The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-02-15
WHAT HAVE GERMANS IN STORE
FOR THEM In Line OF TAXES?
Speculation Over Effects of Postwar Assessments On
Feuton People Salaries, Stationery Expenses to In
crease Is Belief.

dFe IN prospect 1Or Germany AFTER
the war What is to be their effect
on the great mass of the working pop
ulation? VIII salaries and wages
have to go up to enable the workers
to pay them? Will retrenchment in
personal expenditures, alone, be suf-
6cient to cover them2 How, prob
ably, will salaries after the war com
pare with those paid before the con-
dict started? VIII the before-the-
war industries that are all but dead
now revive Immediately so as to give
employment and. money to men, now
soldiers, who must pay the taxes?
These are questions put by a. cor
respondent to some of the leading in
dustEial men and economists of Ger
many in an effort to get at least a NY
potheticai solution of the problem that
is being discussed in almost every
newspaper in the Empire under the
heading, New Taxes
The majority of men to whom the
foregoing questions were put seemed
to be unanimous IN the opinion that
salaries and wages after the war
probably will not advance beyond
their present height-whfeh Is far be-
yond what there were before the war
in the case of wages-because they
are high enough to care for All pro-
posed increases in taxation. This
majority is so confident in GerTnany's
thorough economic eoundness and in
A6F economic future that they main
tain, In effect, no increase is going to
be necessary A combination of fru-
gality, which the average German is
easily capable of, and of q business
boom OF unprecedented proportions,
these men believe is going to do away
with the necessity of imposing the
burden OF higher wages on employers.
The minority is divided between
those who do believe that increased
emoIuments for workers are going to
be a necessity, with consequent re-
duction for a time Of capital avail
able for investment. and those who
are not sure. but who think that it
may easily be that employers will
feel that it is the just if not the neces-
sary thing for them to lengthen their
payroIls.
The correspondent found, however,
an almost universal tendency TO touch
but very lightly on that sa1aried class
of workers, petty onicials. clerks, and
SO on, who benefit least from their
countryss economic weIl-being but who
must help carry the burden Of extra
taxation if that becomes necessary. In
virtually every instance the answers to
the questions In the opening para
graph applied to worxmen getting wa
ges rather than to workers receiving
salaries.
sigmund Bergman. principal own
er and director general of the Berg
mann Electrical Works, probably the
second concern of its kind IN Germany.
may be said to be fair example of
certain reservations He believes ex- |
isting wages are high enough to Cow |
er whatever taxation may coTr1e-un- :
less the countries now at war with |
Germany consistently and for a long
period OF time refuse to renew COM |
mercial relations with her.
ssFor approximately a year and q |
half after the war" he says, II ex-
pect to see tremendous boom In
electrical and mechanical industries In
time merely to re-supply our own
countries with the things that have
been used up during the war. We
shall not need an order from outside
to keep everything going full blast
'gThe continued weIl-beings of the
German workman after that depends.
in my opinion, entirely upon the for
eign couontries. If England France,
Italy and Russia continue to hate US,
if they are willing to try to in5ure US
by not buying our goods and by using
others ne matter how expensive. then
there is no question but that wages
Will go down.
such a course is in the nature of
cutting off ones nose to- spite ones
nose to spite ones face and I do not
think that any of the countries in |
question will do it. Russia and Italy
especially need eur goods, and Eng
land cannot manufacture them as
cheaply as we, nor as well, because
her labor is Infinitely more expensive. /
Wages to-day in Germany are I'M |
cording to my belief, to meet the ex-
penses that are going to come after
the war. The return of a few mil |
lion soIdier-workmen won't drive |
them down either, because we need
the men. They will stay where they /
are and take care of after -the-war ex-
pensee Until such time as our internal
needs are supplied and the present.
COUNTLESS decide they can afford to
boycott u.s."
Prof. DR.. julius Wolf, one of Ger
many,s best known economists as
sumes an optimistic standpoint be-
cause he says that Germany even to-
day with war loans of almost &c bill
lion marks, plus the entire debts of
EN- pire and all the States, is really
nous debt he says, is balanced by the |
State and National Possessions -ra.il-
roads, forests, domains and mines. The |
Entente Powers, collectively and indi- |
worse off that after the war they
will be broken, and Germany much |
better off. will have commercial field |
in which to recuperate with little or no
opposition from her present enemies
THE tax problem of the future is
uAA4dESI1CHd04y q fS4y 6AScdL pEODEcAAl,
he says, but Germany's position is
the best of any because she starts in to
adjust her financial affairs with a huge
sum ON the credit side of the ledger, |
consisting of her railroads, domains !
and mines The Prussian railroads
alone to-day are worth more than the /
combined debts of all the German
States.
Contrast us with England and it's
huge State debt and immense war in
n =
Canal interests as a-credHE. compare
us nth Italy. the most oyer-taxed ma
tion in the world. In contemplating |
what our taxes will be, remember that |
IsngIandss taxes even to-day may be !
called sky scraper taxes in compari- |
son with which our are like the pro-
verbal white raven.
ssOur taxes after the war while |