The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-03-28

S'dlIS anu loullue regime pOSSiOly
could be-. Money in the hands of the
Individual is continuously and fever
ishly on the search for opportunities
l. 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 c~easeless 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 val Is a means to enrich them.
selves. The "war prof1teer," as the
term is generally understood, IL a 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 a 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. S%hrinkage' of
values necessarily affects our capacity
to provide the government with Tue
sinews of wal.
The Conscrlptlon Of Men.
Reverting now to the subject of the
consumption of men, 1 know / speak
the sentiment Of all those beyond the
years Of young manhood when l say
that there Is not one of us worthy of
the name Of q man who would not
willingly 60 to fight If the country
needed or wanted us to fight. But the
country does not want or call It's en-
tire manhood to fight. 1t does not
even call anywhere near its entire
young manhood. It has called or in
tends to call in the immediate future
perhaps rs per cent. of its men be-
tween twenty and thirty years of age,
which means probably about 4 per
cent. Of Its total male population of all
ages. But 1t has called from incomes,
business profits and other imposts fall.
tho nr{nniro11u an TIM xr,ol1 tn 10 -
proximately ninety per cent. Of our
war taxation, not to mention the con-
tributions to the Red Cross, the Y. II.
O. 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 propsrtlonateIy 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, a. In former wars, In
favor Of the rich mans son, but In
favor Of the poor woman's son.
realize but too well 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.lI yield to no one in my
desire to e everything done that ID
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 q
haphazard way or on impulse or ac1
cording to considerations Of politics,
otherwise the whole country will suffer.
History has shown. yer and ' again
that the laws Of economics cannot be
deded with impunity and that the re7
sulting penalty falls upon Ill sections
and classeA
The question Of the individual u not
the q that countA The question u
not what sacrifices capital should and
would be willing to bear II called upon,
but what taxes It Il 70 the public ad-
vantage to impose. i
l do not ray all this to plead for Z
reduction Of the taxation on wealth or
IN order to urge that no additional
taxes be imposed on wealth II need be.
There = no limit to the burden which
In time Of stress and strain those must
be willing to bear who q afford It ex-
cept only that limit which II imposed
By the consideration that TAXATION must
not roach = mint uhAra n hnainAna