The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-29
= GIVE ALL A CHANCE.

Wage earners and small salaried
persons are being urged on all sides
to buy liberty loan bond. The ad-
vice to do this is good from every
viewpoint, but he must be given the
opportunity to do his bit in financing
the war. How can he do it if all his
earnings are eaten up by the high
cost of living and by taxes?
1t is to be feared that the effect of
the. tax program now pending in con-
gress will be that of chilling the en-
thusiasm of many who would other
wise be willing buyers of bonds, even
if in small amounts. There are two
classes of contributors who are es-
pecially likely to be affected in this
way. The small-salaried man who
uses most of his income for living
expenses but who annually puts aside
little margin of saving, is naturally
concerned at the proposed new taxes.
Prices are already unprecedentedly
high, and he recognizes, clearly
enough, that they are likely to be
forced higher by the events now in
progress. He knows too that the man
fold taxes now planned can not help
making life more expensive for him,
and he naturally questions his own
ability to pay for subscriptions to the
new loan. 1t is to him an obvious pos
sibility that his margin of saving may
be wiped out, and his capacity to make
lis payments be thereby annulled
The other class in the community
which is affected by the tax discussion
is the higher group of skilled wage
earners. These are situated quite diff
ferently from the salaried man. They
have been receiving increased pay as
prices have risen, and the thrifty
among them often have a substantial
margin for saving. If assured of
steady work, they are likely to be val
liable investors in. and supporters of,
the new loan. All, however, depends
upon the maintenance OF their en-
ployment. 1t is no secret to any one
that the proposed war taxation will
necessarily cause many readjustments
in industry, and the thinking wage
Garner naturally looks forward to the
possibility that he may be out OF
work in consequence.
The fact that large sums are to be
spent by the government is not neces-
sarily to the point, because such ex-
penditures may not be made in any
industry to which he can turn his
hand. In brief, he can not foresee the
future, and he is too much concerned
about what it may have in store for
him to interest himself in public ques-
lions or to assume new public duties
especially when the latter involve ex-
penditure or self-denial or both.
Say what we will about the eco.
romics of the situation. says the New
York Journal of Commerce, the psy-
chology of it is a good deal more i'm
portant to the immediate success OF
the new government financing. Pa
triotism alone will not furnish the
necessary motive force, indeed the av-
erage man can not be blamed if he
questions the usefulness of a patriot
ism that promises more than it can
perform.
What is most important is the
maintenance of public confidence, the
assurance that employment and OPP
portunity are not to be unduly, unnec.
essarily or artificially checked; and
the promise to the individual that he
win not be unfairly burdened or op-
pressively penalized at time wher
he is called upon to devise new ways
and means of saving and applying his
money. Confidence on the part of the
rank and file of the community, anC
a sound support for their belief in the
future, will be the greatest element III
the successful distribution of the new
loan-and. what is of far more i'm.
portance-the distribution of the 9th.
er loans that will necessarily sue.
coed it.
The control of this element is al.
most entirely in the hands of con.
gress today.