New-York tribune., 1918-09-07
revenue rs!s it was absolutely necessary to

raise. AseeoaAy W
Second--To place the burden Of tax
aelon as equally and as equitably az
Th.rd-To get a bill that would boyo
the APPROVAL and the cooperation Of the
administration and of the Treasury
Departments
ihese three objectives had been OBJ
tained by the twenty three members of
sne comm'ttee working together con-
scient,ously and perseveringly without
n;ny thought of Democracy or Repub-
,'e"mlsm: , ..is mere was no partisanship,
no "partyism"--it was ali natriot;sn,
1t was impossible to tell from tho com.
n,Vtee votes on proposition after
pn4pos'''on who were the Republicans
ana who the Democratic members,
Marks Epoch in History
Thus with unanimity they had re-
ported revenue bill "that marks an
epoch in the history Of the world" a
piii that calls for twice as much money
as was ever raised before in all his
tory, twice as much as the combined
ioans and taxes Of the Union in the
entire Civil War. three times as much
as their gold value and two and n half
''mes as much as the combined taxes
OF the North and the South in that
war The $s,0OO.00O,O0O called for bv
the present bill were $4,000 900 900
more than the aggregate revenues Of
an Europe, and all the American ma
'ons south of the United States be-
fore the war. W.
and so great and wealthy and
SVrong is this magnificent country of
ours he continued, "that we can ra;sn
enese eight billions without DESTROYING
o' running, or even crippling, a single
industry or financially embarrassing q
single individual. The contemplation OF
'hls fact stimulates the Imagination
ana qulckens the vision of all patriots.
II shows to the world that we are fixed
~ ana ltrevocably determined, come
~nat may, to carry on our great task
ol war until 1t is completely and ever
lastlngly finished 1t is another demon
stration to the pondering thought and
Wondering admiration Of mankind of
,he qulckenlng change in this mighty
hatIon or ours from peace to war"
Mr kltchln proceeded then to defend
ehe SIZE OF the tax burden it was pro
posed to. place on the country. He
showed that. including bonds and war
savings stamps and certificates author
lzed, the first eighteen months of the
war would add $4,000 100000 to the
l.
lures tor the current fiscal wear could
not be less than $4,000 ,0OO 900. The
interest on that debt alone would be
SoUu u,O00,O0O more than the whole of tho
hauon's annual expenditures before the
war.
Not for Posterity to Pay
II the war should last until June so,
1920, the loans would aggregate fortv
billions. We were spending twice as
much as any other nation engaged in
the war
Confronted by such obligations, Mr.
kltchin said it was his Judgment that
not ~ per cent or 25 per cent or 33 Is
per cent Of the war bill should be paid
by current taxes, but that all of it
should be so paid were that possible,
and that the limit of taxation should
be only the impossible.
making posterity bear the burden. he
said ,posterity would have its own
troubles and perhaps its own wars to
deal with
&C! predict" he said. chat never again
viii this. government get along for a
single year with less than 81 ,OOO, 900 900
OF expenditures. Even if the war should
end next June, we will have an annual
interest charge of 81 1000 900. We
slaii never speHu less IMAM %l ,UUU,UUU,-
/ 900 a year on the army and navy. as
the former will be force of not less
than 100000 or 100000, and even if the
navy were not larger than the scale of
expansion decided upon before the
war. it would be large enough to make
up s1,000,000,00O. Military insurance
and compensation would be another
81 900 100000. Then there would be
the great ordinary expenditures of gov
ernment. which would never be so little
as they were bfor the war;
In the midst of war prosperity the
country was better able 70 stand huge
taxes than it would be in the hard
times that would inevitably follow the
war The time to raise all the money
possible was now. when there was 50