New Britain herald., 1915-12-07

of the country whether they made it possible for the younger men in their l employ to respond under favorable 1 conditions or not. I for one. do. not doubt the patriotic devotion either of ] our young men or of those who give benefit and protection they would in 1 fact enlist. I would look forward to
 the success of such an experiment | with entire confidence
 Outlines Navy Plan.
 Outlining the details of the navy | plan presented by Secretary Daniels, ] the president said that 'it involves l only a shortening of the time within l which plans long matured shall be i carried out; but it does make def-
 mite and explicit a program which has ! heretofore been only implicit held in l the minds of the committee on naval l affairs and disclosed in the debates l of the two houses, but nowhere for ] mulated or formally adopted. *, 1 It seems to me very clear that it will | be put to the advantage of the cOun- 1 try for the congress to adopt a com prehensive plan for putting the navy upon a final footing of strength and l efficiency and to press that plan to 1 completion within the next five years.' The president said that in order to ! secure national self efficiency and self security the country must have mer- l chant marine.
 "FOr it is a question Of lnde- pendence," he asserted "If other na- l tions go to war or seek to hamper each | others commerce, our merchants, 1t l seems, are at their mercy, to do with as they please We must use their ships. and use them as they determine. Our independence is provincial, and it is only on land and within our own borders. We are not likely to be per mltted to use even the ships of other nations in rivalry of their own trade, and are without means to extend our commerce even where the doors are
 wide open and our goods desired. Such
 a situation is not to be endured. It is of capital importance not only that the United States should be it's own car- rier on the seas and enjoy the eco- homie independence which only an adequate merchant marine would give it, but also that the American hemis- phere as 8 whole should enjoy like independence and self-suff1ciency, if it is not to be drawn into the tangle of European affairs"
 Must Undertake Task.
 l The task of building up an adequate merchant marine, MT. Wilson said, | must be undertaken ultimately by American private capital, but in the meantime, he declared, every legal obstacle standing in the way of the building, purchase and American reg
 istration of ships should be removed
 and the government should undertake
 to open routes, especially between the
 two American continents. When the
 risk has passed and private capital
 begins to find it's way into these new
 channels, he added, the government
 may withdrawn.
 The president told congress that
 proposals would be made during the
 coming session for the purchase or
 construction of ships to be owned and
 directed by the government. The
 measure, he said, would be similar to
 that submitted to the last congress, but
 modified in some essential particulars. Follows McAdoo's Statement. In outlining the financial condition of the government, the president fol- lowed closely the statement recently given out by Secretary McAdoo. He said that the additional revenue re- quired to carry out the program of l military and naval preparation would be 93,SOO,O0O for the fiscal year 1917; l that if the present taxes were con- l tinued throughout this year and the next there would be a balance in the treasury of about $76, 6,500,000 at the l end of the present fiscal year and a 1 deficit at the end of the next year of some $112,O00,O0O, reckoning in $6S,- l1f4 siQf l Proposing that the new bills be paid l by internal taxation, the president sug- l gested that by lowering the present | limits of income exemption and the l figure at which the surtax is imposed. l and by increasing step by step l throughout the present graduation, 1 the surtax itself, income taxes as at l present apportioned would yield sums l sufficient to balance the books of the treasury at the end of the fiscal year 1917 without anywhere making the burden unreasonably heavy. He l added that there were many additio nal 1 sources of revenue which justly could be resorted to without hampering the expenditure. He estimated that tax 1 of one per cent. per gallon on gasoline 1 and naptha would yield $10,00O,0OO;
 a tax of fifty cents per horsepower on 1 automobiles and internal explosion en-
 zines, s15,OOO,0OO; stamp tax on 1 bank checks, probably $1S,o0O,00O;
 and tax of twenty-five cents per ton
 on fabricated iron and steel, probably
 $10,000,000.
 No Serious Breaks.
 The president said there was
 reason to hope that no question in
 controversy between this and other
 governments would lead to any
 serious breach of amicable relations
 and that he was sorry to say that the
 gravest threats against national peace