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Show ASKS CONGRESS TO PfiOVIDEjeUE PRESIDENT WILSON URGES THAT BURDEN OF TAXATION BE LAID AT ONCE. Declares That the Only Way to Stop Profiteering is to Tax Those Whose Conscience Can Not be Reached. YiiKliiiii;lon. President Wilson on M:iy 27 i-mli'd discussion over whether ennm-ess shall reniiiin in session this summer lo enact new revenue legislation, legisla-tion, by appeariiif; before the house and senate, in joint session, and calling upon members to put aside politics and all other considerations to provide' money for .u'rowinf; war expenses, and to advise the country in advance of the tax burdens it must meet. As the president was leaving for the capitol, word came that the German drive against the west front had been renewed. He jrnve his visit a dramatic touch by announcing this news' as he concluded his prepared speech, sayins it strengthened the purpose he had tried (o express. The demand that with the war at its "peak and crisis"' congress do its duty at home, as the soldiers are doing do-ing their duty in the trenches overseas, over-seas, brought instant acquiescence. There still was reluctance in some quarters to believe immediate legislation legisla-tion imperative, but plans for midsummer midsum-mer adjournment were abandoned, and both Democratic and Republican leaders lead-ers expressed their determination to go at the task of passing a revenue bill with" a will. A suggestion by the president that most of the new taxes probably would fall upon incomes, excess profits and luxuries, and that profiteers could be reached in this way, was greeted with cheers, and congressional leaders said later that the money needed would come from those sources. To initiate the bill, it was announced that public hearings would be begun early in June by the house ways and means committee, to be followed by co-operation in its drafting with the senate finance committee. Presentation of the measure to the bouse in July was regarded as assured. At tlie conclusion of his prepared address, ad-dress, the president, pausing, laid his hand over his manuscript and added another precedent-breaker to the long list he has established in his dealings with congress. He addressed the assemblage as-semblage extemporaneously, speaking earnestly and forcefully, while his au- ditors sat in a rapt and surprised .silence. .si-lence. '"May I add this word, gentlemen?" said lie. "Just as I was leaving the "White House I was told that the expected ex-pected drive on the western front had apparently begun. You can realize how that solemnized my feeling as I came to you, and how it seemed to strengthen the purpose which I have tried to express in these lines. "I 'have admired the work of this session. The way in which the two houses of congress have co-operated with the executive has been generous aid and admirable, and it is not in any spirit of suggesting duty neglected, neglect-ed, but only to remind you of the common com-mon cause." |