The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-02

since tne aTmlSIlce WIS dsSuTeu (WHICH rs
in effect a complete, submission of the
enemy to put the knowledge of those
bodies at the disposal Of the business men
of the country and to offer their intelli
/ gent mediation at every point and In every
matter where it was desired. 1t is surpris-
peace footing has moved in the three weeks
since the fighting stopped. 1t promises
to outrun any inquiry that may be in
| 1t will not be easy to direct 1t any better
| than it will direct itself The American
business man is of quick initiative
Not Sufficient Work.
The ordinary and normal processes of
| private initiative will not, however, provi Re
, immediate employment for all of the nrn
of our returning armies Those who are
| of trained capacity. those who are skilled
! workmen, those who have acquired famil-
| iarity with established business, those who
are ready and willing to go to the farms.
! all those whose aptitudes are known or
| will be sought out by employers. will fad
no difficulty. 1t is safe TO say, in filming
others who will be at loss where to gain
| a livelihood unless plans are taken TO gut lie
them and put them in the way of work.
There will be large floating residuum of
labor which should not be left wholly to
shift for itself. 1t seems to me important
works of every sort should be promptly
resumed in order that opportunities should
! be created for unskilled labor. in particular
and that plans should be made for such
Developments of our unused lands and our
natural resources~as We have hitherto lack
Ell summation TO unuerttake.
Reclaim the Arid Lands.
I particularly direct your attention to
the very practical plans which the secre-
tary of the interior has developed in his
annual report and before your committee
cut over lands, which might. If the states
were willing and able to cooperate, re-
eaityafi"n There are said to OF be- tah fifteen
or twenty million acres of land in the
west, at present arid. for whose reclama-
81 to IIo1,l 10
served. There are about two hundred and
thirty million acres from which the forests
have been cut but which have never yet
waste and desolate. These lie scattered all
over the union. And there are nearly
eighty million acres Of land that lie under
swamps or subject to periodical overflow
or too wet for anything but grazing which
it is perfectly feasible to drain and pro-
tect and redeem. The congress can at once
direct thousands of the returning soldiers
to the reclamation of arid lands which it
their plans and appropriations which it has
entrusted to the department or the interior.
1t is possible in dealing with our unused
land to effect great rural and agricul-
tural development which will afford the
best sort of opportunity to men who want
to help themselves; and the secretary of
the interior has thought the possible
methods out in a way which is worthy of
your most friendly attention
Control Over Shipping.
L have spoken of the control which must
yet for while, perhaps for long while,
be, exercised over shipping because of the
priority of service to which our forces
be accorded the shipments which are to
save recently liberated peoples from star
Walton and many devastated regions from
permanent ruin.
He Talks of Belgium.
May not say n special word about the
needs of Belgium and northern France:
nifty will will serve ' Of themselves to save them
from hopeless disadvantage for years to
come. Something more must be done than
merely finding the money. If they had
money and raw materials in abundance to-
morrow they could not resume their place
in the industry of the world tomorrow
the very important place they held before
the flame of war swept across them. Many
of their factories are RACED to the ground.
Much of their machinery is DESTROYED or
has been taken away. Their people are
scattered and many of their best work
men are dead. Their markets will be
taken by others, if they are not in some
special way assisted to rebuild their fac
tories and replace their lost instruments
of manufactures. They should not be left
to the vicissitudes of the sharp competition
for materials and for industrial facilities
which is now to set in
l hope, therefore, that the congress will
not be unwilling, If 1t should become
necessary to grant to some such agency as
the war trade board, the right to establish
priorities of export and supply for the
benefit of these people whom we have bean
SO happy to assist In saving from the
German terror and whom we must not now
in pitiless competitive market.
Determine Tax Levies.
For the steadying and facilitation of our
own domestic business establishments.
| nothing is more important than the i'm
medinte determination of the taxes that
are to be levied for 1918 1910 and 1920
must be lifted from business as sound
methods of financing the government viii
permit and those who conduct the greatest
| industries of the country must be told as
exactly as possible what obligations to the
government they will be expected to meet
in the years Immediately ahead of them.
1t will be of serious consequences to the
country to delay remOsnG all uncertain
II this hsht eb afy jns
1t is idle to talk Of successful and conf
| dent business reconstruction before these
uncertainties are solved
If the war had continued it would have
been necessary to sraise at least eight bill
year 1919. but the war has ended and
agree with the secretary of the treasury
that it will be safe to reduce the amount
to six billions. An immediate rapid de-
cline in the expenses of the government is
not to be looked for. Contracts made for
war supplies will, indeed, be rapidly can
liquidation will make heavy drains on the
treasury for the months just ahead of us.
Must Maintain Forces.
The maintenance of our forces on the
considerable portion of those forces must
remain in Europe during the period of ~
home will be transported and demobilized
at heavy expense for months to come The
interest on our war debt must Of course De
paid and provision made for the retirement
of the obligations of the government which
represent it. But these demands will of
course fall much below what a continue
ton Of the military operations would have
entailed and six billions should suffice TO
supply a sound foundation for the financial
operations of the year.
l entirely concur with the secretary Of
the treasury in recommending that the two
billions needed in addition to the four bill
lions provided by existing law be obtained
from the profits which have accrued md
shall accrue from war contracts and dis
tinctly war business. but that these taxes
be confined to the war profits accruing in
| 1918. or in 1919 from business originating
| In war contracts
Would Back McAdoO.
| urge your acceptance of his recon-
incubation that provision be made now. not
subsequently. that the taxes to be paid in
| 1920 should be reduced from six to four