Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1916-10-03
GERMAN WAR FINANCE.
by Professor Moritz Julius Bonn,
President Of the Commercial Uni
versity Of the City Of Munich.
CHOICE OF MEANs.


us, ought to be betrayed to a con-
siderable degree from the proceeds
of taxation. 1t is not fair, they say,
to throw The financial burden on
posterity, whilst the present genera
tion which is responsible for the war
goes scot free. This reasoning is
excellent as far as the little colonial
wars are concerned, in which Eng
land was mostly engaged up to this
day. Since modern times began
England never has had to fight for
the safety Of her own home territory.
All wars to her were foreign cxpedi-
tions, in which only small part Of
her people engaged in actual fight
ing, whilst the rest did business at
home as before. There was sorrow
and grief in many or the leading
English families when war was alb
road--fOr their sons did The fighting
there was acute misery amongst
the poor; but generally spoken,
business was prosperous and war
was not a national calamity Quite
the contrary, II it had not been for
war taxes, war meant prosperity. 1t
often brought about exceedingly
good business conditions. Even
when England fought for the liberty
OF Europe, as she did, according to
her statesmen, In the Napoleonic
wars, there was always looming
q permanent material ad-
vantage outside purely temporary
business profits, in the shape OF some
new colony or some trade monopoly.
Even in the present war such boons
to business are not wanting Eng
land has been coming money out of
her Allies by doing their shipping
and by selling them coal and am
at terms which those same
Allies, the Italians for example,
openly called usury
A country circumstanced as Great
Britain is ought to turn q large share
of the profits which she makes dur
ing tho war into the national ex-
chequer Her citizens ought not to
be allowed to fill their pockets with
war profits and let posterity settle
the bin by saddling it with a huge
debt. The soundness of this prin-
ciple has been acknowledged by
Germany, inasmuch as Germany was
the first country which proposed the
special taxation of war profits. The
and business of this prin-
clple end with this limited applica-
ton
POSTERITY SHOULD PAY.
A country like Germany, fighting
for her existence, does not shift her
obligations TO posterity when she
contracts loans. Quite the contrary.
The burden of fighting and suffering
weighs heavily on the present gem
Grafton. Posterity will enjoy the
fruits Security and the possibility
OF free and unhampcred economic
activities It is but fair that the
future generation should bear its
share in cash, whilst the present
generation is paying in blood and
treasure. The cost of small colonial
wars, such as occur in every genera
tion, ought to be borne by the peo-
pie who made them and who profiit-
ed by them, giving their successors
clean sheet to start all over again.
During this world-war the genera
ton which has to bear the brunt of
the fighting ought not to be saddled
with any burdens it can be saved
from It's finance ought to be shaped
from that point of view: to provide
the nation with all the necessities OF
living and lighting. whilst the war
goes on, without sacrificing future
resources. War means destruction
of lives and material. Whether the
soldiers who lose their lives have
drawn their wages from money
raised by loans, and whether the
material destroyed has been paid
with borrowed money, is not the
chief point at issue after war has
once started The chief object OF
sound finance Is to diminish the loss
Of lives directly or indirectly and to
restrict the destruction of material
goods to q possible minimum. War
finance, which can save the strength
OF the fighting nation and which does
increase its material resources is
sound. Little would be gained by
making the immediate burden heav-
ier for the sake of producing an i'm
proved financial balance sheet. No
power on earth has adhered to these
principles more systematically than
England has in times gone by. She
has always been willing to waste
treasure generously and to let other
nations sacrifice the lives Of their
citizens. From q purely egoistical
right. Nobody could reprove her if
she only would stop moralizing about
the great sacrifices she has brought
by paying cash to other nations who
spilled their life's blood.
ENGLAND'S NEW EXPERIENCE.
This is the first war in modern
history England has to fight accord
ing to continental standards; 1t Is
her first struggle on a continental
scale Her soldiers are slowly learn
ing continental methods of fighting,
from her Allies as we'll as from the
enemy Whether she fails or whether
she succeeds, she has been "conti-
beyond description She
has been Obliged to adopt continental
methods of finance, which fall short
sadly of the lofty standards of
finance she had evolved for colonial
wars. Neither she nor her Allies,
France and Russia, are financing the
war by taxation. They rely on loans.
England ,herself has changed her
ways Forty-seven per cent of the
cost of the Napoleonic wars was paid
from foyo finn. in tbp ROar tUo1. tho