Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1915-12-08

rine The great merchant feet we once
used to make us rich, that great body OF
sturdy sailors who used to carry cur nag
into every sea, and who were the pride
and often the bulwark Of the nation, we
have almost driven out of existence by
inexcusable neglect and Indifference and
by hopelessly blind and provincial pol
icy of so-called economic protection. 1t
is high time we repaired our mistake and
resumed our commercial independence on
the seas.
For it is q question of independence.
If other nations go TO war or seek to
hamper each others commerce, our mer-
chants, 1t seems, are at their mercy.
to do with as they please. We must use
their ships, and use them as they deter
mine. We have not ships enough OF our
own. We cannot handle our own COM
merce on the seas. Our independence Is
provincial, and is only on land and with
in own borders. We are not likely
to be permitted 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. 1t is
of capital Importance not only that the
United States should be its own carrier
on the seas and enjoy the economic in
dependence which only an adequate mer-
chant marine would give it, but also that
the American hemisphere as a whole
should enjoy like independence and self
suff1ciency, If it is not to be drawn into
the tangle of European affairs. Without
such independence the whole question of
our political unity and self-determinatlon
is very seriously clouded and complicated
indeed.
Moreover, we can develop no true or eff
fective American policy without ships of
our own-not ships of war, but ships of
peace, carrying goods and carrying much
more: creating friendships and render
ing indispensable services to all interests
on this side of the water. They must
move constantly back and forth between
the Americas. They are the only shuttles
that can weave the delicate fabric of
sympathy, comprehension, confidence and
mutual dependence in which we clothe
our policy of America for Americans.
Ships Are Needed.
With a view to meeting these pressing
necessities of our commerce and awaiting
ourselves at the earliest possible moment
of the present unparalleled opportunity of
linking the two Americas together in
bonds of mutual interest and service, an
opportunity which may never return
again if we miss it now, proposals will
be made to the present congress for the
purchase or construction of ships to be
owned and directed by the government
gress, but modified in some essential par
ticulars. 1 recommend these proposals
to you for your prompt acceptance with
the more confidence because every month
that has elapsed since the former pro-
posals were made has made the necessity
for such action more and more mani
testify imperative.
Question of Finance.
The plans for the armed forces of the
41l, fOT
the general policy of adequate prepare
ton for mobilization and defense, in
volve of course very large additional ex-
penditures of money-expenditures which
will considerably exceed the estimated
revenues of the government 1t is made
my duty by law, whenever the estimates
of expenditure exceed the estimates of
revenue to call the attention of the con-
gress to the fact and suggest any means
of meeting the deficiency that it may be
wise or possible for me to suggest am
ready to believe that it would be my duty
to do so in any case; and feel particu-
larly bound to speak of the matter when
it appears that the deficiency will arise
directly out of the adoption by the con-
gress of measures which l myself urge
it to adopt Allow me, therefore, to
speak briefly of the present state of the
treasury and of the fiscal problems
which the next year will probably dis
close.
On the thrtieth of June last there was
an available balance in the general fund
of the treasury of $1O4, ITO, 105.7S. The to-
tai estimated receipts for the year 1916
on the assumption that the emergency
revenue measure passed by the last con-
gress will not be extended beyond its
present limit, the thirty-first of Decem-
ber 1916 and that the present duty of
one cent per pound on sugar will be dis
he Grcf Of
will be $3.50, 1865, 800 The balance of June
last and these estimated revenues come,
therefore, to a grand total of STA ,535, sos. 49,
The total estimated disbursements for the
present fiscal year, including $5,OOO,COO
for the Panama canal, S12000,000 for prob
able deficiency appropriations and $780,
600 for miscellaneous debt redemptions,
will be 1853, S91 900; and the balance in the
general fund of the treasury will be re-
duced to $40. 644, 6057S The emergency
revenue act, if continued beyond its pres
ent time limitation, would produce, dur
ing the half year then remaining, about
forty-one millions. The duty of one cent
per pound on sugar, If continued, would
produce during the two months of the
fiscal year remaining after the first of
May about fifteen millions. These two
sums, amounting together to $56,OOO,OOO,
IL added to the revenues of the second
half of the fiscal year, would yield the
treasury at the end or the year an avail
able balance of ST, 644, COSTS.
The additional revenues required to
carry out the program of military and
naval preparation of which I have spok-
en-, would, at present estimated, be
for the fiscal year 1917, $93, 900. Those
figures taken with the figures for the
present fiscal year which l have already
given, disclose our financial problem for
the year 1917.
How shall we obtain the new revenue?
1t seems to me a clear dictate of pru-
dent craftsmanship and frank finance
that in what we are now, 1 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 in
ternal taxation.
To what sources, then, shall we turn?
We would be following an almost uni
versal example of modern governments
If we were to draw the greater part OF
even the whole of the revenues we need
from the income taxes. By somewhat
lowering the present limits of exemption
and the figure at which the surtax shall
begin TO be imposed and by increasing,