The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-10

HOMER S.
ever. tell US that we. are now. Obliged to
increase the income tax in what they
call "a time of peace It is unthtnl1@a
able that an intelligent people Will be
disturbed by assertions of this charac-#
ter. It is common knowledge that
additional appropriations have been
made to increase and strengthen va
rious branches of our government, Re
publicans and Democrats participated
/ ii passing these measures.
Amongst them were the apRropFia-
lions for the Federal Trade Commits
sion and the Alaskan Railway, More
over, we are upon the eve. of expend-
/ ing more money upon our army and
navy in obtaining a greater degree or
preparedness In the meanwhile, the
war has interfered with innportations
and some means must be taken to sup
Div the taxes for the support of the
things for which no one c1a.mors more
loudly than the leaders Of the Repub-
I 1ican party.
SIT is Hypocrisy pushed to the ex-
IRENE. to. demand large appropriations
for army and navy and, at the same
: time. crftfcise the Democratic Party for
attempting to pass the laws which. are
necessary to secure the revenue to car
] ry out these projects. But Senator
mclean tells US that we must have
Republican tariff because after the war
! the goods of Europe viii be dumped
upon American shores Here speaks
partisanship rather than statesman-
ship. 1t is much more likely that af-
/ ter the war comes to an end the Unit
led States will be unable to make goods
as fast as Europe will take them. At
tier the war Europe will be industrially
disorganized. Europe is organized
flor war and not for the orderly pro-
cesses of peace Millions of her
1 strongest citizens are disabled or dead.
1T is a provincial spirit which inspires
1.-THE Senator to fear the Industrial conn
petition OF crippled and depopulated
Europe The real danger is that Europe
viii not have enough goods to trade
for our goods. International trade
consists in the exchange of commo-
Il dities for commodities. Is it possible
that Senator Mclean imagines that in
4 ternationaI trade lean be carried on
without an exchange of goods? The
supply of gold is limited. Trade that
] depends upon getting the other mans
gold ard not his goods would not last
VERY long.
The Tarin Commission.
But against even this possibilits.
the statesnanship of President Wilson
slhad protected us.
sThe President advocates, and Con-
zEgress will shortly pass, a provision for
La non-partisan tariff commission. The
H president says, "A Commission such as
IT have suggested would have thing
TO do with theories of policy They
i would deal only with the facts Of in
efustry and of the conditions OF eco
Enorlic change prevailing IN the world,
so that legislation of every kind that
touched these matters might be guild
/ ed by the circumstances disclosed by
its Inquiries
1.-THE Stamford Advocate. a Republic
Il cam paper, commenting upon this at
& titude on the part of the President,
& said, No honest protectionist asks for
4 more than that the economic facts
concerning each item in the tariff
schedule should be ascertained by ex-
81 perts and that the rates made in con-
& sequence should be guided by the cir
cuTnstances disclosed by their inqui-
lries.'
j IssThere has never been any serious
trouble with the honest protectionist.'
Our dificulty has been with those sell
fish interests in this country that have
sought to use the taxing power of the
S. government to promote their private
interests and in return therefor have
contributed munif1eeht1y' to the Golfers
of the political party that has permit
ted that form of graft and corruption.
This is the vicious thing against which
the Demo cratic Party has raised its
standard. No honest protectonist
could ask for a restoration Of the
Payne-Aldrich Bill and no honest pro
tectionist can have any concern about
the condition or stability of Industry
when it is to be protected by the non
partisan tariff commission which the
President proposes. The purpose OF
the proposed act is to take the tariff
out of the realm of partisan discussion
and to reduce its difficulties to mere
| -
seWhat honest American can fail to
support such a policy2
Federal Reserve Act.
ssThe next great achievement OF
President Wilson was his insistence
upon the passage of the Federal Re
serve Act You will remember that
many people wanted Congress to ad-
81 journ and not to touch the currency.
The President, however, insisted that
Congress should not adjourn without
completing this great constructive law,
It is not disputed that, until the pas
sage of the Federal Reserve Act, the
currency system of the United States
4 was one of the most chaotic and I'M
satisfactory prevailing in any civiliz-
8 ed nation. The passage of the Fed