The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-31
EVERYBODY IS
OFF. ON VACATION
The German Statesmen Espe-
cially Are Resting.
ONE MAN rs VERY BUSY
This Man Is the New Minister of Fin
ances, MIR. Lentze-He Is Work.
ing Hard ON New Tax
Schemes.
ONE MAN rs VERY BUSY

Berlin, July D.-tSpeclal. )-EVerytnlnS
and everybody Is off on vacation, enjoy
ing the holiday of summer. Especially
the statesmen are resting, gathering new
strength for the strenuous fight surely to
come with the new session. The world
seems at peace. Only one man is work.
ing hard. One man!
He is not only working hard, but, to use
an Americanism, sis hustling to beat the
band!" And his hustling is moving mil
lions, spreading nervousness, excitement
anger.
This one man Is the new minister of
finance, Mr.. Lentze. This new Lentze
which name, translated into English
means "spring''-enters in the summer
with the intention of reaping in the fall
But if the Germans have their way, he'll
get the iciest winter freeze OUT imagin-
able. For what Mr.. Lentz wants are new
taxes. And the Germans, being at an
average good Latin scholars remember
the old adage:
Isl delirant reyes, pleotuntur Aohivi."
(When kings rage, the Greeks must ory).
That is to say, When financial ministers
work overtime, the citizens may make
ready to weep.
The fact is, Germany needs money,
needs lots Of 1t, and has no idea where
to get it. The financial crazy-quilt patched
together by the blue-black "Block"-as
the political combination of centrum and
conservatives is called in this country
has shrunk until now 1t no longer covers
the extremities of the poor German
Michel. So another patch is needed-a
1So-miIlion patch. A fine job for the new
housekeeper of the financial department.
And the secretary of the imperial treas
ury, Mr.. Wermuth, is to play assistant
housekeeper.
Lentze, they say, is the Emperor's most
personal choice. Lentz had supported
Rheinbaben against Gwinner With the
result that Lentze was very much
cracked up at conference the Kaiser
had with the biggest financial people of
the country, and with the further result
that this man became the choice of the
Emperor
And now Lentze is at work; very much
SO. While everybody is Off on vacation,
he sits in his office. from morning till
night, perspiring and trying to solve
riddle Most of the Germans hope he'll
never succeed.
None of them Is keen on new taxes;
not even for the sake of a few new
warships. But sh ould Lentze solve the
problem then the royal reward may
be--well, anything. 1t may be new,
high-grade medal. or the title-the
much coveted won" between personal
and family name. Or, greater still, he
may be advanced in rank In the army,
as happened to the last minister of
finance. Mr.. Scholz.
Germany smiles whenever it remem-
bers that episode. One day the Reich
sanzeiger," the official imperial journal,
published the following notice; 1.-The
vizefeldwebel" "a nonoommissioned Of
fioer's post of lowest grade) Scholz has
been advanced to the rank of second
lieutenant" This "vizefeldwebel" was
no other than the minister of finance,
who as a soldier had been unsuccess-
full in gaining a higher rank than the
one mentioned When this young lieu
tenant (but by no means young in
years. showed his face in the house
of congress for the first time after his
nomination the congratulations he re-
cefved were moro than hearty One
question an especially witty congress-
man put to him has never been salts
factorly answered. This manufacturer
of laws wanted to know whether the
minister of finance, Mr.. Scholz, had
ond lieutenant on account of his merits
gained in the German army, or wheth-
en- the Vizefeldwebel Scholz had been
advanced to the rank of second lieu
tenant on account of his merits gained
In the German army. or whether the
vizefeldwebel Scholz had been advanced
to the rank of second lieutenant on
account of his merits in the financial
department"
Sch olz himself has always pro-
claimed his Inability to figure it out.
However that may be, the mission
of this new, man of the Kaiser is to
get all he can out of the people. And
the German, usually SO periodically in
clined, turns his head away with a
panied air. Especially the Berliner He
has a motto which he uses at every
occasion. MIGHT in die hand!" (Not in
the hand!") he usually says. Now he
varies the motto to: Not in that hand"
Joking aside, 1t is very serious
matter. They will hardly be able to
raise the direct taxes; those In exis-
tence now are actually the limit. Ev-
erybody. down to the smallest shopgirl
has got to pay an income tax and, ac-
cording to this, a city tax. The one is
usually as large as the other.
To give an idea of the proportionsof in
come to tax payable-as it is practiced
now-I will quote few items:
II your income amounts to 900 mark for
the whole year s225), your taxes will be
SO Q2 MARK.
That does not sound so bad. But, OF
course, there is hardly soul in der
many that earns 1925 a year only. Take,
however, the man who earns $500 year.
He has about $40 in taxes to pay. The
$l000-a-year man pays $50; the Garner Of
$4,000. however, has $125 to pay. And so
1t goes on, rising in proportion. 1t can
be seen at a glance that such high d.
rect tax cannot possibly be raised any
more.
And still Germany needs no less than