The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1918-05-27
WILSON APPEALS
TO CONGRESS TO
PASS TAX BILL
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conduct OF the war | have reason to
appreciate as fully as you do how ar
duous the session has been. Your la
bors have been severe and protractcd
You have passed long series OF meas
ures which required the debate OF
many doubtful. questions OF judgment
and many exceedingly difficult Ques-
tons OF principle as well as OF practice
he summer is upon US in which labor
and counsel are twice arduouS and are
constantly apt to be impaired by lassi-
tude and fatigue
Must Show Voters Results.
THE elections are at hand and VIC
ought as soon as possible to 60 and
render an intimate account OF our truS-
tceShip to the people who delegated us
to act for ttsG IN the weighty and anx-
louS matters that crowd upon us IN
these days Of critical choice and action
But we dare not 60 to the elections un-
iii 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 Excuses are un-
availlng We have either done our duty
or we have not. The fact will be as
gross and plain as the duty itself In
such a case laSSltude and fatigue seem
negligible enough The facts are a tonic
and suffice to ireShen the labor
Money Must Be Had.
"And the facts are these: Additional
revenues must maniic,tly be provided
| for; it would be a 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 great
| " 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 apprjSc our
spcoplc of the taxes they must pay on
/ their earnings OF the pre- cnt calendar
. year whose aCcountingS and expcndi-
turcS will then be closed We cannot
get increased taxes unless the country
knows what they are to he and prac-
tices the necessary economy to make
them available. Deiiniteness, early def.
inteneSs, as to what its tasks are tc
be is absolutely necessary for the sue
cessfu administration of the treasury
il cannot frame fair and workable reg
ulations in haste; and it must frame
its regulations in haste if il is not &c
know its exact task until the very eve
OF its performance.
1nequites Due Remedy.
"The present tax laws are needed
moreover by inequities which ought tc
be remcdicd. lndi>putablc facts. every
one, and we cannot alter or blink a
them To state them is argumcn
enough.
And yet perhaps. YOU will permit m,
10 dwell for a moment upon the Situa
tion they disclose. Enormous loan,
freely spent in the stimulation OF indus
try of almost every sort produce infla
tions and extravaganCes which present
" make the whole economic structur,
questionable and insecure, and the very
basis Of credit IS cut away. Only fair
e1uitably distributed taxation OF m,
widest incidence and drawing chief,
from the sources which would likel
to demoralze credit hy their very abun
dance can prevent initiation and keeI
our industrial system free Of specula
tion and waste
Profiteers and Industries.
I'VE shall naturally turn, therefore,
suppose to war profits and incomes anC
luxures for the additional taxes. Bu
the war profits and incomes upon which
the increased taxes will be levied vii
he the profits and incomes Of the cal
endar year 1913 1t would he mani
testify unfair to wait until the earll
months of 1919 to say what they are Il
be It might be difficult, should i'm