The Washington herald., 1918-05-28

Gentlemen Of the Congress-
1t Is with unaffected reluctance
that come to ask you to pro-
long your session long enough to
provide more adequate resources
for the Treasury for the conduct
Of the war. ! have reason to
appreciate as fully as you do
how arduous the session has
been. Your labors have been
severe and protracted. You have
passed q long series of meas
ures which required the debate
Of many doubtful questions Of
judgment and many exceedingly
dificult questions Of principle as
well as Of practice. The summer
Is upon US in which labor and
counsel are twice arduous and
are constantly apt to be impair.
ed by lassitude and fatigue.
The elections are at hand, and
we ought as soon as possible to
go and render an intimate ac-
count of our trusteeship to the
people who delegated us to act
for them in the weighly and anxi-
Gus matters that crowd upon us
in these days of critical choice
and action. But we dare not go
to the elections until we have
done our duty to the full. These
are days when duty stands stark
and naked, and even with closed
eyes we know it is there. Ex-
cuses are unavailing. We have
either done our duty or We have
not. The fact will be as gross
and plain as the duty itself. In
such q case lassitude and fatigue
seem negligible enough. The
facts are tonic and suffice to
freshen. the labor.
More Revenue Needed.
And the facts are these: Addi-
tional revenues must manifestly
be provided for. 1t would be a
most unsound policy to raise too
large a proportion of them by
loan. and 1t is evident that the
$4,000. .000.0 900 now provided for by
taxation will not Of themselves
sustain the greatly enlarged bud
get to which we must Immediately
look forward. We cannot in fair
ness wait until the end Of the
fiscal year Is at hand to apprise
our people of the taxes they must
pay on their earnings of the pres
ent calendar year. whose account
ings and expenditures will then
be closed.
We cannot get increased taxes
unless the country knows what
they are to be and practices the
necessary economy to make them
available. Definiteness. early def
initeness. as to what its tasks are
to be is absolutely necessary for
the successful administration of
the Treasury; II cannot frame fair
and workable regulations in haste:
and II must frame its regulations
In haste II it is not to know its
exact task until the very eve of
its performance. The present tax
laws are marred. moreover, by
inequittes which ought to be rem
edied. lndisputable facts, every
one: and We cannot alter or blink
them. To state them is argument
enough.
feople Want Dehnlteness.
And yet perhaps you will
permit me to dwell for a mo-
ment upon the situation they
disclose. Enormous loans free
ly spent in the stimulation of
industry of almost every sort
produce infations and extrava-
gances which presently make
the whole economic structure
questionable and insecure and
the very basis Of credit is cut
away. Only fair. equitably dis
tributed taxation. of the widest
incidence and drawing chiefly
from the sources which would
be likely to demoralize credit
by their very abundance, can
prevent imitation and keep our
industrial system free of specu-
lation and waste.
We shall naturally turn. there
lore. l suppose, to war profits
and incomes and luxuries for
the additional taxes. But the
war profits and incomes upon
which the increased taxes will
be levied will be the profits and
incomes of the calendar year
1918. 1t would be manifestIy
unfair to wait until the early
months of 1919 to say what they
are to be. 1t might be diff
cult. 1 should imagine. to run
the mill with water that had al
ready 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 pro-
duce before it is due. 1t must
sell short time certificates of
Indebtedness. In the autumn a
much larger sale of long time
bonds must be effected than has
yet been attempted. What are
the bankers to think of the GER
tificates IL they do not certain
ly know where the money is to
come from which is to take
them up? And how are inves-