Republican farmer., 1920-07-09

greatest war of all time. The treas ury wisely insisted during the war upon meeting an adequate portion of the war expenditure from current taxes and the bulk of the balance from popular loans, and during the first full fiscal year after fighting stopped, upon meeting current ex- peDdftures from current receipts not withstanding the new and unneces- sary burdens thrown upon the treas ury by the delay, obstruction and 'extrava gance of Republican con gress.
 The non-partisan federal reserve authorities have been wholly free of political interference !or motive; and in their own time and their own way have used courageously, though eau tiously the instruments at their dis posal to prevent undue expansion of credit in the country. As a result of these sound treasury and federal reserve policies. the inevitable war imitation has been held down to 9 minimum and the cost of living has been prevented from increasing here in proportion to the increase in oth- CT belligerent countries and in neu- tral countries which are in close contact with the worlds commerce and exchanges.
 After a year and a half of fighting in Europe and despite another year and a half of Republican obstruction at home, the credit of the govern ment of the T. S, stands uninlpa:r- unit of value throughout all the world and the United States Is the one great country in the world which maintains a free gold market.
 We condemn the attempt of the Republican party to deprive the American people of their legitimate pride in the financing of the war-an achievement without parallel in the financial history of this or any other country, in this or any other war. And in particular we condemn the pernfcious attempt of the Republican party to create discontent among the holders of the bonds of the govern ment of the United States and to drag our public finance and our banking, and currency system back into the arena of party politics.
 Tax Revision.
 We condemn the failure of the present Congress to respond to the oft-repeated demand of the President and the secretaries of the treasury to revise the existing tax laws. The con- unuance in force in peace times of taxes devised under pressure of i'm perative necessity to produce a reve- nue for war purposes is indefensible and can only result in lasting injury to the people. The Republican Con- gress consistently failed, through sheer political cowardice to make single move toward a readjustment of tax laws which it denounced before the last election and was afraid to revise before the next election.
 We advocate tax reform and a searching revision, of the war revenue acts to fit peace conditions so that the wealth of the nation may not be with drawn from productive enterprise and diverted to wasteful or non-product- i've expenditure.
 We demand prompt action by the next congress for a complete survey of existing taxes and their modifica- tions and sinplihcation with a view to secure greater equity and justice in tax burden and improvement in ad- ministration-
 Public Economy
 Claiming to have effected great economies in government expendi- lures. the Republican party cannot show the reduction of one dollar in taxa ton as corollary of this false pretense. In contrast the last Demo- cratic congress enacted legislation re- ducing taxes from eight billions, de- signed to be raised, to six billions for the first year after armistice and to four billions thereafter; and there the total is left undiminished by our political adversaries. Two years after 1 armistice day a Republican congress provides for expending the stupen- lous sum of s5,403,ss0,s27.3o. Effecting great paper economies by l reducing departmental estimates of sums which would not have been spent in any event, and by reducing 2 formal appropriations, the Republican | stateme ent of the expenditures omits the pregnant fact that Congress au- thorized the use of one and a half bill ] lion dollars in the hands of various depa rtments and bureaus which oth- erwise would have been covered into the treasury and which should be added to the Republican total of ex- penditures-
 High Cost of Living. l The high cost of living and the de- preciation of bond values in this coun- try are prima rity due to war itself to the necessary governm ental expendi- lures Tor the destructive purposes o1 war, to private extravaganza, to the word shortage of capital to the inf1a- | ton of foreign currency nd credits and in large degree to constituencies profiteering.
 ! The Republican party is responsible for the failure to restore peace an6 peace conditions in Europe, which is
 a principal cause of ost-armistice in- hation the world over. It has denied the demand of the president for nee essary legislation to deal with sec ondary and local causes. The sount policies pursued by the treasury ant the federal reserve system have linn ited in this country though they could
 not prevent the imitation which wa.
 world wide Elected upon specifi,
 promises to curtail public expenditure.
 and to bring the country back to
 status of effective economy, the Re
 publican party in Congress wasted
 time and energy for more than a yea, in vain and extravagant invests gation
 costing the taxpayers great sums 0
 money, while revealing nothing be yond the incapacity of Repub1ica, politicians to cope with the problems Demanding that the president iron
 his place al the peace table call tn
 congress into extraordinary sessiol 7 for imperative purposes of readjust