OCR Text |
Show THE CITIZEN an understanding with regard to the be complete in detail and subject to enforce-- . gjst, which must 'n the finally the scrapping of all naval armaments and land forces : 'niplo deeded for police duty. lrIy ah, most admirable features of the American proposals Qne of the net. p, definite and certain. Being specific as to what each lut they are :eded i shall do, a comprehensive1 basis for discussion has been experts, a cd and is being given secret consideration by the acting old world diplomacy, which caused much havoc and per-th- e Bte to nizesl final down fall of the idealistic formulae of the historic con-hel- d .still pi at Versailles, in the confines of that Paris, which is France. flSjve and defensive pact ; 'Wmodil ARE OUR FOREIGN I. O. U. disclosure, may or may not be paid either principal or interest at the obvious option of the borrowing nation. Unless these foreign loans are paid in full by foreign nations, and unless the manner of their negotiation be recognized as more valid than the construction placed on the diplomatic I. O .U.s by Russia, the people of the United States will have to dig up the coin. The money loaned was secured through the sale of Liberty bonds. When these bonds become due they must be retired. Thus the citizens of the good old U. S. A. may have the dual pleasure of having furnished the sinews of war and later meeting the obligation thus incurred by furnishing the money to retire the same bonds they bought as patriots to establish a flexible foreign loan fund. cd a ies of station id void agreej ion pa tatus since ill ce capa spec L I vent :e ha in m of ive p and nlv4 ts IV tand Chi olom; bearing the same rate of interest and containing in their the same terms and conditions as those of the United ites (i.e., Liberty Bonds) issued under the authority of this act. other words the Wilson administration was authorized to loan only in event foreign governments jney to foreign governments ve formal security for the loans. It was brought out in debate that Secretary McAdoo made many ins to foreign governments without requiring any security whatever. In point of fact, it was disclosed he made loans totaling Eons of dollars to foreign governments with no- - other evidence of Jebtedness upon which this nation may base its claim to reimburse-Jtn- t than the I. O. U. of diplomatic representatives of the govern-icnt- s negotiating the loans. There is nothing in these I. O. U.s ipulating when or how the principal is to be liquidated or the inter-itpaiIn fact, it is seriously questioned whether or not these 0. U.s of foreign diplomats can be held to be valid obligation In one instance they have already gainst the borrowing nation. teen reduced to the status of scraps of paper by the edict of the ssian soviet government, which has repudiated all debts incurred fictions d. manner. While no other foreign government has, as ssian example of repudiating loans negotiated is country is faced with the fact that it has no ny loans than these same I. O. U.s, bearing this tM yet, followed the relv by its diplomats, other security for the signatures of amei hatever diplomatic representative happened to be here at the time ic p lie endc money was advanced. t tin Congressman Longworth charged the Wilson administration, he n nd Secretary McAdoo in particular, with keeping the matter of I. ma U. loans a profound secret, in this manner : No valid excuse was ever offered, so far as I have heard, for v Ais departure from the plain intent of congress with regard to subsugh tantial security for foreign loans. Several times Secretary McAdoo rea fas before the committee on ways and means and was questioned h to about the matter. The statements were never published in any Printed hearing. They were never made to the House of Representaolid tives. They were absolutely secret in so far as public statements ausj Issued from the are concerned. Secretary Mcdepartment treasury I Adoo excused this sort of transaction by saying it was more o and expeditious. latj Foreign loans constitute forty per cent of the outstanding obliV gations to this country. The interest upon these loans aggregates 51500.000 ati every day, not one cent of which has been paid since the bans were Ilo made, and under the limelight of the recent congressional f na 4 0- -- - Ci con-anie- nt nel In their frantic endeavor to get shut of the onerous tax burden thrust upon them by the machinations of the political grafters who held office during the war period, Utah taxpayers have resorted to devious devices to crawl from under. g and discussing various remedies They have been with Governor Mabey and other notable state officials, but as yet they have failed to bring down the tax rate to their liking. The attack upon the public school system of the state, which proponents of lower taxes have instigated, must be viewed with alarm by all citizens interested in matters educational and who wish to see the public school system grow and expand, regardless of its per capita cost, so long as the purposes for which it was created are strictly adhered to and the sublime character of its work is not diverted to other channels than the education of our future citizenry in the requisites of citizenship and loyalty to state and nation. It seems that those who seek to alleviate their tax-loa- d have gone far afield when they stoop to dig up the old canard, which once gained wide credence in this state in the heat of a political campaign, that the public schools are absorbing 85 per cent of the total tax revenues. Originally, it was promulgated as a boost for the state, but today it is being used to startle the taxpayers in an evident attempt to secure a reduction in school tax levies. This statement that Utah is spending 85 per cent of its tax fund on its public schools, is fabrifar from the truth. It is absurd, misleading and a cation, from the very obvious fact that Utah, or no other state, can conduct its affairs on a measley 15 per cent of its annual tax fund. Utah would stand about as much chance of functioning properly, paying its salary roll, meeting road building and other manifold obligations, as the proverbial snowball. Let the taxpayer refer to his omnipresent yellow tax notice and he will discover that the schools absorb approximately 31 per cent d of the total amount of all the state revenues less than collected. For state, county and city schools the levy is 11.7 out of a total tax levy of 37 mills for all purposes, which simple arithmetic reduces to 31 per cent, considerably less than half, of the total ! i. mass-meetin- - val aril l CIRCUMSCRIBING EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. greem dy l SCRAPS OF PAPER? rT shall 5 self-evide- ' i nt one-thir- levy. . i j that fads and fancies be eliminated from our public schools, but that they must be kept up to the standards set by other sovereign states is a foregone conclusion. The wages paid competent instructors must be kept at par with that of other wideawake western communities and the degree of practical, loyal, educa- It i is permissible tional advantages offered in our public schools, must be enhanced rather than retarded, even if the school tax levy has to be materially increased to accomplish this end. Taxpayers of Utah must look for surcease of sorrow from tax burdens from other fruitful sources, rather than cripple and impair our public school system by a form of parsimony as unwise and unnecessary as it is monstrous And it is a serious mistake, and one fraught with grave dangers, for citizens in their zeal to escape paystatements as the 85 per cent ing taxes, to make such school tax canard, the nucleus of a thoughtless campaign against the state schools, that institution which has kept this nation travelling along the avenues of freedom and through which it has maintained far-fetch- ed ; 1 i : ! i i i ii i I i I i i 1 i i |