Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-08-02
-YZEZZ1172



BERLIN - The kaiser has said that
this year is to be year of sacrifice.
The army needs a billion Of marks,
and wants to begin spending the
money in September. II needs great
deal more than the sum named in the
form of increased annual expenditure,
hut that can wait. The billion must
be forthcoming immediately. at any
rate a third. of 1t will be taken this
year, and so emulating the spirit Of
our ancestors century ago. we are to
respond to the imperial call with our
money, il not with our lives and our
sll, as they did,
1t is not quite so bad as in 1913.
The enemy's garrisons are not all
over the country, and there is good
deal more money than there was
then. Ladies will not fling their we'd
ding rings and silver candlesticks
down or the tax commissioners
tables, as you see them in the pic
lures of 1913. There is, however, no
limit on gaudiness of speech; and,
to Judge by the conservative press
and the centenary oratory, one might
suppose that the country was swarm
ing with Steamboats, and Butchers.
At first the rich we're going to take
up the burden of the billion not only
readily but joyfully. The army needs
another 10000 men. OF course, the
broad (and protected) wheatlands OF
Ostelbia, and the mines and furnaces
of Westphalia and the Rhine will lay
toll on themselves for such an object.
Not less joyfully the men of money.
the Mosaic Germans Of the banks and
stock exchanges. What would they not
do for an army which carries toler-
ance SO far that it does not debar
them from its highest grades on the
score of religious conviction? 1t Is
true that they are not allowed to be-
come officers, but there is no discrim-
nation of race or creed in the German
army. and, therefore. the dark-eyed
Teutons who keep holy the seventh
day instead of the first, and are COM
puted to pay a third of the taxes in
the large cities as it is, will gladly
give their share
The Governments Original Idea
This was the idea with which the
government set out. Those who had
property were to give IL of one per
cent Of the value4of it. Only estates OF
less than $1,000 were to escape. On the
other hand. only property was to be
mulcted. No earned income of less
than $4,000 was to be taxed, and the
earners of such incomes might fairly
be classed as men Of means. 1t was
then predicted in this column that
this arrangement would not survive
discussion in the Reichstag II has
not The joy of the rich in giving had
been oyerestimated. The bill was
handed over by the Reichstag to the
Budget Commission, which, after a
months wrangling, has reported to
the House. recommending measure
which. while it will bring in the sum
the government needs, alters the gov
ernmcnts financial proposals beyond
recognition. Instead of the govern
ment's universal one-half of one per
cent, the Commission has set up a
scale ranging from OF per cent on es-
tates between s6,250 and s12,500, to
l.5 DER cent on estates of over $780,
600. This, of course, is no improve
ment from the standpoint of the rich.
But little inquiry soon showed that
to take money from widows and others
living on the interest of $500, who
may be classed as economically help
less. was impossible The property
limit was, therefore. increased to &c.
$50. That meant serious reduction
of the yield Of the tax. Therefore the
contribution of the rich had to be in
creased, especially as the share of the
small and most numerous estates had