The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1918-03-21

ceediugiy limited. Ths bulk OF what
he has must b spent and used to-
productive purposes. just - would b
the case II 1t were spent BY the gov
eminent, with this difference. however.
that. generally speaking. the individual
IL more painstaking and discriminating
In the use of his funds and at the same
time holder, more imaginative. enter
prisine and constructive than the gov.
eminent with its necessarily bureau,
cratic and routine regime possibly
could be. Money in the hands Of the
individual Is continuously and fever
ishly on the search for opportunities
1. e.. for creative and productive use.
In the hands of the government it Is
apt to lose a good deal of its fructify-
ing energy and ceaseless striving and
to sink instead into placid and somno-
lent repose.
There need not be and there should
not be any conflict between profits
and patriotism. l am utterly opposed
to those who would utilize their coun.
try's war as a means to enrich them.
selves, The "war prof1teer," as the
term is generally understood, is pub
lie nuisance and an ignominy. Extor-
tionate profits must not be tolerated,
but. on the other hand, there should
be a reasonably liberal disposition to-
ward business and willingness to see
It make substantial earnings.
For, taxation presupposes earnings
Our credit structure Is based upon
values, and values are largely deter.
mined by earnings. Shrinkage of
values necessarily affects our capacity
to provide the government with the
sinews of war.
The CONSUMPTION Of Men.
Reverting now to the subject of the
CONSUMPTION of men, know l speak
the sentiment of all those beyond the
years of young manhood when I say
that there is not one of US worthy Of
the name of man who would not
willingly go to fight if the country
needed or wanted us to fight. But the
country does not want or call its en-
tire manhood to fight. 1t does not
even call anywhere near it's entire
young manhood. 1t has called or in
tends to call in the immediate future
perhaps % per cent. of its men be-
tween twenty and thirty years of age,
which means probably about a per
cent. of it's total male population of all
ages. But it has called from incomes,
business profits and other imposts fall
ing principally on the well to do, ap-
proximately ninety per cent. Of our
war taxation, not to mention the con-
tributions to the Red Cross, the Y NJ.
C. A. and other war relief activities
Let me add in passing that the chill.
dren of the we'll to do have been taken
for the war in proportionately greater
numbers than the children Of the poor,
because those young men who are need
ed at home to support dependents or to
maintain essential war industries are
exempted from the draft.
Our Laws Favor Sons Of the Poor.
The draft exemption regulations dis.
eliminate not, as in former wars, In
favor Of the rich mans son, but in
favor of the poor woman's son.
realize but too we'll that the burden
of the abnormally high cost Of living,
caused largely by the war, weighs heav.
lily indeed upon wage earners and still
more upon men and women with mod
crate salaries. l yield to no one in my
desire to see everything done that Is
practicable to have that burden light
ened. But excessive taxation on capital
will not accomplish that; on the con-
trary, it will tend to intensity the trou
BILE.
Taxation must be sound and wise
and scientific and cannot be laid in 8
haphazard way or on impulse or &C.
cording to considerations of politics,
otherwise the whole country will suffer.
History has shown over and over again
that the laws of economics cannot be
defied with impunity and that the re-
sulting penalty falls upon all sections
and classes.
The question of the individual is not
the one that counts. The question is
not what sacrifices capital should and
would be willing to bear If called upon,
but what taxes 1t is to the public ad.
vantage to impose.
do not say all this to plead for a
reduction of the taxation on wealth or
In order to urge that no additional
taxes be imposed on wealth if need be.
There is no limit to the burden which