Omaha daily bee., 1908-06-07
FINANCIAL LOSS
Kaiser's Money Difficulties Bother
Empires 0ficial.
MANY EXTRA TAXES PROPOSED
Deacit of sixty-Five Million Dollars
of Last Year stnl Remains
TO BE Met In Some
Manner.

BERLIN. June 6-(special)-For weeks
the Job Of secretary OF the treasury OF
the German empire went begging. But IL
has now become evident that the kaiser
has at last succeeded in finding the right
man for the job Of bringing order out
Of the chaos known as German imperial
finance. He is Reinhold sydow, who was
recently promoted from the under-secre-
taryship Of the German postoffice depart
ment to the responsible post of chancel-
lor OF the e~xchequer. Bankers, business
men and finance ministers OF minor Ger
man states refused the portfolio because
Of its brilliant opportunities for making
a mess Of things, as had befallen the last
two incumbents Of the ffice-Baro Won
Thielmann. ex-German ambassador at
Washington, and Baron Won stengel of
Bavaria. Herr s~ydow-whose name is pro-
nounced zee-doe-took up the treasury bur
den with considerably more authority than
was vouchsafed his predecessors. as the
emperor took the novel step of making him
an ex-officio member OF the Prussian min
istry, with the fun rights and rank Of a
minister Of the crown, Previous exchequer
~chancellors held the less authoritative title
OF secretaries OF state, and many Of them
have ascribed their failures to their cir
cumscribed jurisdiction.
Herr SydOw's Rise.
Herr Sydow, who looks very much like
a successful American bank president. and
Is said'to be Just as up-to-date, is 81 years
old. He has been in the government serv-
ice since 1898. a round quarter OF a cen
fury, and has advanced from a district
attorneyship to Judge. to postoffice depart
ment chief and then to the under-secre-
taryship of Germany's immense postal sys-
TEN, with the telegraph and telephone serv-
ices as his specialties. He is a notoriously
hard worker and is unusually free, for an
official brought up in the strict bureau
cratic atmosphere of German government
service, from red tape and circumlocutory
methods. He is a talented linguist, speak
ing well half a dozen modern languages.
At the international Wireless Telegraph
congress in Berlin in 1906, over which he
presided, 1t was a linguistic treat to hear
him conduct parliamentary proceedings in
German, French, English, Russian and
Italian with equal facility.
1t is to his talents as a debater that Herr.
Sydow largely owed his appointment as
secretary of the imperial treasury. The
circumstances under which he enters office
have given him the nickname of minister
for new taxes for his chief duty is tc
find ways and means of providing millions
OF marks of fresh revenue. To accomplish
this it will be necessary for him to do con.
siderable 'spellbinding'' before the refac
tory Reichstag, for the peoples deputies
are not likely to swallow any new set OF
taxes without considerable eloquent per.
suasion.
Some absurd reports have lately beer
printed in the French press about the
bankruptcy Of the German empire. Il
is true that the empires government fin,
ances are in an exceedingly tangled, ever
frenzied. condition. but Germany is al
sound and solvent as any of the greai
governments, and with assets-in the SHAPE
of its colossally profitable state-owned rail.
w~ays-which no other power in the worl6
possesses. Neither has Germany begun t
exhaust it's taxation resources. Beer, to
bacco, alcohol and inheritances are taxed
much more heavily in England. France and
Austria-Hungary, while there is a VARIETY
Of taxable things from which other coun.
tries derive revenue and from which Ger
many has hitherto refrained from extort.
ing toll.
Accumulated Wealth.
Apart from all this the tremendous &C,
cumulated wealth of Germany must b,
taken into account. This has been rising
~ A@NRe 1HN 1cNhA9 oANN ~ bNN8AAN 9
great Industrial nation. One seeks in vair
for outcries against the enormous nava
budget which the kaiser proposes to saddle
upon the country for the next ten years
an aggregate of over 1000. OOo,OOO-an aver
age OF 800. 000,0 900 a year-in addition to al
average of s15O,OOo.OOO additional for arm!
appropriations.
The extraordinary necessities of the pres
ent year have caused a deficit of SIS. 10000
and 1t is to meet this enormous shortaG'
that Herr Sydow, the new financial Moses
must devise immediate ways and means
The government has proposed a series o
new indirect taxes on cigars and smoking
tobacco. a military exemption tax and
state monopoly OF alcohol. The alcohc
monopoly is the governments favorite pro
tect, but It is encountering fierce opposi
ton from the spirits trust. which has
l fat grip on the alcohol trade. A stat
, monopoly of electricity and petroleum ha
l also been proposed.
II Herr Sydow can reform German i'm
perial finances he will have performed
4 truly Bismarckian work. He entered upo
0 the task full of confidence and determine
; ton, he has told his friends. and his caree
Q promises to be one Of the most interestln