Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1919-05-22

|
be done. in at least one very grea
field, by creating new opportunitie
for individual enterprise. The secre
tary OF the interior has pointed on
the way by which returning soldier
may be helped to find and take u
land in the hitherto undeveioped re
gions OF the country which the fed
eral government has already prepares
and will readily prepare for cultiva
ton.
;. Peculiar and very stimulating condi
tions await our commerce. and indus
try and enterprise In the immediate
future. Unusual opportunities will
presently present themselves to our
merchants and producers in foreign
markets and large fields for profitable
investment will be opened to our free
capital. But it is not only Of that that
am thinking. Many great in.
dustries Frustrated by the war wait
to be rehabilitated, in many parts OF
the world where what will be lacking
is not brains or willing hands or or.
ganizing capacity or experienced skill,
but machinery and raw materials and
capital.
Our new merchant ships, which
have in some quarters been feared as
destructive rivals, may prove helpful
rivals, 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
and they will prove immensely serv-
iceable to every maritime people in
restoring, much more rapidly than
would otherwise have been possible,
the tonnage wantonly destroyed in the
| war.
America has great and honorable
service to perform in bringing the
commercial and industrial undertake
ings Of the world back to their old
| scope and swing again. and putting a
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. I
hope that the congress will find 1t
possible to undertake an early recon
sideration of federal taxes in order
to make our system of taxation more
simple and easy Of administration and
the taxes themselves as little burden
some as they. can be made and vet
sufficient to support the government
and meet all its obligations.
The main thing we shall have to
care for is that our taxation shall rest
as lightly as possible on the produc-
tive resources of the country, that its
rates shall be stable, and that it shall
be constant in its revenue yielding
power We have found the main
sources from which it must be drawn.
I take it for granted that it's main
stays will henceforth be the income
tax. All these can be so adjusted as
TO yield constant and adequate re-
turn and yet not constitute too griev-
GUS burden on the tax payers.
Many of the minor taxes provided
for in the revenue legisls ton Of 1917
and 1913, though no doubt made nee
essary by the pressing necessities Of
the war time. can hardly find suffi-
Gent Justification under the easier cir
cumstances Of peace and can now hap
PLY be got rid Of. Among these,
hope you will agree, are the excuses
upon various manufacturers and the
taxes upon retail sales. They are un-
equal in the incidence on different in
dustries and on different individuals.
Their collection is difficult and expen.
sive. Those which are levied upon ar
ticles sold at retail are largely evaded
by the readjustment of the retail
prices. On the other hard, I should
assume that it is expedient to main
tain considerable range of indirect
taxes; and the fact that alcoholic
liquors will presently ne longer afford
a source Of revenue by taxation makes
1t the more necessary that the field
should be carefully restudied in order
that equivalent sources Of revenue
may be found whish it will be legiti-
mate aud not burdrnsome to draw
upon.
There is, fortunately, no occasion
for undertaking in the immediate fu-
ture any general revision Of our sys-
tenn Of import duties. No serious
danger of foreign competition now
threaters American industries. Our
country has emerged from the war
less disturbed and less weakened than
any Of the European countries, which
are our competitors in manufacture.
Their Industrial establishments have
been subjected to greater strain than
ours, their labor force to a more seri-
Gus disorganization and this is clearly
not the time to seek an organized ad-
vantage. Least of all should we de-
part from the policy adopted in the
tariff act Of 1918, Of permitting the
free entry into the United States Of
the raw materials needed to supple.
ment and enrich our own abundant
supplies.