The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-08-07


 it speaks in a firm resolution to stand against anything that .disturbs the vii tai principle. We hear it said that interpretations are unnecessary. That may be true, but they will at least be reassuring to many of our citizens, who feel that in signing the treaty there should be no mental reservations that are not expressed in plain words as a matter of good faith to our associates. Such interpretations possess the fur ther virtue of supplying a base upon which agreemen can be reached, and agreement, without injury to the cov- enant, is now of pressing importance. It was the desire to get things started, that prompted some members of the senate to vote for the Lodge reser- vations Those who conscientiously voted for them in the final roll calls realized however that they acted un- der duress, in that a politically bigot- ed minority was exercising the arbi- trary power of it's position to enforce drastic conditions. Happily the voters of the republic, under our system of government, can remedy that situa- tion and I have the faith that they will, at the election this fall. Then organized government will be enabled to combine impulse and facility in the making of better world conditions. The agencies of exchange will auto matically adjust themselxes to the op- portunities of commercial freedom. New life and renewed hope will take hold of every nation Mankind will press a resolute shoulder to the task of reaujustment, and a new era will have dawned upon the earth.
 We have domestic problems to be settled. They are most pressing 1 t- ~f I1~ war will not and should not continue. 1 for our best energy, ingenuity. unself- l ishness and devotion to the idea that 1 it is the general welfare we must promote. One of the first things to 1 be done is the repeal of war taxes. The entry of America into the world war projected our people into an un- para1leled financial emergency, which
 was faced with a determination to 1 make every sacrifice necessary to victory. Billions in liberty loans sub- scribed by patriots regardless Of thei1 financial condition were instantly | placed at the disposal of the govern 1 ment, and other billions were gladly 1 paid into the treasury through many i forms of taxation. To have paid by l current taxes more than one-third o1 l the expense of the greatest war iI 1 the history of mankind, is a reflection I on the high sense of national duty | with which we of America view the obligations of this generation. I'm. 1 meufately following the armistice
 measures to modify onerous and an
 moving taxation should have beer
 taken and the Republican congress ir
 which all tax laws must originate ! and which for almost two years ha: , exclusively held the power to ameI | forate this condition, has not made
 a single effort or passed single law | to lift from the American people (
 load of war taxation that cannot b,
 tolerated in a time of peace. Fedora ! taxation must be heavily reduced
 and 1t will be done at once, if a Dem ocrat1c administration is chosen il
 November. Without hampering es
 sential national administrative de partments, by the elimination of al
 others and strict economy everywhere
 national taxes can be reuuced in ex
 cess Of two billion dollars yearly. An l noy1ng consumption taxes once will
 ingly borne, now unjustrfied, shouI,
 be repealed. The incomes rom war
 made fortunes, those of non-produc
 CTS and those derived from industrie
 that exist by unfair privilege may b.
 able to carry their present load, bu
 
 earner, of the sa1aried and profes sionaI man, of the agricultural produc
 CT and of the small tradesman shoul , be sharply modified. I believe tha
 a better form of taxa ton than the so
 called excess profits tax may be foun1 and I suggest a small tax, probabI , one to one and one-half per cent O, the total business of every going con
 cern. It is to be understood that tn term "business'' as used does not in
 clude income received by wage-earn , CTS, sa1aried men, agriculturists an , the small business man who should b , ! exempt from this tax. The profitee and some of the highly capitalize units have used the excess profits ta f as a favorite excuse for loading O , the consumer by means of highly in , l Hated selling prices many times tn amount actually paid the governmen f A necessary condition to the nationa
 contentrent and sound business is
 just proportion between fair profit f to business and fair prices to the cer
 sumer. It is unquestioned that eth
 enormous expansion of public an 8 private credit made necessary as part of war financing. the dfversio f of the products of many fndustrie e from their usual chan1els. as we'll a e the disturbance to general bushes v caused by the withdrawal of million e of men from producing fields, all cor : tributed to the rise in prices Reve1 e | sion of these various agencies to - more stable condition will tend tc :. ward recession in the enorm ousl e inflated present prices of many con e modities and property values an n there are now evidences that a sar
 adjustment is not far distant Dee ' patriotic sentiment enthraI1ed ol t people during the war and slight a = tention was given to the enormol = economic changes that we're then V progress and when observed thes d changes were generally accepted { j. one of the trials necessary to be e, h dured and they were submerged e the thought and purpose for victor h i While millions of free men, regardle e a of wealth or condition. were givir J. of their blood and substance, mar e 1 corporations and men seized the vel . hour that civilization lay prostrate -. 1 Sec11re for