Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1919-05-22
products and money will teach them
to deem us friends whose necessities
we seek in the right way to serve.


we seek in the right way to serve.
"Our new merchant ships, which.
have in some quarters been feared as
destructive rivals, may prove help
full rivals, rather, and comomn serv-
ants very much needed and very well
come. Our great shipyards will be
opened to the use of the world, so
that they will prove immensely serv-
iceable to every maritime people in.
restoring tonnage wantonly destroyed
in the war.
There are many places at which
we can facilitate American enter,
prise in foreign trade by opportune
legislation, and make 1t easy for
American merchants to- go where
they will be welcome as friends,
rather than as dreaded antagonists.
America has great and honorable
service to perform in bringing the
commercial and industrial under
takfngs 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.
Credit and enterprise will be
quickened by timely, helpful legisla-
ton with regard to taxation. l hope
congress will undertake early recon
sideration of federal taxes, 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 yet
support the government and meet all
it's obligations. The figures to which
those obligations have risen are very
great, but not so great as tn make it
difficult for the nation to. meet them,
perhaps. in a single generation, by
taxes which will neither crush nor
discourage.
These are not so great as the i'm
mense sums we have had to borrow,
added to the immense sums we have
to raise by taxation, would seem to
| Indicate; for very large proportion
of those sums We're. loaned to govern
ments with which we are associated
| in the war. and those loans consti-
| tute assets not liabilities. and will mot
have to be taken care of by our tax
payers.
THE main thing we shall have to
care for is. that our taxation shall
rest as lightly as possible on the pro-
| ductive resources of the country, that
| its rates shall be stable and that it
shall be constant in it's revenue
| yielding power.
I'VE have found the main sources
from which it must be drawn. / take
| it for granted that its mainstays will
henceforth be the income tax, the eN-
ces profits tax, and the estate tax.
All these can be SO adjusted to yield
constant and adequate returns and
| vet not constitute too grievous bur-
4 den on the taxpayer
"a revision of the income tax has
already been provided for by the act
of 1913. but further changes can be
made to advantage both in the rates
Iof the tax and in the method of It's
collection.
THE. excess profits tax need not
long be maintained at the rates nee
essary while enormous expenses nf
the war had to be borne; but it
should be made the basis of perma-
nent system which will reach undue
profits without discouraging the enter
prise and activity of our business men.
"The tax on Inheritance ought to
be reconsidered in it's relation to the
fiscal systems of the several states,
but it certainly ought to remain a
permanent part of the fiscal system
of the federal government also.
Many minor taxes provided for in
revenue legislation of 1917 and 1918
can now happily be gotten rid Of.
Among these are excises upon man
ufacturers and taxes upon retail
sales. They are unequal and their
collection is difficult and expensive.
Those levied upon articles sold at re-
l tail are largely evaded by readjust-
ment Of retail prices.
'T assume it is expedient to main
tain considerable range of indirect
| taxes: and the fact that alcoholic
liquors presently will no longer af-
ford a source of revenue, makes it
more necessary that equivalent
sources of revenue be found You
have at hand in the treasury depart
ment. many experts who can advise
you upon the matters much better
than can. l can only suggest the
lines of permanent workable sys-
TEN. and the placing of the taxes
where they will least hamper the life
of the people.
"There is. fortunately, no occa-
sion for undertaking in the imme-
diate future any general revision of
our system of import duties. No
serious danger Of foreign competition
now threatens 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 manu-
facture. Their industrial establish
pents have been subjected to great
er strain than ours, their labor forced
to more serious disorganization, and
this is not the time to seek organized
advantage.
"The work of mere reconstruction
will, am afraid tax the capacity
and the resources of their people for
years to come. So far from there
being any danger or need Of accen-
tuated foreign competition, it is likely
| that the conditions of the next few
years will greatly facilitate the mar
keting of American manufactures
abroad.
Least nf all should we depart
from the policy adopted in the tariff
act of 1913. of permitting the free
1 entry into the United States of the
raw materials needed to supplement
and enrich our own abundant supplies.
Nevertheless, there are parts of
our tariff system which need prompt
attention. In some cases toe great
reliance of foreign supply is danger
GUS hnd domestic considerations
must be borne in mind which are po-
litical as we'll as economical. Among
industries to which special considera-
hand here. provided the motor was i1
working condition.
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