Gilpin observer., 1919-05-22

as lightly as possible on the productive
resources of the country, that it's
rates shall be stable and that 1t shall
be constant in its revenue yielding
power. We have found the main
sources from which it must be drawn.
take 1t for granted that its main
stays will henceforth be the income
tax, the excess profits tax and the es-
tate tax. All these can be so adjusted
as to yield constant and adequate re-
turns and yet not constitute a too
grievous burden on the taxpayer.
The tax on inheritanceS ought, no
doubt, to be recOnsidered in its rela-
tiOn to the fiscal systems of the sever
al states, but it certainly ought to re-
main 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 1913, though no doubt made neces-
sary by the pressing necessities of war
time, could hardly find sufficient
justification under the easier circum-
stances of peace and can now happily
be got rid of. Among these, hope you
will agree, are the excises upon vari-
GUS manufacturers and the taxes upon
retail sales. They are unequal in the
incidence on different industries and
on different individuals. Their collec-
tion is difficult and expensive.
There is, fortunately, no occasion
for undertaking in the immediate fu-
ture any general revision of our sys-
TEN of import duties. No serious dan
ger of foreign competition now threat
ems American industries Our country
has emerged from the war less dis
turbed and less weakened than any of
the European countries which are our
competitors in manufacture. Their in
dustrial establishments have been SUBJ
jected to greater strain than ours,
their labor force to q more serious dis
organization 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 resources of their people for years
to come.
Among the industries to which spe-
cial consideration should be given is
that of the manufacture of dyestuffs
and related chemicals.
Our complete dependence upon
German supplies before the war made
the interruption of trade a cause of
exceptional economic disturbance The
close relation between the manufac-
| turer of dyestuffs on the one hand
and of explosives and poisonous gases
on the other, moreover, has given the
industry an exceptional significance
and value.
"The United States should, more
over, have the means of properly pro-
tecting itself whenever our trade is
Disseminated against by foreign ma
tiOnS, in order that we may be assured
of that equality Of treatment which we
hope to accord and to promote the
world over. Our tariff laws as they
now stand provide no weapon of re-
taliation in case other governments
should enact legislation unequal in its
bearing on our products as compared
with the products of other nations.
Though we are as far as possible from
desiring to enter upon any course of
retaliation, we must frankly face the
fact that hostile legislation by other
nations is not beyond the range of pos
sibility and that it may have to be
met by counter legislation.
Will you not permit me, turning
from these matters, to speak once
more and very earnestly of the pro-
posed amendment to the constitution
which would extend the suffrage to
women and which passed the House
of Representatives at the last session
of the Congress? 1t seems to me
and of public advantage calls for the
immediate adoption of that amend
ment and its submission forthwith to
the Legislatures of the several
4 states.
i THE telegraph and telephone
lines will, of course. be returned to
their owners so soon as the retrans-
fer can be effected without admin
istrative confusion; so soon, that 10,
as the change can be made with
least possible inconvenience to the
public and to the owners themselves.
The railroads will be handed over
to their owners at the end of the cal
endar year. If ! were in immediate
contact with the administrative
questions which must govern the re-
transfer of the telegraph and tele-
phone lines / could name the exact
date for their return also.
i. Until l am in direct contact with
the practical questions involved l can
only suggest that in the case of the
telegraphs and telephones, as in the
case of the railways. IL is clearly de-
sirable in the public interest that some
!, legislation should be considered which
may tend to make of these indispensa-
BILE instrumentalities of our modern
life u uniform and co-ordinated sys-
tenn which will afford those who use
them as complete and certain means
of communication with all parts of the
country as has so long been afforded
by the postal system of the govern
ment and at rates as uniform and in
telligible. Expert advice is, of course,
, available In this very practical matter,
and the public interest Is manifest.
l The rehabilitation of the military
forces of the country has progressed
r TO such point that 1t seems to me
entirely safe now to remove the ban
/ upon the manufacture and sale of