The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-05-27

>4 81: &C. ~ : *
Douglas Fairbanks In Triangle Play,
1.-THE Americana" at the Orpheum
theatre tonight. Try to get in.
billions now provided for By taxation
will not of themselves Sustain the
greatly enlarged budget to which we
must Immediately look forward. We
cannot in fairness wait until the end
of the fiscal year is at hand to ap>
praise our people Of the taxes they
must pay on thei rearnings Of thu
present calendar year, whose account
ings and expenditures will then be
closed. We cannot get increased tax
es unless the country knows what
they are to be and practices the ne.
cessary economy to make them avail
able. Definiteness, early definiteness,
as to what it's tasks are to lie is alb
solutely necessary for the uccessful
administration of the treasury; it can
not frame fair and workable regula-
tons in haste and it must frame it's
regulations in haste if it is not to
know it, exact task until the very eve
o fits performance. The present tax
laws are married, moreover, by inequi.
ties which ought to be remedied IN
disputable facts. every one! and we
cannot alter or blink them. TO state
them is argument enough.
"And yet perhaps you will permit
me to dwell for moment upon the
situation they disclose. Enormous
loans freely spent in the stimulation
Of industry of almost every sort pro-
duce mutations and eXtravagances
which presently make the whole eco
nomic structure questionable and in
secure and the very basis of credit is
cut away. Only fair. equitably dis
tributed taxation of the widest Incl.
dence and drawing chiefly from the
sources which would be likely to de.
moralize credit by their very abund-
ance, can prevent initiation and keep
our industrial system free of specu-
lation and waste. We shall naturally
turn therefore, suppose to war prof
it's and incomes and Injuries for the
and incomes upon which the increased
taxes will be levied will be the profits
and incomes Of the calendar year
1918. 1t would be manifestly unfair
to wait until early months of 1919 to
say what they are to be. 1t might be
difficult I should imagine to run the
mill with water that had already gone
over the wheel
"Moreover, taxes Of that sort will
not be paid until the June Of next
year and the treasury must anticipate
them. 1t must use the money they are
to produce before it Is due. It must
sell short time certificates of indebt-
edness In the autumn much larger
sale of long time bonds must he ef-
fected than has yet been attempted.
What are the bankers to think of the
certificates if they do not certainly
know where the money is to come
from which is to take them up? And
how are investors to approach the
purchase of bonds with any sort Of
confidence and knowledge of their
own affairs if they do not know what
takes they are to pay and what econ
omics and adjustments of their bust
ness they must effect? cannot as.
sure the country of a successful adj
ministration of the treasury In 1918 il
the question of further taxation is to
be left undecided until 1919.
THE consideration that dominates
every other now, and makes every
other seem trivial and negligible. is
the winning of the war. We are not
only in the midst of the war; we are
at the very peak and crisis Of it. Hun
dreds of thousands of our men, carry
ing our hearts with them and our for.
tunes, are in the field and ships are
crowding faster and faster to the ports
of France and England with regiment
after regiment, thousand after thou
sand, to join them until the enemy
shall be beaten and brought to T.
reckoning with mankind. There car:
be no pause or intermission. The
great enterprise must, on the contrary,
be pushed with greater and greater
energy. The volume of our might must
steadily and rapidly be augmented I'M
til there can be no question Of resist
ing it. If that is to be Accomplished,
gentlemen money must sustain 1t to
the utmost. Our financial program
must no more be left in doubt or suf-
Tered to lag than our ordnance pro.
gram or our Shipping program or our
munitions program or our program for
making millions OF men ready. These
others are no programs, indeed, but
mere plans upon paper, unless there
is to be an unquestionable supply OF
money.
THAT is the situation, and it is the
situation which creates the duty, no
chaice of preference of ours. There is
only one way to meet that duty. We
must meet it without selfishness or
fear of consequences. Politics is adj
journed. The elections will go to those
who think the least Of it. TO those
who 20 to the constituencies without
explanation or excuses with a plain
record of duty faithfully and disinter.
estedly performed. l. for one. am al
ways confident that the people of this
country will give just verdict upon
the service of the men who act for
them when the facts are such that no
HAL CdlulSSulo VI SohSSoA 'ASni
There is no danger of deceit now. An
intense and piteless light beats upon
every man and every action in this
tragic plot of war that is now upon tho
stage If lobbyists hurry to Washing
ton to attempt to turn what you do i'll
the matter of taxation to their prOtec-
ton or advantage, the light will beat
also uDOn them. There is abundant
fuel for the light in. the records of