The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-02-15
NEW TAXES
IN GERMANY
ARE PLANNED
And Perhaps an Entirely New
Tax System in Germany at
ter the War.

the war. What IL TO be their encct
on the great mass OF the working
population? viii salaries and wages
have to 80 up to enable the workers
to pay them? viii retrenchment In
personal expenditures, alone, be sliiil-
Client to cover them? How, probably,
will salaries after the war compare
with those paid before the conflict
started? VIII the before-the-war In
dustrles that are all but dead re-
vive Immediately so as to give en-
ployment to men, now soldiers, who
must pay the taxes?
These are questions put by an As
sociated Press correspondent to some
Of the leading Industrial men and
economists Of Germany in an effort
to gel at least n hypothetical solution
Of the problem that is being discussed
in almost every newspaper in the en-
pire 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 prob
ably will not advance beyond their
present height-which is far beyond
what they were before the war In
the case of wages-bscause they are
high enough to care for all proposed
increases in taxation. This majority
is so confident in Germany's thorough
economic soundness and in her econo-
mic future that they maintain, in Of
feet. no increase is going to be neces-
sary. A combination OF frugality,
which the average German is easily
capable of. and of a 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
emoluments for workers are going to
be a necessity, with a consequent re-
duction for a time Of capital available
for Investment, and those who arc
not sure, but who think that It may
easily be that employers will feel thai
it is the just IL not the necessary
thing for them to lengthen their pay
rolls.
The correspondent found, however
an almost universal tendency to touch
but very lightly on that salaried class
OF workers, petty officials, clerks, and
so on, who benefit least from their
country's economic well-being but
who must help carry The burden oil
extra taxation II that becomes neces-
sary. In virtually every instance the
answers to the questions in the open.
ing paragraph applied to workmer
getting wages 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 Ger
many, may be said to be fair ex-
ample Of the majority, except that he
makes certain reservations. He be-
lieves existing wages are high enough
to cover whatever taxation may come
the countries now at war
with Germany consistently and for a
long period OF time refuse to renew
commercial relations with her.
For approximately a year and
half after the war;" no says, Il expect
to see n tremendous boom in electrl-
cal and mechanical Industries in gen.
eral. We shall need that much time
merely to re-supplv nv own countries
things that have been used
up during the war. we snail not
need an order from outside to keep
everything going full blast.
1.-THE continued well-being of the
German workman after that depends,
in my opinion, entirely upon the for
eign countries. II England, France,
Italy and Russia continue to hate us,
If they are willing to try to injure
us by not buying our goods and by
using others no matter how expensive,
then there is no question but that
wages will go down.
"Such a course is in the nature Of
cutting Oft ones nose to spite ones
face, and ] do not think that any Of
the countries in question will do 1t.
Russia and Italy especially need our
goods, and England cannot manufac-
ture them as cheaply as we, nor as
we'll, because her labor is infinitely
more expensive.
Wages today in Germany are un-
precendentedly high-hich enough,
according to my belief to meet the ex-
penses that are going to come after
the war. The return Of few million
soldier-workmen won't drive them
down either, because we need tho
men. They will stay where they are
and take care OF aiter-the-war ex'
penses until such time as our internal
needs are supplied and the present
enemy countries decide they can af-
ford 10 boycott us"
Prot DR.. Julius Wolf, one OF Ger.
many's best known economists, as
sumes an optimistic standpoint be-
cause he says that Germany even to-
Gay, with war loans Of almost TWEEN
ty-six billions of marks, plus the en-
tire debts of the empire and all the
states, is really only Just about even
now. This enormous debt, he says,
is balanced by the state and national
Observation-Disclosures forests, do
mains and mines. The Entente
Powers, collectively and individually,
he believes, are so much worse of
after the war they will be broken,