Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1915-12-11

and napfha would yield. at the present
estimated production. sl0O0o,ooO; a tax of
so cents per horsepower on automobiles
and internal explosion engines $4,000. 900;
a stamp tax on bank checks. probably
slS. 900 900: a tax of % cents per ton on
ptg iron, $4,000 900; a tax OF so cents per
ton on fabricated iron and steel, proba-
bly, 10000. 900. In 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 toe 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 IL. I 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 differ
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 have been
uttered within our own borders. There are
citizens of the United States 1 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 gov
eminent 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 II 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. II 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 a high day of old
staked its cry 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 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 a thing would have
seemed incredible. Because it was in
credible we made no preparation for it.
We would have been almost ashamed to
prepare for II, as II 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. urge you 20 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 consptracies against the
neutrality of the government, they have
I
transaction of the government in order
| TO serve interests alien to our own. 1t is
! possible to deal with these things very
| effectually. I need not suggest the terms
| in which they may be dealt with.
wish that II 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
/ the country during these days of terrible
| war. when II 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 it 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
! leans 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
! I suppose can reach corruptions of the
| mind and heart; but l should not speak
/ Of others without also speaking Of these
/ and expressing the even deeper humilia-
ton and scorn which every self posse essd
| and thoughtfully patriotic American must
| feel when he thinks OF them and OF the
| discredit they are daily bringing upon US
| Many conditions about which we have
! repeatedly legfslated are being altered
| from decade to decade. IL is evident. un
| der our very eyes, and are likely to change
even more rapidly and more radically IT
| the days Immediately ahead OF us. wher
| peace has returned to the world and ma
| lions Of Europe once more take up then
| tasks Of commerce and industry with the
| energy of those who must bestir them
| selves to build anew. Just what these
| changes will be no one can certainly fore
| see OF confidently predict. There are ne
| calculahle. because no stable. elements II
the problem. The most We can do is Il
| make certain that we have the necessary
! instrumentalities Of information constant
~ at our service so that we may be SURF
that We know exactly what We are deal
ing with when we come to act, If 4
should be necessary to act at all WI
must first certainly know what 1t is tina
we are seeking to adapt ourselves to.
may ask the privilege Of addressing you
more at length on this important matte
a little later in your session.
Transportation Problem.
The transportation problem is an ex