The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1918-05-27
ASKS IMMEDIATE
CONSIDERATION
Continued from page 1.)

Continued from page 1.)
Excuses are unavaihng. 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 lasitude and fatigue seem
negligible enough. The facts are
tonid and suffice to freshen the Ia
Dor.
Revenues Needed.
And the facts are these: Addi-
tiona1 revenues must mantfestly be
provided for. 1t would be 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 greatly en-
larged budget to which we must
Immediately look forward. We can
not in fairness wait until the end OF
the fiscal year is at hand to ap-
prise our people Of the taxes they
must pay on their earnings for the
present calendar, whose acCountings
and expenditures will then be closed.
We cannot get increased taxes un-
less the country knows what they
are to be and practices the necessary
economy to make them available.
Defniteness, early definiteness, as to
what it's tasks are to be is absolute
ly necessary for the successful ad-
mintstration Of the treasury; 1t can
not frame fair and workable regula-
ttOns in haste; and it must frame its
regulations in haste if it is not to
know it's exact task until the very
eve OF its performance. The present
tax laws are marred, moreover, by
inequities which ought to be remed-
led. Indisputable facts, everyone;
and we cannot alter or blink them.
To state them is argument enough.
Loans Produce Initiation.
And yet perhaps you will permit
me to dwell for a moment upon the
situation they disclose. Enormous
loans freely spent in the stimulation
Of industry of almost every sort pro-
duce Invitations anad extravagances
which presently make the whole
economic structure questionable and
insecure and the very basis of credit
is cut away. Only fair, equdtably
cidence and drawing Chiefly from the
sources which would be likely to
demOraliZe credit by their very
abundance, can prevent initiation and
keep our industrial system free Of
speculation and waste. We shall
naturally turn, therefore, I suppose
to war profits and incomes and lux
uries for the additional taxes. But
the war profits and incomes upon
which the increased taxes will be
levied will be the profits and incomes
Of the calendar year 1913. 1t would
be manifestly unfair to wait until
the early months of 1919 to say what
they are to be. 1t might be difficult
should imagine to run the mill
with water that had already gone
over the wheel.
Moreover, taxes OF that sort will
not be paid until the June Of next
year and the treasury must anticipate
them. 1t must use the money they are
to produce before it is due. It must
sell short time certificates of indebt-
edness In the autumn a much larger
sale of long time bonds must be ef-
fected than has yet been attempted.
What are the bankers to think of
the certificates if they do not GER
tainly know where the money is to
come from which is to take them up ?
And how are investors to approach
the purchase of bonds with any sort
of confidence or knowledge Of their
own affairs If they do not know what
taxes they are to pay and what econ
omics and adjustments Of their bust
ness they must effect? / cannot as
sure the country OF successful ad-
Of the treasury in 1918
If the question of further taxation
is to be left undecided until 1919.
The Only Consideration.
"The consideration that dominates
every other now, and makes every
other seem trivial and negligible, is
the winning OF war; we are at the