Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1918-05-31
PRESIDENT WILSON INFORMS CONGRESS
THAT NATION MUST MEET GREAT NEEDS

are cr0wding faster and faster to the
ports Of France and England with
regiment after regiment, thousand
after thousand, to join them until the
enemy shall be beaten and brought to
a reckoning with mankind.
There can be no pause or inter-
mission. The great enterprise must,
on the contrary, be pushed with great
er and greater energy The volume
of our might must steadily and rapidly
! be augmented until there can be no
question Of resisting IL.
If that Is to be accomplished, gem
tleThen, money must sustain 1t to the
utmost. Our financial program must
no more be left In doubt or suffered
to lag than our ordnance program or
our shipping or our munitions pro-
gram or our program for making mill
lions of men ready. These others are
not programs, indeed, but merely plans
upon paper, unless there Is to be an
unquestionable supply of money. That
Is the situation and 1t Is the situation
which creates the duty, no choice or
preference of ours.
Only One Way.
There Is only one way to meet that
duty. We must meet 1t without self
ishness or fear Of consequences. Poll
tics is adjourned. The elections will
go to those who think least of 1t; to
those who go to the constituencies
without explanations or excuses, with
plain record of duty faithfully and
disinterestedly performed.
Il, for one, am always 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 man can disguise
or conceal them. There Is no danger
of deceit now. An intense and pitiless
light beats upon every man and every
action in this tragic plot of war that
Is now upon the Stage.
IF lobbyists hurry to Washington
to attempt to turn what you do in
the matter of taxation to their pro-
lection or advantage, the light will
beat also on them. There is album
dant fuel for the light in the records
of the treasury with regard to profits
of every sort.
1.-THE protiteering that cannot be got
at by the restraints of conscience and
love of country can be got at by tax
alton. There Is such prOfiteering now,
and the information with regard to 1t
Is available and indisputable.
II am advising You to net upon this
matter of taxation now, gentlemen,
not because | do not know that you
can see and interpret the facts and
the duty they impose just as well and
with as clear a perception of the OBJ
legations involved as / can, but be-
cause there Is certain solemn salts
faction in sharing with you the re-
sponsibilities of such time. The
world never stood In such case before.
Men never before had so clear clear or
so moving vision of duty.
II know that you will begrudge the
work to be done here by us no more
than the men begrudge us theirs who
lie in the trenches and sally forth to
their death. There Is Il stimulating
comradeship knitting us ail together.
And this task to which | invite your
immediate consideration, will be per-
formed under favorable influences IL
we will look to what the country Is
thinking and expecting and care moth
Ing ut oil for what is being said and
believed in the Hobbies of Washington
hotels, where the atmosphere seems to
make 1t possible to believe what is be-
lieyed nowhere else.
The Nations Spirit.
"Have you not felt the spirit of the
nation rise ana Its thought become a
single and common thought these
eventful days In which we have been
sending our boys to the other side? /
think you must read that thought as |
do to mean this: That the people of
this country are not only united In the
resolute purpose to win this war, but
are ready and willing to bear any bur-
den and undergo any sacrifice that 1t
may be necessary for them to bear In
order to win 1t.
I'VE need not be afraid to tax them
II we lay taxes justly. They know the
war must be paid for and that 1t Is
they who must pay for 1t, and II the
burden Is justly distributed and the
sacrifice made, common sacrifice
from which none escapes who can bear
it ALL they will carry 1t cheerfully and
with sort of solemn pride.
Il always have been proud to be an
American and was never more proud
than now, when all that we have said
and all that we have foreseen about
our people is coming true. The great
days have come when the only thing
that they ask for or admire is duty
greatly and adequately done; when
their only wish for America is that
she may share the freedom she enjoys
when great, compelling sympathy
wells up in their hearts for men every
where who suffer and are oppressed
and when they see Mt least the high
uses for which their wealth has been
piled up and their mighty power ac-
cumulated and counting neither blood
nor treasure now that their final day
of opportunity has come, rejoice to
spend and to be spent through n long
night of suffering and terror In order
that they and men everywhere may
see the dawn of day of righteousness
and justice and peace.
The Western Drive.
shall we grow weary when they bid
us act?e
: May I add this word, gentlemen
Tucf a yJoq IaaysnU tho 4Vhf{o Eaupa