That is the situation, and it is the situation which creates the
duty; no choice or preference of ours. There is only one way to
meet that duty. We must meet it without selfishness or fear of
consequences. Politics is adjourned. The elections will go to those
who think least of it; to those who go to the constituencies
without explanations or excuses, with a plain record of duty faithfully
and disinterestedly performed. I for one, am always confident that the
people of this country will give a just verdict upon the service of the
men who act for them when the facts such that no man can disguise or
conceal them. There is no danger of deceit now. An intense and pitiless
light beats upon every man and every action in this tragic plot of war
that is now upon the stage. If lobbyists hurry to Washington to attempt
to turn what you do in the matter of taxation to their protection or
advantage, the light will beat also upon them. There is abundant fuel
for the light in the records of the Treasury with regard to profits of
every sort. The profiteering that cannot be got at by the restraints of
conscience and love of country can be got at by taxation. There is such
profiteering now, and the information with regard to it is available
and indisputable.
I am advising you to act upon this matter of taxation now, gentlemen,
not because I do not know that you can see and interpret the facts
and the duty they impose just as well and with as clear a perception
of the obligation involved as I can, but because there is a certain
solemn satisfaction in sharing with you the responsibilities of such
a time. The world never stood in such a case before. Men never before
had so clear and so moving a vision of duty. I know that you will
begrudge the work to be done here by us no more than the men begrudge
us theirs who lie in the trenches and sally forth to their death.
There is a stimulating comradeship knitting us all together. And this
task to which I invite your immediate consideration will be performed
under favorable influences, if we will look to what the country is
thinking and expecting and care nothing at all for what is being said
and believed in the lobbies of Washington hotels, where the atmosphere
seems to make it possible to believe what is believed nowhere else.