, 1918-06-06
Asked BY PRESIDENT WILSON
IN ADDRESS BEFORE JOINT
SESSION OF CONGRESS.
TO LEVY TAXES AT ONCE
Would Place Burden Of Struggle on
Large Incomes, War Profits and
luxurles, and Declares Amer
lea's Great Opportunity
10 at Hand.
Western Newspaper Union News Service.

Western Newspaper Union News servics.
Washington. May 2S.-Fresident
wilson personally took charge of the
war tax legislation Monday, and ap-
pearing unexpectedly. before a Joint
session Of Congress, declared 1t was
necessary to proceed Immediately with
new war tax laws.
The Presidents address In full fol
lows:
"Gentlemen of the Congress:
1t is with unaffected reluctance
that l come to ask you to prolong
your session long enough to provide
more adequate resources for the treas
ury Tor the conduct of the war. l
nave reason to appreciate as fully as
you do how arduous the session has
boen. Your labors have been severe
and p~rotracted.
You have passed a long series Of
measures which required the debate
OF many doubtful questions of judg-
ment n many exceedingly difficult
questions Of principle as well as Of
practice. The summer is upon US in
which labor and counsel are twice ar
duous and are constantly apt to be
impaired by lassitude and fatigue.
THE elections are at hand, and we
ought as soon as possible to 60 and
render an intimate account Of our
trusteeship to the people who dele
gated us to act for them in the
wefEhty and anxious matters that
crowd upon US in these days Of criti-
cal choice and action.
Must Do Our Duty.
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 wo know it is there. Excuses
are unavaIIing. 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 lassituds and
fatigue seem negligible enough. The
facts are tonic and suffice to frsshen
the labor.
: And the facts are these: Addi-
tional revenues must manifestly be
provided for. It would be a most I'M
sound policy to raise too large q pro-
dent that the -four billions now pro-
vA0CQ koA ny lAAdlkon Will NV VI .
selves sustain the greatly enlarged
ly look forward.
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 calendar year., whose account
ings and expenditures will then be
closed. We cannot get increased
taxes unless the country knows what
they are to DO and practices the
necessary economy to make them
available.
"Definiteness, early definitensss a
to what its tasks are to be is abso-
lutely necessary for the successful ad-
m~inistration Of the treasury; 1t can
not frame fair and workable regulA-
tons in haste; and 1t must frame its
regulations In haste IL 1t Is not to
know its exact task until the very eve
of its performance. The present tax
laws are marred, moreover, by in
equities which ought to be remedied.
In~disputable facts, every one; and we
cannot alter or blink them. To state
them is argument enough.
Warns Against Speculation and Waste.
And yet perhaps you will permit
me to dwell for q moment upon the
situation they disclose. Enormous
loans freely spent in the stimulation
Of industry Of almost every sort pro
duce mutations and extravagances
which presently make the whole eoo
nomic structure questionable and In
secure and the very basis of credit
is cut away. Only fair. eQuitably dis
tributed taxation of the widest incl
dence and drawing chiefly from the
sources which would be likely to de
moralise credit by their very abund-
ance. can prevent initiation and keep
our industrial system free of specula-
ton and waste.
I'VE shall naturally turn, therefore,
I suppose. to war profits and incomes
and luxuries for the additional taxes.
which the increased taxes will be
levied will be the profits INT incomes
of the calendar year 1918. Il would
be manifestly unfair to wait until the
early months Of 1919 to say what
they are to be. It might be difficult.
I should imagine to run the mill with
water that had already gone over the
wheel.
not be paid until the June OF next
and the treasury must anticipate
them. II must use the money they
are to produce before 1t is due. 1t
must sell short time certificates OF
Indebtedness.
"In the autumn, q much larger sale
of long time bonds must be effected
than has yet been attempted. What
are the bankers TO think Of the cer-
.tffioates II they do not certainly know
where the money IL to come from
which IL to take them up? And how
are investors to approach the pur
chase Of bonds with any sort of com
fidsnce or knowledge Of their W a.
fairs II they do not know what taxes
they are to pay and what economies