The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-02-18
SOLID SENSE
Representative Dies of Texas Advises
Congress and the People to
be Reasonable

Following a comgnendation of Pres
ident Wilson's course at Paris by
Meyer London. socialist member of
Congress from New York, Martin
Dies, democratic member of Congress
! from Texas, about to retire voluntar-
| lily from public life, spoke In the
House as follows:
Mr.. Chairman, as nearly az / can
make out, the complaint of my social
! ist friend from New York (Mr. Lon
| dcn) is that the world has not re-
! pealed the law of human nature.
had not expected that to occur. The
discussions of the chairman of the
committee on naval affairs on this
floor rather disclosed the fact that
that imaginary happening is not ex-
pected to be fact, because he said
we need the enactment of this naval
program, which, I may say, is the
1 largest in the history of the world,
because we want to go into the league
of nations with bigger stick than
anybody else has who comes into the
League.
That Isl very commendable thing,
OF course. TO go in with better army
than the other folks. Naturally Great
Britain cherishes the same desire;
likewise Italy and France.
But did not rise to talk about that
phase of the naval appropriation bill.
/ | have been under no delusion. All
these phrases and nebulous speeches
here and elsewhere have not deceived
me- know all the while that human
nature is just now what is has always
been, and will probably remain so un-
til the end of time. Nor do 7 SYM
pathize with the defense of the presi-
dent by the. socialist member from
New York I know he is an interna-
tionalist. I am an American.
A Selfish American
/ am selfish American. believe
in my country. and want to promote
its prosperity and its glory, | say with
the poet:
This is my home, my native land"
And all of this international social
istic, maudlin sentiment that is being
propagated over the world is childish.
and academic. It is the spawn of those
philosophers who learn human ma
ture on the fifth story and not of those
who have learned it from fiesh-and-
/ blood men. The point want TO in
qllire about is this: Who knows where
we are going to get all the money to
respond to all these cablegrams and
all of these schemes and chimerical
propositions for the uplift of man.
kind? Every cabinet minister is busy
with pencil and pad of paper showing
how he could spend hundreds of mill
lions of dollars TO raise mankind to a
state of bliss and the head OF every
department and every committee is
working overtime devising ways and
means to spend sums of money which
less than decade ago were regarded
as colossal expenditures. Now, it is
| the building of homes for the poor.
Now it is the purchase of lands for
the homeless. Now it is railroads.
Now it is telephones. Now it is an
expenditure for the navy of the
United States which, / am told, ex-
ceeds the expenditure of Germany,
England and France for almost a
decade before the war Where are all
these millions and billions coming
from? Now. let me tell you. under
stand every eleventh man in the
United States pays an income tax. ]
am reliably informed that that is
practically the entire source of our
income, looking to the future. We
will have no more whisky tax; we will
have no great tariff tax of conse-
qnence, for it has dropped to $780,
COO, 900 in the last fiscal year. I am
told you are going to get it by the in
come tax. That is where you will ger
the money to build this navy. Now,
| my friends. there are many hard
headed business men here, and I SUBJ
nit to you gentlemen you must do
your own thinking about this ques-
ticn. Where are you going to get the
| billions TO do these numerous things?
| believe we have per capita circu-
lation of about $55. That would
make a total of $3.50, 100000 But
what is S5,550, 100000, considering
the activities of the government of
the United States Are you going to
take every dollar there is in the
United States out of the pockets of
tie people every six months? Why,
you ought at least to allow it to go
! hack into their pockets again and let
them feel of it three or four times be-
fore you take it away again.
Now, here is what you are going to
do: You take an income tax from eve
Iy eleventh man, and you buy little
boat or a little railroad, or build a
little house for the poor. or something
else, and the other ten fellows say:
THAT looks to me like pretty good
/ business" Of course, the eleventh
fellow feels badly about it; but natu-
rally, as long as these incomes hold
cut, you are going to have every sort
OF paternalist suggestion. You are
Il going to have soicalistic doctrines and
government ownership preached from
levery rostvum. You are going TO have