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Show Gum Costs Americans More Than Navy least taxed for the navy. In such country districts the per capita cost of the navy seems to be about 25 cents a year. "The federal taxes, although not so equally distributed as local taxes, are In total only about one-third of the whole taxation by state and -nation. The navy absorbs about 8 per cent of the federal taxation, or 2 per cent of what the taxpayer has to find to satisfy sat-isfy all demands upon him. Those who do not pay large federal income taxes contribute comparatively little to support sup-port the navy. Those who pay small federal luxury taxes also contribute little to the support of the navy. "As has been said often recently, the people pay more for the pleasure of chewing gum than they do for the substantial benefit derived from the navy. "Whatever burdens we inherit from past errors of unprenaredness, for the present and the future we must look on the current cost of the navy as a wise insurance avainst future wars thrust upon us and excessive cost and duration of war if it must come. Unless Un-less we change our national character we cannot avoid war if we itre unarmed un-armed and a business rival insists on having his way contrary to our peaceful peace-ful remonstrances. Adequately armed, our peaceful remonstrances will be enough." ""pxrKXDITUKES for the navy, - like personal and national expenditures ex-penditures for everything else worth having by the taxpayers, may be termed a burden, but it is well worth carrying, and would be so If its cost were much greater," says Itear Admiral Ad-miral Rogers, of the executive commit-( tee of the general board of the navy. "However, the so-called burden is really real-ly much less than most people fancy. "While the per capita cost of the navy to the whole people is somewhat over $3 a year, I am assured by those who have looked into It more deeply than I have, and who deserve confidence, confi-dence, that the financial support of the navy falls unequally upon different regions re-gions of the country and that the districts dis-tricts about the Mississippi and to the west thereof, and particularly the agricultural ag-ricultural parts of this region, are |