The Lancaster news. (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, December 10, 1915, SECTION TWO, Image 9

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US The Lancaster Newsc^T k VOL. 11, NO. 19, SEM 1-\VEEKLY. LANCASTER, S. C. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10. l!lir> " ... ... . STRONGER ARMY AND NAVY IS WILSON'S PLEA Continued from Page Two.) which now ranks very high Indeed among the navies of the maritime nations. We should now definitely determine how we shall complete what we have begun, and how soon. The program to bo laid before you contemplates the construction within five years of ten battleships, six bat* tie cruisers, ten scout cruisers, fifty destroyers, fifteen fleet submarines, eighty-fiye coast submarines, four gunboats, one hospital ship, two ammuniif tion ships, two fuel oil ships, and one regular repair ship. It is proposed that of this number we shall the first year provide for the construction of two battleships, two battle cruisers, three scout cruisers, llften destroyers, five fleet submarines, twentv-llve coast submarines, two gunboats, and one hospital ship; the second year, two battleships, one scout cruiser, ten deBtroyers, four fleet submarines, fifteen coast submarines, one gunboat, and one fuel oil ship; the third year, two battleships, one battle cruiser, two scout cruisers, Ave destroyers, two fleet, submarines, and fifteen const p submarines; the fourth year, two battleships, two battle cruisers, two scout cruisers, ten destroyers, two fleet sub marines, fifteen coast submarines, one ammunition ship, and one fuel oil ship; and the fifth year, two battleships, one battle cruiser, two scout cruisers, ten destroyers, two fleet submarines, fifteen coast submarines, one gunboat, one ammunition ship, and one repair ship. More Men for the Navy. The secretary of the navy is asking also for the immediate addition to the personnel of the navy of 7,500 sailors. 1,200 apprentice seamen, and 1,500 marines. This increase would be suflicient to care for the ships which are to be completed withIn the fiscal year 1917 and also for the number of men which must be put in training to man the ships which will be completed early in 1918. It is also necessary that the number of midshipmen at the Naval academy at Annapolis should be increased by at least three hundred If this full program should be carried out we should have built or building in 1921, according to the estimates of survival and standards of classification followed by the general board of the department, an effective navy consisting of 27 battleships, of the first lino. 6 battle cruisers. 25 battleships of the second line, 10 armored cruisers, 13 scout cruisers, 5 first-class cruisers. 3 second-class cruisers, 10 third-class crulsors, 10S destroyers, 18 fleet submarines, 157 coast submarines. 6 monitors , 20 gunboats. 4 supply ships. 15 fuel ships. 4 transDorts 3 tenders to torpedo vessels, 8 vessels.of special types, and 2 ammunition ships. This would be a navy fitted to our needs and worthy of our traditions. Rut armies and Instruments of war are only part of what has to bo considered If we are to consoler the supreme matter of national self sufficiency and security In all Its aspects. There are other great matters which will be thrust upon our attention ^ whether we will or not There Is. for example, a very pressing question of trade and shipping involved in this great problem of national adequacy. It Is necessary for many weighty reasons of national oflciency and development that we should have -a great merchant marine. The great merchant fleet wo once used to make us rich, that great body of sturdy sailors who used to carry our flag Into every sea. and who were the pride and often the bulwark of the nation, we have almost driven out of existence by Inexcusable neglect and Indifference and by a hopelessly blind and provincial policy of so-called economic protection It Is high time we repaired our mistake and resumed our commercial Independence on the seas. Need of Merchant Marine. For It Is n question of Independ- | ence. If other nations go to war ot seek to hamper ogch other's com- j merce, our merchants. It seems, are at their mercy, to do with as they please. We must use their ships, and uso them as they determine. Wo have not ships enough of our own. We cannot handle our own commerce on the seas. Our Independence Is provln- j eial, and Is only on land and within our own borders. We are not likely j to be permitted to use even the ship* of other nations In rivalry of their own trade, and are without meane to extend our commerce even where the doors are wide open and our goods desired. Such a situation Is not to t be endured. It Is of capital importance not only that the United 8tates *1 should be its own