Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1918-05-29
WILSON ASKS
-
CONGRESS- FOR
JUST TAX BILL
President In Address to Congress
Demands War Tax Revenue
Legislation.
QUIT POLITICS IS PLEA


Now is Winning of War Says
@ MISUNDERSTANDING Must
II Be Crushed BY Taxation.
Washington, May 28.-President
Wilson appeared unexpectedly before
Congress and demanded that it re-
main in session until it has enacted
new war tax laws to finance the
growing cost of the war and prepare
the country for the burden it must
bear. He spoke as follows:
The Presidents Message.
Gentlemen OF the congress:
1t is with unaffected reluctance that
come to ask you to prolong your ses-
sion long enough to provide more ade-
quate 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
1abors have been severe and protract-
ed. You have passed long series of
measures which required the debate
OF many doubtful questions of judg-
ment and many exceedingly difficult
questions OF principle as we'll as OF
practlce The summer is upon US in
which labor aid counsel are twice ar.
duous and are constantly apt to be i'm
paired by lassitude and fatigue. The
elections are at hand and we ought as
soon as possible to go and render an
intimate account Of our trusteeship to
the people who delegated US to act for
them In the weighty and anxious mat
tiers 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 ewes we
know it is there Excuses are unavail-
ing. We have either done our duty or
we nave not. The fact will be as gross
and plain as duty itself. In such a
case lassitude and fatigue seem neg.
lglble enough. The facts are tonic,
and suffice to freshen the labor.
Additional Taxes Needed.
And the facts are these. Additional
revenues must manifestly be provided
for. 1t would be most unsound policy
to raise too large a proportion of them
by loan and it is evident that the four
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 apprise
our people OF the taxes they must pay
on their earnings of the present CAL
endar year, whose accountings and ex-
penditures vii then be closed. We
cannot get Increased taxes unless the
country knows what they are to be
and practises the necessary economy
to make them available Definiteness,
early definitene5s, as to what it's tasks
are to be is absolutely necessary for
the successful administration of the
treasury. 1t cannot frame fair ana
workable regulations in haste. And it
must frame its regulations in haste if
it is not to know it's exact task until
the very eve of it's performance.
The present tax laws are married.
moreover, by inequities which ought to
be remedied. 1ndisputable facts, ev-
cry one; and we cannot alter or blink
them. To state them Is argument
enough.
I. Would Prevent Initiation.
And yet perhaps you will permit me
to dwell for moment upon the situa-
ton they disclose. Enormous loans
freely spent in the stimulation of in
.'dustry of almost every sort produce in
,f1ations and extravagances which pres.
emily make. the whole economic istruc-
ture questionable and insecure and the
very basis Of credit is cut away. Only
fair, equitably distributed 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
from speculation and waste We shall
naturally turn, therefore, 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 cal.
endar year 1913 It would be mani
testify unfair to wait until the early
months of 1919 to say what they ara
to be.
It might be difficult, should mag
inc, to run the mill with water that
had already gone over the wheel.
Politics is Adjourned.
That Is the situation, and 1t is the
situation which creates the duty, no
choice or preference of ours There is
only one way to meet that duty We
must meet it without selishness or
fear OF consequences. Politics is adj
journed. The elections will go to
those who think least Of it, to those
who go to the constituencies without
explanation or excuses, with a plain
record of duty faithfully and disinter-
Vast Spells Of War Taken.
London, May 2S.-Large areas of
Mesopotamia have been cltared of the
enemy, to him the most fertile dis
tricts, when the crops were just ripen-
ing, several thousand prisoners have
been captured, together with many
cannon, machine guns and an enor-