Vashon Island news-record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1919-1954, 1921-10-07

pure water has gone n mighty
river of service, sympathy, and
sobricty that will bless gencrNa
tons yet unborn.
And the world would be safe.
Suppost six great world nations
enter into a compact TO reduce
their war armament program TO
one fifth. Some small country
tries to start something, hoping
to repeat the program of an
Alexander the Great. Before
breakfast these six powers would
know what was going on, With
20 per cent of their present war
strength, the six would total l20
per cent Of the present war
strength, and any little recalcit.
rant nation would be given n
sound spanking and sent home.
No, we would in no way be
imperillcd by the smaller ma
tons, even if they tried to make
| trouble--but smaller nations are
dominated by the same motives
the larger nations are controlled,
and every small nation would for
their own selfish good knock at
! the door for admittancc into the
Disarmament Court of the World.
War never pays the people-it
only pays the privileged few.
And the privileged few never
pay for the war-it is always
paid for by the people.
It Would be an Economic Move
Taxes in Washington are fast
becoming prohibitive. Taxes in
Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, and the
islands of the sea are just as
bad-if not worse. And taxes
are already prohibitive in Eng
land, Italy, Russia, Germany,
and every other nation on earth.
Where is help to be found 7
Surely not in a continued war
program, 90ao Of the federal
taxes in America go for war
purposes-either directly or in.
directly. And America is not a
military nation. What must the
ratio be in other nationsY No
wonder a red-wave swept the
world last year. 1t has passed,
but the cause has not, as yet,
been removed. People the world
over are revolving against high
taxes that amount almost to con
fiscation of property. Something
must be done to change this
order, and the only thing we can
think of is to stop the hole into
which the yellow stream of gold
| is flowing. And the hole is war.
Taxes were the direct cause Of
the French revolution. At that
time the common people paid a
birth tax, a baptismal tax, a
church tax, an occupation tax, a
marriage tax, and a funeral tax
was paid out of the inheritance.
From such oppression, Mirabeau,
Danton, Robespere, and Marat
lrevOlted - and the streets of
Paris flowed with human blood.
The joyriders of France awoke
from their drunken dream to
find the people Of France were
running the government We all
lllApw the weary reconstruction
years which followed.
The ordinary citizen of Wash
on-Maury island pays as many
different kind of taxes as the
French peasant prior to the
revolution. A poll tax, an auto
tax, a drivers tax, an income
tax, insurance tax, employers
tax, state, county, school, and
lSad tax, personal and real
estate tax and thousand and
one other brands meted out I'M
der different colorS and measure
ments. If we could cut off sew
cral billion dollars from the tax
budget that is going on our navy
and army programmed put it
in reclamation projects to water
and stump and drain our waste
lands, and thus increase our
revenue taxing property we
would be investing in something
that would pay dividends. As
it is now our taxes go largely
toward building engines of de
struction-and even these en-
gmes are scrapped in few
years and sold for junk. If the
conference actually does some
thing by way of reducing arma-
Iments, it. will be only short
time until the high cost of Iiv-
ing will be greatly reduced, gen
eral prosperity will set in, and
iimpg will proin no roo6 and