly 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 t
| cope Win IL successfully as at preSen
| equipped and co-ordinated. l sugges
that it would be wise to provide for
commission OF inquiry to ascertain by
thorough canvass of the whole questio
J | whether our laws as at present frame
: and administered are as serviceabIe a
! they might be in the solution of the prot
t | lem. 1t is obviously problem that lie
! at the very foundation of our efficienc
as a people. Such an inquiry ought
draw out every circumstance and opinio
worth considering and we need to kno
5 | all sides of the matter if we mean
J do anything in the field of federal legisls
f ton.
r For what we are seeking now, what
my mind is the single thought of TIL
:. message, is national efficiency and s,
: curity. We serve a great nation. "
: should serve 1t in the spirit of it's peculie
: genius 1t is the genius of common me
for self-government, industry, justice, III
s erty and peace. We should see to it tn;
d it lacks no instrument, no facility or Wig,
f of law, to make it sufficient to play 1
t part with energy. safety, and assure
A | success. In this we are no partisans bl
e heralds and prophets of a new age.