carrier on the seas and enjoy the economic Independence which only an adequate merchant marine would give it, but also that the American hemisphere as a whole should enjoy a like Independence and self-sufficiency, If It Is not to be drawn Into the tangle of European affairs, i Without such Independence the whole ' 'r '*' " f ' : ~ " 1 question of our political unity and self-determination is very seriously clouded and complicated Indeed. Moreover, we can develop no true or effective American policy without ships of our own?not ships of war, but ships of peace, carrying goods and carrying much more; creating friend- ] ships and rendering indispensable services to all Interests on this side the water. The task of building up an adequate i merchant murine for America private capital must ultimately undertake and achieve, as it has undertaken and achieved every other like task amongst us in the past, with admirable enterprise, intelligence and vigor; and it seems to me a manifest dictate of wis dom that we should promptly remove every Je^al obstacle that may stand in the way of this much to be desired revival of our old independence und should facilitate in every possible way I the building, purchase and American ; registration of ships Rut capital can- j not accompliBh this groat task of a ' sudden. It must embark upon it by degrees, as the opportunities of trade , develop. Something must be done at once; Jono to open routes and develop opportunities where they are as yet undeveloped; done to open the ar- i terles of trade where the currents have not yet learned to run?special- ] ly between the two American contl- I nents. where they are, singular j enough, yet to bo created and quickened; and It Is evident that only the government can undertake such beginnings and assumn the Initial financial risks When the risk has passed and private capital begins to find Its way in sufficient abundance into these new channels, the government may withdraw. Rut It cannot omit to be- j gin. It should take the first steps, and should take them at once. Our goods must not lie piled up at our ports, and stored upon side tracks In freight cars which arc daily needed ; on the roads; must not be left with- j out means of transport to any foreign quarter. We must not await the permission of foreign ship-owners and foreign governments to send them where we will. Must Provide Ships. With a view to meeting the^e pressing necessities of our commerce and availing ourselves at the earliest possible moment of the present unparalleled opportunity of linking the I two Americas together in bonds of muI tual interest and service, an oppor1 tunity which may never return again I if we miss It now. proposals will be | made to the present congress for the 1 nurehase or cnnstriiclinn of nhtna to be owned and directed by the government similar to those made to the last congress, but modided in some essential particulars. 1 recommend these proposals to you for your prompt acI ceptance with the more contidence bocause every month that has elapsed sinse the former proposals were made has made the necessity for such action more and more manifestly imperative. That need was then foreseen; it is now acutely felt and everywhere realized by those for whom trade is waiting but who can find no conveyance for their goods. I am not so much interested in the particulars of the program as I am in taking immediate advantage of the great opportunity which awaits us if we will but act in this emergency. There is another matter which seems to me to be very intimately as1 sociutcd with the question of national safety and preparation for defense. I That is our policy towards the Philippines and the people of Porto Rico. Our treatment of them and their atti1 tude towards us are manifestly of the ! first consequence in the development | of our duties in the world and in getting a free hand to perform those duties. We must be free from every unnecessary burden or embarrassment; and there is no bettor way to be clear of embarrassment than to fulfill our promises and promote the interests of thoso dependent on us to the utmost. Bills for the alteration and reform of the government of the Philippines and for rendoring fuller political Justice to the peoplo of Porto Rico were submitted to the Sixty-third congress. They will be submitted also to you. I need not Dartieularlzo fholr dotnila Vrwn are most of you already .familiar with them. Uut I do recommend them to'l your early adoption with the sincere j conviction that there are few measures" you could adopt which wowid more serviceably clear the way for the great policies by which we wish to make good, now and always, our right to lead In enterprises of peace and good will and economic and political i' freedom. The plans for the armed forces of