The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-09-10
SEPTEMBER 10, 1917.
One Hundred and Fifty-Fifth Day of
America in the War.
AMERICA CAN STAND THE COST.


The un-American claquers who oppose
our participation in the worlds war on the
ground that we cannot bear up under its
enormous costs are completely put to rout
: by statistics just compiled by the Alexan-
der Hamilton Institute.
While the placing of a fourteen billion
mortgage on the wealth of this nation,
with three and one-half billion tax on our
incomes, does, at first glance, appear too
heavy a load for any country to carry,
when 1t is shown that our wealth is in
] & cess Of two hundred and fifty billions and
our incomes aggregate forty billions year,
the costs OF the war are not very alarming.
Bulk figures, when they run into the bill
hons, are hard to grasp, and their very size
inspires awe, but reduced to a per centagc
basis they attain their right proportions
and are readily understood. The proposed
bond issue will amount to about Sc per
cent OF our natural wealth, and the tax on
incomes will approximate 10 per cent The
man with a $4,000 home free from debt
and a $4,000 income would not become
<~panlc striker if called upon to place $3.50
mortgage on his pfope rty and to apportion
$500 of his income to insure him possession
CT his home and continuance of his income
That is just what the expense OF the war
means to the individual, and there is moth
ing IN the figures to brighten the average
American citizen. OF course the per cent
age figures are based on all the people.
infants with no no earning cauacity and
nulti-millionaires.
The war tax will be worked out equit-
ably, each paying in accordance to his
possessions, with probably the inflated in
comes of the few bearing proportionatelv
greater share of the burden than the man
whose earnings leave him little surplus
Compared with the other warning
nations, our financial condition is most
encouraging. 1t is estimated that next
June the national debt of the United States
will be about S126 per inhabitant. while in
England and France it is $500 per capita:
In France the per capita wealth is 81 ,375:
III England it is S1,S47, while in the Uni. ted
States it averages So per person,
making Our per centage of debt per capita
about one-sixth that of England and little
more than one-ninth that of France. Russia
has lower per capita debt than ours be-
cause OF its larger population with an av-
erage wealth of only $3.50, which makes its
per capita per centage of debt about equal
to that of France. =,
The government estimates our war bud
get for the current year will be about
nineteen billion dollars. of which only
eight or nine billion will be used for strictly
war purposes. The rest will be loaned to
allies and used in ship building and
other commercial enterprises essential to
successful prosecution of the war This
money will be returned to the treasury and
will not fall as burden on the American
people.
Paying war costs is never an entirely
pleasing experience, because war is some
thing that we all feel should be unneces-
sary, but when it is necessary to fight to
preserve the freedom of the world, the
American people will gladly bear their full
share of expense, thankful that they have
the resources to meet the tremendous costs
without jeopardizing the future of the
nation.