The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1921-04-22
Declares America VIII Have
No Part in the Existing
League of Nations.
SEPARATE PEACE is DEMANDED
Calls Upon Congress to Adopt Resofu.
ton Ending War With Germany and
Suggests Measures to Lower
Taxes and Reduce Prices of
Goods to Consumers.

President Harding's message to con.
gress follows:
Members of the Congress:
You have been called into extraor-
binary session to give your cOnsidera.
ton to national problems far too press
ing to be long neglected.
We face our task of legislation and
administration amid conditions as diff.
ficult as our government ever contem-
plated.
Under our political system the peo-
pie of the United States have charged
the new congress and the new admin
iStration with the solution-the read
justment, reconstruction and restOra-
tion which must follow in the wake of
war
Invite All to Join.
1t may be regretted that we were
SO lily prepared for wars aftermath
80 little made ready to return to the
ways of peace, but we are not to be
discouraged. Indeed, we must be the
more firmly resolved to undertake our
work with high hope, and invite every
factor in our citizenship to join in the
effort to find our normal onward way
again.
The American people have ap-
praised the situation and with that toll
erance and patience which go with
understanding they will give to us the
influence of deliberate public opinion
which ultimately becomes the edict of
any popular government. They are
measuring some of the stern necessi-
ties and will join in the give and take
which Is so essential to firm reestab-
lishment.
Home Problems.
First in mind must be the solution
of our problems at home, even though
some phases of them are inSeparably
linked with our foreign relations. The
SureSt procedure in every government
is to put its own house in order.
/ know of no more pressing prob
lem at home than to restrict our ma
tioBal expenditures within the limits
of our national income, and at the
same time measurably lift the burdens
of war taxation from the shoulders
of the American people.
One cannot be unmindful that econ
omy is much employed cry, most fire.
quently stressed in prediction ap-
pealS, but it is ours to make it an
outstanding and ever-impelling pur-
pose in both legislation and admins
tratiOn. The unreStrained tendencies
40 needless expenditure and the at
tending growth of public Indebtedness
extending from federal authority to
that of state and municipality and in
Guiding the smallest political subdivi-
sion, constitute the most dangerous
phase of government today.
Nation as Exemplar.
The nation cannot restrain except
in its own activities, but it can be
ememplar in a wholesome reversal.
The staggering load of war debt
must be cared for in orderly funding
and gradual liquidation. We shall
hasten the solution and aid effectively
in lifting the tax burdens if we strike
resolutely at expenditure.
1t is far more easily said than done.
In the ferver of war our expenditures
were SO little questioned, the emer-
gency was so impelling, apprOpria-
ton was so unimpeded that we little
noted millions. and counted the treas
ury ineXhaustible. 1t will strengthen
our resolution if we ever keep in mind
that a continuation of such course
means inevitable disaster.
Our current expenditures are run
ming at the rate of approximately &c.
O0000o,000 year and the burden is
unbearable. There are two agencies to
be employed in correction: One is
rigid resistance in appropriation and
the other is the utmost economy in
administration. Let us have both. l
have already charged department
heads with this necessity. l am sure
congress will agree; and both congress
and the administration may safely
count on the support of all right mind
ed citizens, because the burden is
theirs.
Thrift For All.
The pressure for expenditure, swell
ing the flow in one locality while
draining another, is sure to defeat the
imposition of just burdens and the eff
feet of our citizenship protesting out
lay will be wholesome and helpful. L
wish it might find its reflex in ecOno-
my and thrift among the people them
selves, because therein lies quicker re-
covery and added security for the fu-
ture. -
The estimates of receipts and eX-
penditures and the statements as to
the condition of the treasury which
the secretary of the treasury is pre-
pared to present to you will indicate
what revenues must be provided in
order to carry on the governments
business and meet its current require
ments and fixed debt charges. Unless
there are striking cuts in the import
ant fields of expenditures, receipts
from internal taxes cannot safely be
permitted to fall below $4,000,000,0o0
I'm the fiscal year 1922 and 1923.
Cost of Living.
One who values American prosper
ity and maintains American standards
of wages and living can have no SYM
PATTY with the proposal that easy en-