the nation which I have outlined, and 1 or the general policy of adequate' preparation for mobilization and defense. involve of course very large additional expenditures of money?ex- . pendltures which will considerably exceed the estimated revenues of the government. It Is made my duty by law, whenever the estimates of expenditure exceed the estimates of revenue, to call the attention of the congress to the fact and suggest any * means of meeting the deficiency that it may be wise or possible for me to ' suggest. I am ready to believe that It 1 would be my duty to do so In any case; 1 and I feel particularly bound to speak of the matter when it appears that the deficiency will arise directly out of the adoption by the congress of mens- i ures which 1 myself urge it to adopt. ! Allow me, therefore, to speak briefly 1 of the present state of the treasury , and of the fiscal problems which the next year will probably disclose. ) State of the Finances. On the thirtieth of June last there was an available balance in the general fund of tho treasury of $104,170,105.78. The total estimated receipts for the year 1916, on the assumption j that the emergency revenue measure passed by the last congress will not be \ extended beyond its present limit, the J v thirty-lirst of December, 1916, and a that the present duty of one cent per | ( pound on sugar will be discontinued j ' after the first of May, 1316, will be 1 $670,365,600. The balance of June last 1 and these estimated revenues come, therefore, to a grand total of $774.- s 436,605.78. The total estimated dls- r bursementa for the present fiscal year. ^ including $25,000,000 for the Panama canal, $12,000,000 for probable de- ' flcieticy appropriations. and $50,- K 000 for miscellaneous debt rederap- * tions, will be $753,891,000; and the balance in the general fund of the 1 treasury *vill be reduced to $20,644,- ' 005.7". i'he emmgency revenue art, if " continued beyond its present time lira 1 itation, would pioducc, during the half 1 year then remaining, about $41,000,- " COO. The duty of one cent per pound a on sugar, if continued, would produce c during the two months of the fiscal " year remaining after the first of May, '' about $15,-0(10 ono. Theso two sums, a amounting together to $56,000,000. If c added to the revenues of the second 0 half o> the fiscal year, would yiold the ' treasury at the end of the year an available balance of $76,644,605.78. The additional revenues required H to carry out the program of military ? and naval preparation of which I have ll spoken, would, as at present estimated, u be for the fiscal yeas 1917, $93,800,000. r Those figures, taken with the figures * for the present fiscal year which I have already given, disclose our finuu- ^ cial problem for the year 1917. As a suming that the taxes imposed by the a emergency revenue act and the pres n ent duty on sugar are to he dlscontiuued. and that the balance at the close ri of the present fiscal year will be only ' $20,6-14.605.78, that the disbursements K for the Panama canal will again be about twenty-five millions, and that Sl the additional expenditures for the '' iinuy una navy aro authorized by the congress, the deficit in the general fund of the treasury on the thirtieth of June, 1917, wllj be nearly two hun- I dred and thirty-live millions To thia sum at least fifty millions should bo added to represent a safe working bal- I ance for the treasury, and twelve mil- , lions to Include the usual deficiency estimates in 1917'; and these additions I would make a total deficit of some two < hundred and ninety-seven millions, if the present taxes should be continued ( throughout this year and the next. < however, there would bo a balance in the treasury ?t some seventy-six and ( a half millions at the end of the pros I ent liscal year, and a deficit at the end of the next year of only some fifty ' millions, or, reckoning in sixty-two millions for deficiency appropriations and a sate treasury balance at the end t of the year, a total deficit of some one hundr d and twelve millions. The obvious moral of the figures is that it is a plain counsel of prudence to continue all of the preesnt taxes or their equivalents, and confine ourselves to tlie problem of providing $112,000,000 of new revenue rather than $297,000,000. New Sources of Revenue. How shall we obtain the new revenue? We nre frequently reminded that there are many millions of bonds which the treasury Is authorized under existing law to sell to reimburse the sums paid out of current revenues for the construction of the Panama canal; and it is true that bonds to the amount of $22,422,000 are now avail* ablo for that purpose. Prior to 1911 $128,000,000-of these bonds had actually been sold to recoup the expenditures at the isthmus; and now