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Show II Stiff DECLARES :! INCOME Till IS . UNFUBTD RICH 1 1 "I Cannot Look on It Except as Start of Forcible Distribution Distri-bution of Wealth," He i Says in Speech, i' WANTS STATE SOLONS ' TO KEEP HANDS OFF "Let Us Accept President Wilson's Wil-son's Remark That Honesty Has Naught to Fear From Administration." i By International News Service. 3TEW YORK, May 23. Elbert IT. ; Gary, head of tho United Stales Steel I' corporation, made a stirring address at , the annual meeting of the American ., . Iron and Steel institute, of which he ia president. Tic appealed to tho meu in tho steel industry, particularly tho yonugor meu, to be truo to thcmsclycs I and tho inert they -work for, as woll as j honest in lloir dealings with each other and toward the country. Ho quoted 1 President "Wilson's remark that houesty , has nothing to fear from the Deiuo-i cratic administration, and said: "Let us accopt that statoinenl from President Wilson to mean, just what ho said and let us feel assured." Continuing, Mr. Gary said: There has been considerable recession re-cession in our business. Possibly ' ' this applies to business conditions ' generally throughout the country. As to t.ho reasons for this doprcs-. doprcs-. sion, of course, there arc financial conditions throughout tho world that have sonic effect on our business, busi-ness, indirectly, if not directly. I suppose the European waTs have directly and materially, periapt?, though I hope temporarily, affected lhc general financial conditions and markets of the world. Portu-i Portu-i nalcly, tho wars arc ended. I think perhaps, worse- than the conditions T. havo alluded to, certainly cer-tainly so far as applies to this country, is the disposition of legislative legis-lative bodies to tinker with questions ques-tions they are not ver3' well prepared pre-pared io discuss or decide. ! I regard as the most dangerous at fhn nrpso.nl time tho disposition of II - , legislative bodies to pass laws that are calculated to produce classes. J think, for instance the proposition propo-sition to assess the incomes of men who havo incomes of more than $5000 and exempting tho incomes of those who receive less than $4000 per annum is ono of tho ' worst things that has over hap pened in this country, because it immediate' arru3's fl7 per cent of tho people against .'I per cent of the people. J havo no objection to an income tax when and as needed. J But to exempt 97 per cent of tho people and compel o per cent to pay these large sums of money is a very great mistake, and it is a dangerous danger-ous innovation in this country, to my mind. I cannot look upon it except ex-cept as tha beginning ot forciblo distribution of wealth, however honestly acquired. On the other hand, we have at the present time before ub the possibility, pos-sibility, and I think the probabil-it3", probabil-it3", ot action by one department of government, the interstate com-( com-( merec commission, which is calcu lated to produce very good, results. T believe the railroad companies will obtain the rights to advance , their rates 5 per cent. I cannot help feeling that the railroads are 4 justly entitled to an increase in ' rates, j And, if the railroads do get this increase. I believe thev will begin . to buy very liberally bf our prod ucts, and that will havo a verv de- .' cided effect on our business-, r "Tho president of the United States re cently Kald that honcEt business ned not be afraid. Well, let us be honest. 'Let i us takft him at his word; Jet us assume . he meansScxactly what he says. So far as , we are concerned, let us do th right thins, the fair thing and the Just thin? by every one we com In contact with and all who arc Interested In our deliberations delib-erations and In our decisions." |