The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1915-12-07

To this sum At least k0ooo,ooo should be
added to represent q safe working bal
ance for the treasury and $l20o0.O00 TO in
elude the usual deficiency estimates in
1917. and these additions would make .
total deficit OF some Szs7. .oo0 II the
present taxes should be continued
throughout this year and the next how
ever. there would be q balance in the
treasury Of some S76soc.ooo at the end, Of
the present fiscal year and deficit at
the end Of the next year OF only some
$1,000. ooo. or. reckoning In @61ooo.ooo for
deficiency appropriations and a safe treas
ury balance at the end Of the year. q
vious moral OF the figures 10 that IL is q
plain counsel OF prudence to continue all
OF the present taxes or their equivalents
and connne ourselves to the problem Of
providing $ll2 100000 Of new revenue rath-
er than $.s7. 100000.
Miilions Of Bends.
How shall we obtain the new revenue?
We are frequently reminded that there
are many millions OF bonds which the
treasury 10 authorised under existing law
to sell to reimburse the sums paid out OF
current revenues for the construction Of
the Panama canal. and II il true that
bonds for the amount OF $:a2. $4,000 are
now available for that purpose. Prior to
1913 SIS 900 Of these bonds had actually
been sold to recoup the expenditures at
the isthmus. and now constitute a con-
siderable item Of the public debt. But
for one do not believe that the people Of
this country approve Of postponing the
payment OF theirs bills. borrowing money
is shortsighted finance. It can be 5usti-
fed only when permanent things are to
be accomplished which many generations
Ixa,tI1 Arta fn1x hNy nd
seems hardly fair that a single genera
ton should pay for. The objects We are
now proposing to spend money for cannot
be so classified. except in the sense that
everything wisely done may be said to be
done in the interest Of posterity as well
dictate Of prudent craftsmanship and
frank finance that in what We are now.
! hope about to undertake We should pay
as We go. The people Of the country are
entitled to know just what burdens Of
taxation they are to carry and to know
from the outset now. The new bills
should be paid by internal taxation.
To what sources. then. shall We turn?
This is SO peculiarly a question which the
gentlemen of the house Of representatives
are expected under the constitution to
propose an answer to that you will hard
ly expect me to do more than discuss It
in very general terms. We should be fol-
lowing an almost universal example OF
modern governments II we were to draw
the greater part or even the whole OF the
revenues we need from the income taxes
BY somewhat lowering the present lin its
Of exemption and the figure at which the
surtax shall begin to be imposed and by
increasing step by step throughout the
present graduation the surtax itself. the
income taxes as at present apportioned
would yield sums sufficient to balance the
books Of the treasury at the end Of the
NIT har m n n
the burden unreasonably or oppressively
heavy. The precise reckonings are fully
and accurately set out In the report OF
the secretary of the treasury which will
be Immediately laid before you.
Tax on Gasoline.
And there are many additional sources
Of revenue which can justly be resorted
TO without hampering the industries OF
the country or putting any too great
charge upon individual expenditure. A
per cent tax per gallon on gasoline and
, mated production. SO. 900. a tax OF 80
cents per horsepower on automobiles and
| internal explosion engines $4,000. 90. a
stamp tax on bank checks probably $lS.-
| iron SO. .0O0 a tax Of 50 cents per ton on
fabricated iron and steel probably 10000.
| 900. In q country of great industries like
| this it ought to be easy to distribute the
burdens Of taxation without making them
anywhere bear too heavily or too exclu-
sively upon any one set Of persons or I'M
dertakings. What Is clear is that the in
dustry of this generation should pay the
bills of this generation.
l have spoken to you today. gentlemen.
| upon a single theme. the thorough prepa-
ration Of the nation to care for its own
security and to make sure Of entire free
! dom to play the impartial role in this
hemisphere and in the world which We all
be I've to have been providentially assign
ed to II. / have had in my 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 rea-
| son to hope that no question in controver-
, sy between this and other governments
will lead to any serious breach Of AMIGA.
BILE relations. grave as some differences of
attitude and policy have been and may
vet turn out to be. I am sorry to say that
the gravest threats against our national
peace and safety have been uttered with
In our own borders There are citizens OF
the United States, I 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 of disloyalty into
the very arteries Of our national life who
have sought to bring the authority and
good name OF our government into con-
they thought it effective for their vindic-
tive purposes to strike at them and to de-
base our politics to the uses Of foreign in
trigue. Their number is not great as COM
pared 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
I to have made it necessary that We should
promptly make use of processes Of law by
which We may be purged of their corrupt
distempers.
Disloyalty Denounced.
America never witnessed anything like
this before. 1t never dreamed 1t possible
that men sworn into Its own citizenship
men drawn out of great free stocks such
as supplied some of the best and strong
est elements of that little. but how he
role, nation that in a high day of old
staked its very life to free itself from ev-
cry ENHANCEMENT that had darkened the
fortunes Of the older nations and set up a
new standard here-that men of such
origins and such free choices of allegiance
would ever turn in malign reaction against
the government and people who had well
coined and nurtured them and seek to
make this proud country once more a hot