constitute a considerable Item of the public debt. Hut I, for one, do not believe that the people of this country approve of postponing the payment of their bills Uorrowing money is shortsighted finance It cun be Justified only when permanent things nre to be accom plished which many generations will certainly benefit bv and whteh If seems hardly fair that a single genera ( tlon should pay for. The objects we * are now proposing to Bpend money " for cannot he so classified, except in N the sense that everything wisely done ( may he said to be done in the interest x of posterity aB well as In our own. I " seems to me a clear dictate of pruden; ( statesmanship and frank finance thut / In what we are now. I hope, to undertake we should pay as we go. The ( peoplo of the country are ontitled to t know Just what burdens of taxation they are to carry, and to know from ( the outset, now. The new bills should i he paid by internal taxation. To what sources, then, shall we f turn? This Is so peculiarly a question I which the gentlemen of the house of representatives are expected under \ the Constitution to propose an answor m to that you will hardly expect me to , . V- ?r , lo more than discuss It In very goniral terms. We should be following 1 in almost universal example of mod-1 ;rn government if wo were to draw \ he greater part or even the whole of | he revenues we need from the in-1 ome taxes. By somewhat lowering the , resent limits of exemption and the lgure at which the surtax shall begin ' o be imposed, and by increasing, stop , >y step throughout the present gradu-1 ition. the surtax Itself, the income axes as at present apportioned j vouhl yield sums sutlictent to balance J lie books of the treasury at the end ' if the tisral vear 1SH7 without nn?. I vhore making the burden unreasonibly or oppressively heavy. The preise reckonings are fully and accuratey set out in the report of tho secreary of the treasury which will bo Imuedlately laid before you And there are many additional ources of revenue which can justly be osorted to without hampering tho inlustries of the country or putting any oo great charge upon individual exKMuliture. A one per cent tax per ;allon on gasoline and naptlia would dcld. at the present estimated prolucliou. $10,000,000; a tux of 50 cents ler horse power on automobiles and eternal explosion engines. $15,000,ad; a stamp tax on bank checks, irobably $18,000,000; a tax of 25 cents icr ton on pig iron, $10,000,000; a tax if 50 cents per ton on fabricated iron ml steel, probably $10,000,000 In a ountry of great industries like this It ught to be easy to distribute the burens of taxation without making them .nywhere bear too heavily or too oxlusively upon any one set of persons j r undertakings. What Is cloar Is, ! hat the industry of thlB generation hould pay the bills of this generation. I I have spoken to you today, gentle- i aen, upon a single theme, the thorugh preparation of the nation to care or its own security and to make sure f entire freedom p'ay the impartial Die In this hemisphere and in the rorld which we all believe to have een providentially assigned to It. I ave had in my mind no thought of ny immediate or particular danger rising out of our relations with other ations. We are at peace with all le nations of the world, and there is eason to hope that no question in ontroversy between this and other overnments will lead to any serious reach of amicable relations, grave as Dino differences of attitude and policy ave I), . a an.l may yet turn out to be. WHY PUZ : CHRIS! : BECon W H 1 I The Lai ft Where selectic \ GIFT! ft Father, Mother, Sistei ft ft Parisian Ivory Toilet Art ^ (luccd, and we have some p tides. Exquisite Perfur g utmost refinement. ^ Fountain Pens?being ^ generally for gifts, and 1 ^ sell are absolutely guai ? feet. ft p Cigars in Gift Pac ^ tliem here and see the rea ? that Father or Brother v ^ them. Joy with every pi ? ?> % -7TTV- , _ . . . I am sorry to Bay that the gravest threats against our national peace and safety have been uttered within our own borders. Thsre are citizens of the United StateB, I blush to admit, born under other flags but welcomed under our generous naturalization laws to the full freedom and opportunity of America, who have poured the poison of disloyalty Into the very arteries of our national lfe; who have sought to bring the authority and good name of our government Into contempt, to destroy our Industries wherever they thought It effective for their vindictive purposes to strike at them, and to debase our politics to the uses of foreign Intrigue. Their number Is not great as compared with the whole number of those sturdy hosts by which our nation has been enriched In recent generations out of virile foreign stocks; but it is great enough to have