The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-05-28
WILSON URGES
HIGHER TAX
He Tells Congress to Pass
Law Now.
POLITICS MUST ADJOURN
Higher Excess Profits Levies to End
Gougine-Ineomes, Industries and
ports.

Washington, May 2S.-As the Ger
| man cannon were laundering theil
herald of renewed offensive on the
western battle front, President Will
| son appeared unexpectedly before con
gress.
He demanded that, laying political
| considerations and all others aside, il
| remain in session until it has enact
ed new war tax laws to finance the
growing cost of the war and prepare
| the country for the burden it must
| bear.
The president made no specific re
commentator in his address for ap
| portionment of bonds and taxes. it was
learned authOritatively that in the pro
| pOsal he recently advanced as the ba
sis for an agreen. TO postpone legs
lation. he sugge approximately II
per cent be raiseA Dy taxation
This, it was said, was the stumbling
block which prevented an agreement
Republicans leaders refused to sub
scribe to any fixed apportionment.
President Wilson in his address
said:
Gentlemen of the Congress: 1t is
| with unaffected reluctance that I CONF
| to ask you to prOlOng your session
long enough TO provide more adequate
| resources for the treasury for the con
| duct of the war. | have r = 90 ap
preciate as fully as you do how ardu
! Gus the session has been. Your labors
have been severe and protracted.
You have passed a long series OF
measures which required the debate
of, many doubtful questions of iudg-
! ment. and many exceedingly difficult
questions of prin gple as well as OF
practice. The summer is upon us in
which labor and counsel are twice
arduOuS and are constantly apt to be
impaired by laSsitude and fatigue
The elections are ct hand and we
ought as soon as possible to go and
render an intimate account Of our
trusteeship to the people who delegat-
ed us to act for them in the weighty
and anxious matters that crowd upon
US in these days of critical choice AMI
action. But we dare not go to the
elections until we have done our du.
ty to the full.
These are DAYS when duty stands
StbIh dIu ldhtti. anu even WIFI CloS-
ed eyes we know it is therG.~ Excuses
are unavailing. We have either done
our duty or we have not The fact
will be as gross and plain as the duty
itself
In such case. lassitude and fatigue
seem negligible enough. The facts are
tonic and suffice to freshen the labor
And the facts are these: Additional
revenues must manifeStly be provided
I ho 11nc ax-
to raise too large proportion of them
by loan. and it is evident that the four
billions now nrovided for by taxation
will not of themselves sustain the
greatly enlarged budget to which we
must immediately look forward
We cannot in fairness waiit-sl1Tf n TIE
end of the fiscal year is NJ hand To
appraise our people of the taxes they
must pay on their earnings of fhe
present calendar wear. whose aeeOunt-
ings and expenditures will then be
closed
We cannot get increased taxes un-
less the country knows what they are
to he and practices the necessary
economy to make them available Def
niteneSS,. early detiniteness. as TO what
Its tasks are to be is absolutely neceS-
sary for the successful administration
of the treasury: ii cannot frame fair
and it must frame its regulations in
haste If 1t is not to know its exact
task until the very eve of its perform
ance
The present tax laws are MARRIED
moreover, nv ineuuities which ought to
be remedied. IndiSputable facts. every
one: and we cannot alter or blink
them. To state them is argument
enough.
ApS x-at ,,arbapc var, will ,,orra;f N, q
to dwell for moment upon the stu
alton they disclose. Enormous loans
freely spent in the stimulation of in
duStry of almost every sort produce
| mutations and eXtravaganceS which
presently make the whole economic
structure questionable and insecure
and the very basis of credit is cut
away.
Only fair, equitahly distributed tax
alton of the widest incidence and
| drawing chiefly from the sources
| which would be likely to demoraliZe
| credit by their very abundance. can
prevent imitation and keep our indus
trial system free of imitation and
! waste.
We shall naturally turn, therefore
| suppose, to wa Z otits and incomes
and luxuries for the additional taxes
But the war profits and incomes upon
| which the increased taxes will be
| levied WI be the profits and incomes
of the c:trndar year 1918. 1t will be
manifesfly unfair to wait until the
early months Of 1919 to say what they
are to be. 1t might be difficult.
should imagine - run the mill with
! water that had already gone over the
| wheel
Moreover. taxes of thar sort will moi
be paid until the June of next year
and the treasury must anti( Sate them
! It must use the money they are &
produce before it is due. 1t must sci
short time certificates OF Indebtedness
| In the autumn much larger sale OF
| long time bonds must be effected thar
has vet been attempted WNat are the
| bankers to think of the Certificate:
| Il they do not certainly know where
the money Is to come from which is tc
| take them up? And how are investors
to approach the purchase Of bond.