New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-05

tax on war profits. These sums pro-
vided the interest on the war loans
which cannot be betrayed BY the sbove-
mentioned measures Of retrenchment.
The interest Of the permanent debt,
so far contracted, must be between 400
and 500 million dollars year. To have
betrayed them from the proceeds Of
new loans would have been unsound
finance.
Choice of Means.
Financial purists in England have
assailed German war finance as IN
sound finance. Wars, they assure Us,
ought 20 be betrayed 70 a consider
able degree from the proceeds OF taxa
ton. 1t is not fair, they say, 70 throw
the financial burden on posterity,
whilst the present generation which IS
responsible for the war goes scot free.
This reasoning is excellent as far as
the little colonial wars are concerned,
in which England was mostly engaged
up to this day. Since modern times
began, England never mas had 70 fight
for the safety % her own home terri
tory. Al! wars 70 her were foreign
expeditions, in which only small part
OF her people engaged In actual fight
ing, whilst the rest did business az
home as before. There were sorrow and
grief in many OF the leading English
families, when war was abroad-for
their sons did the fighting was
acute misery amongst the poor; gen
orally spoken, business was prosperous
and war was not a national calamity.
Quite the contrary, Il it had not been
for war taxes, war meant prosperity.
Il often brought about exceedingly
good business conditions. Even when
England fought FOR the liberty Of Eu-
rope, as she did. according TO her
statesmen, in the Napoleonic wars,
there was always looming somewhere
q permanent material advantage out
side purely temporary business prohts,
in the shape Of some new colony or some
trade monopoly. Even in the present
war such boons 70 business are not
wanting. England has been coming
money out Of her Allies by doing their
shipping and By selling them coal and
ammunition At terms which those same
Allies, the Italians for example, openly
called usury.
A - - "a reN
Britain is ought 20 turn a large share
Of the profits which she makes during
the war into the national exchequer.
Her citizens ought not 70 be allowed TO
fill their pockets with war profits and
let posterity settle the bill by ssddling
il with huge debt. The soundness Of
this principle has been acknowledged
By Germany, inssmuch as Germany
was the first country which proposed
the special taxation Of war profits.
The usefulness and business Of this
principle end with this limited apph-
cation.
Posterity Should Pay.
A country like Germany, fighting for
her existence, does not shift her obi
cations 70 posterity when she contracts
loans. Quite the contrary. The bur
den OF lighting and suffering weighs
heavily on the present generation.
Poster.ty viii eujoy the fruits-secur-
ity and the possibility OF free and IN
bampered economic activities. Il IS but
fair that the future generation should
bear its share in cash whilst the pres
ent generation is paying in blood and
treasure. The cost OF small colonls!
wars. such as occur in every genera
ton. ought 20 be borne BY the people
who made them and who profted by
them. giving their successors clean
sheet 70 start all over again. During
this world war the generation which
ba, 70 bear the brunt Of the fighting
ought not 20 be saddled with any bur
dens il can be saved from. It's finance /
ought 20 be shaped from that point Of
view: To provide the nation with all
The necessities OF living and fighting,
whilst the war goes on, without saeri-
6cing the 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 F.
material destroyed has been paid for
with borrowed money is not the chief
issue at point, after war has once
started. The chief object Of sound n
rance is 20 diminish the loss Of lives
directly or indirectly, and to restrict /
the destruction % material goods 70 /
possible minimum. War finance which |
can save the strength 81 the hghting /