The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1919-05-23

in some quarters been feared as de-
structive rivals, may prove helpful III
walls rather, and common servants very
much needed and very welcome. Our
great shipyards, new and old, will be
opened to the use of the world, so that
they will prove immensely serviceable
to every maritime people in restoring,
much more rapidly than would other
wise have been possible, the tonnage
wantonly destroyed in the war.
have only to suggest that there are
many points at which we can facili-
tate American enterprise in foreign
trade by opportune legislation and
make it easy for American merchants
to go where they will be welcomed as
friends rather than as dreaded antag-
onists. America has great and hon.
orable service to perform in bringing
the commercial and Industrial under
takings r. the world back to their old
scope and swing again and putting
solid structure of credit under them.
All our legislation should be friendly
to such plans and purposes.
And credit and enterprise alike will
be quickened by timely and helpful
legislation with regard to taxation.
hope that the congress will find it pos
sible to undertake an early reconsid-
Grafton of federal taxes, in order to
make our system of taxation more SIM
pie and easy of administration and the
taxes themselves as little burdensome
as they can be made and yet suffice to
support the government and meet all
it's obligations. The figures to which
those obligations have arisen are very
great, indeed, but they are not so great
as to make it difficult for the nation to
meet them, and meet them, perhaps, in
single generation by taxes which will
neither crush nor discourage. These
are not SO great as they seem, not so
great as the immense sums we have
had to borrow, added to the immense
sums we have had to raise by taxation,
would seem to indicate; for a very
large proportion of those sums were
raised in order that they might be
loaned to the governments with which
we are associated in the war and those
loans, of course, constitute assets, not
liabilities, and will not have to be
taken care by the taxpayers.
For Noninjurious Taxes.
The main thing we shall have to care
for is that our taxation shall rest as
lightly as possible on the productive
resources of the country, that its rates
shall be stable and that it shall be con-
slant in it's revenue yielding power.
We have found the main sources from
which it must be. drawn, 1 take it for
granted that it's mainstays henceforth
will be the income tax, the excess
profits tax and the estate tax. All
these can be so adjusted to yield con-
slant and adequate returns and yet
not constitute too grievous burden on
the taxpayer. A revision of the in
come tax already has been provided
for by the act of 1918, but l think you
will find that further changes can be
made to advantage both in the rates
of the tax and in the method of it's
collection. The excess profits tax need
not long be maintained at the rates
which were necessary while the enor-
nous expenses of the war had to be
borne, but it should be made the basis
of permanent system which will
reach undue profits without discourag-
ing the enterprise and activity of our
businessmen. The tax on inheritances
ought, no doubt, to be considered in
relation to fiscal system of the several
states, but it certainly ought to re-
main a permanent part of the fiscal
system of the federal government also.
Many of the minor taxes provided
for in the revenue legislation of 1917
and 1918, though no doubt made neces-
sary by the pressing necessities of the
wartime hardly can find sufficient justi-
fication under the easier circumstances
of peace and can now happily be got
rid Of Among these, I hope you will
agree, are the excuses upon various
manufacturers and the taxes upon re-
tail sales. They are unequal in the
incidence on different industries and
on different individuals. Their collec-
ton is difficult and expensive. Those
which are levied upon articles sold at
retail are largely evaded by the read
justment of retail prices. On the other
hand, should assume that it is ex-
pedient to maintain a considerable
range of indirect taxes; and the fact
that alcoholic liquors will presently no
longer afford source of revenue by
taxation makes it the more necessary
that the field should be carefully re-
established in order that equivalent
sources of revenue may be found
which will be legitimate, and not bur-
deHsome, to draw upon. But you have
at hand in the treasury department
many experts who can advise you upon
the matters much better than 1 can.
can only suggest the lines of per-
manent and workable system, and the
placing of the taxes where they will
least hamper the life of the people.
Foreign Rivals Weaker.
There is, fortunately, no occasion for
undertaking in the immediate future
any general revision of our system of
import duties. No serious danger of
foreign competition now threatens
American industries. Our country has
SAhSASOo AioLa IAO Wal 1883
and less weakened than any of the
European countries which are our COM
petitors in manufacture. Their indus
trial establishments have been subject
ed to greater strain than ours, their
labor force to a more serious disor-
ganization and this is clearly not the
time to seek an organized advantage
The work of mere reconstruction will,
l am afraid, tax the capacity and the
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