brought deep disgrace upon us and to have made It necessary that we should promptly make use of processes of law by which we may be purged of their corrupt distempers. America never witnessed anything like this bofore. It never dreamed it possible that men sworn Into Its own citizenship, men drawn out of great free stocks such as suppiled somo of the best and strongest j elements of that little, but how heroic, j nation that in a high day of old staked Its very life to free Itself from every entanglement that had darkened the fortunes of the older nations and set up a new standard here?that men of such origins and such free choices of allegiance would ever turn In malign reaction against the government and people who had welcomed and nurtured them and seek to make this proud country once more a hotbed of European passion. A little while ago such a thing would bavo seemed incredible. Because it was incredible wo mado no preparation for it. We would have been almost ashamed to preparo for It, as If we were suspicious of ourselves, our own comrades and neighbors! But the ugly and incredible thing has actually come about and we are without adequate federal laws to deal with it. I urge you to enact such laws at the earliest possible moment and feel that in doing so I am urging you to do nothing less than save the honor and self-respect of the nation. Such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must bo crushed out. They are not many, but they are inlinitelv !$ ?>? j T Jgj , V7I1 I doini ?L* LANCAS' :ZLE YOUR rMAS SHO 1ES A PLEJ EN YO U VI: i caster Ph >ns are good. Here S FOR \ Brother or Sweetheart?He .icles?This is one of the most I thing suitable for everyone i aery?the kinds that mark tli NO CHRISTMAS , , OUT CANDII used most We have prepa the pens we of these and olFe antrod per "theVrEAM f Maillard's of New kages Bin The Sweetest I enjoyment Van Lindley's < I ' ; - orders and have 'ill get from with your card er llff. Make This i ?< yi.PU A YEAR. malignant. and the hand of our pov. er should close over them at once. Thny have formed plots to destroy property, they have entered into consplrat i< s against the neutrality of the government, they have sought to pry into every confidential transaction of the government In order to servo interests alien to our own. It is possible to deal with these things very effectually. ' need not suggest the terms in which they may be dealt with. Are Disgrace to the Nation. 1 wish that it could be said that ui?*y n iew men, misled uy mistaken Hentiment8 of allegiance to the gove; jments under which they were be..., had been guilty of disturbing the selfpossession and misrepresenting the temper and principles of the country during these days of terrible war, when It would seem that every nuin who was truly an American would instinctively make it his duty and his pride to keep the scales of Judgment even and prove himself a partisan of no nation hut his own. Hut it cannot. There are some men among us, and many resident abroad who, though born and bred in the United States and calling themselves Americans, have so forgotten themselves and their honor as citizens as to put their passionate sympathy with one or the other side in the great European conflict above their regard for the peace and dignity of the United States. They also preach and practice disloyalty. No laws, I suppose, can reach corruptions of the mind and heart; but 1 should not speak of others without also speaking of these and expressing the even deeper humiliation and scorn which every self-possessed and thoughtfully patriotic American must feel when ho thinks of them and of the discredit they are dally bringing upon us. While we speak of the preparation of the nation to make sure of her security and her effective power wo mutt not fall into the patent error of supposing that her real strength comes from armaments and mere safeguards of written law. It conies, of course, from her people, their energy, their success in their undertakings, their free opportunity to use the natural resources of our great home land and of the lands outside our continental borders which look to us for protection, for encouragement, and for assistance in their development; frotn the organization and freedom and vitality of our economic life. The ARE | he Corner" w I business "he Square" | rER PHARMACY ? 1 BRAIN?: pping : I SURE I SIT mrmacy 1 you will find 0 ; A R *1 ? ire are a Few Items. O ? beautiful lines ever pro- Q 11 these up-to-date ar ^ le user as a woman of ? ?___ IS COMPLETE WITH- O SS AND FLOWERS. Q red for the bijr demands ^ r only the REST on the o )F CONFECTIONERY. (J ' York. a* Jacobs* of New Orleans ? Flowers That (irow. :>f Greensboro. We take Flowers shipped direct ? iclosed if you wish. o i Sweet ( hnstmas. ^ tr-*? * ?(**" *