Evening star., 1915-12-07

following 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 in
come taxes. BY somewhat lowering the
present limits of exemption and the fig
ure at which the surtaX shah begin to be
imposed, and by increasing. step by step
throughout the present graduation. the
surtaX itself, the income taxes at as pres
ent apportioned would yield sums suffi-
cient to balance the books of the Treas
ury at the end of the fiscal year 1917
without anywhere making the burden un-
reasonably or oppressively heavy. The
precise reckonings are fully and accura te-
ly set out in the report of the Secretary
of the Treasury which will be Immediately
laid before you.
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
tax of ! cent per gallon on gasoline
and naphtha would yield. at the present
st'mated production. $40. COO, 900; a tax
of 80 cents per horsepower on auto
mobiles and internal explosion engines,
$i5, 1000; a stamp tax on bank checks,
probably slS,0O0,000; tax of IS
cents per ton on pig iron, $4,000, 900: a
tax of % cents per ton on fabri
Gated iron and steel. probably SIC. 900. 900.
In 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 ex-
ciusively upon any one set of persons or
undertakings. What is clear is that the
industry of this generation should pay
the bills of this generation.
No Thought of Danger.
1 have spoken to you today. gentle
men. upon single theme, the thorough
preparation 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 providentially assigned to it. I
have had in my mind no thought of any
immediate or particular danger arising
cut 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 controversy be-
tween this and other governments will
lead to any serious breach of amicable
relations. grave as some differences Of
attitude and policy have been and may
yet turn out to be. I 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 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 10 bring the authority and
good name of our government into con-
tempt. to destroy our Industries wher-
ever they thought 1t effective for their
vindictive purpose 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
rkr 41F0.
but it is. great enough to have brought
deep disgrace upon US and to have
made 1t necessary that we should
promptly make use of processes of law
by which we may be purged of their
corrupt distempers.
Disloyalty Within Nation. 50,
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 its very life to
free itself from every ENHANCEMENT
that had darkened the fortunes OF, the
older nations and set up new standard
here-that men of such origins ana
such free choices of allegiance 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. little
while ago such thing would have
seemed Incredible. Because it was in
credible we made no preparation for 1t.
We would have beeQ almost ashamed to
prepare for 1t, as IL we were suspicious
of ourselves, our own comrades ana
But the ugly and incredible thing has
actually come about and we are with
out adequate federal laws to deal with
it. / urge you to enact such laws at
the earliest possible moment and feel
that in doing SO 1 am urging you to do
nothing less than save the honor and
self-respect of the nation. Such crea-
lures of passion, disloyalty and an
archy must be crushed out. They are
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 govern
ment, 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 effectuaily:
need not suggest the terms In which
they may be dealt with.
Many Men Are Guilty.
wish that 1t could be said that only
a few men. misled by mistaken senti-
ments of allegiance to the governments
under which they were born. had been
guilty of disturbing the self-possession
and misrepresenting the temper and
principles of the country during these
days of terrible war. when 1t would
seem that every man who was truly an
would instinctively make 1t
his duty and his pride to keep the
himself a partisan of no nation but his
own. But it cannot. There are some
men among us. and many resident
abroad who, though born and bred in
the United States and calling them
selves Americans, have SO forgotten
and their honor as citizens |
as to put their. passionate sympathy |
European conflict above their regard
for the peace and dignity Of the
United States.
They also preach and practice dis
LOYALTY No laws, / suppose, can reach |
of the mind and heart; but |
I should not speak of others without
also speaking of these and expressing |
scorn which every self-possessed and !
thouehtfully patriotic American must |
feel when he thinks of them and of the |
discredit they are daily bringing
upon US.
Must Guard Against Treason.
While we speak Of the preparation Of
the nation to>make sure of her security |
and her effective power we must not
fall into the patent error of supposins |