The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-05-21


 been the remark that payment of
 these millions will divert from the | customary investment or reinvestment | methods adopted by Mir. Rockefeller so large sum of money as possibly to curtail his gifts to educational or | philanthropic institutions and also his investments in great business under takings and in railroads However, it
 has been said that there will surely be in time satisfactory readjustment since substantially all of the excess
 income taxes will go speedily into various business undertakings, repre- sentlng the needs of the government
 for supplies, ammunition, ships and
 other commodities which are neces- sary if we are successfully to carry
 on the war or our part in it. Men Of very large incomes spend each year upon personal and domestic affairs and recreation, comparatively trivial part of their incomes. All the rest of it goes directly into channels of trade, excepting such portion as Is turned
 over to philanthropy or to the uni versailles and institutes of research and the like
 Late in April the trustees of the Carnegie endowment fund voluntar- fly relinquished s500,o0O, presumably out of Income. with intent that the money he used in facilitating recon struction work, particularly of homes, in France. Belgium, ~Servia and Rus sia. This contribution is now supple mented by another which may or may not have been taken from income of S200.000. This is the gift of an in dividual. or perhaps a family, to Eng land with intent that the money be used to relieve distress of the wom- en of Great Britain who have had brought home to them what the sac rifices of the war entail Therefore, within three weeks $700,000 have been contributed, probably taken from in : comes, although in the case of the Car negie endowment it's income Is not liable to any tax. These funds will directly or indirectly be diffused Tn such manner as to stimulate business activity both in the United States and in Great Britain.
 NOT THE ONLY SUBSCRIPTION
 Indirectly at least MT. RockefelIer's subscription of $5,00O, 900 is not his ex elusive contribution to the war fund For various industries with which he is associated have already subscribed to that fund, one subscription being for a million, and these subscriptions represent the proportionate part of the stock of the corporations which MT.
 
 The opinion prevails in the financial district that MT. Rockefeller shares in the view recently set forth by Ogden Armour of Chicago and by others that. after readjustment of new taxation to our business life has been accom- plished, our industrial and agricul- tural and commercial activities will be speeded up to point possibly be- yond the comprehension of the Ameri- people. There is to be inevitable in- fation, but it is the common under standing that it will be wisely con- trolled by the banks and by the fed eral reserve board at Washington, over which this board has control For i, is pointed out here that the very ex- agencies of the war will compel the expenditure, probably, of as much as $10,000 000000, and that means busi- ness imitation
 For instance, the ship builders of the United States are to receive a bill lion dollars if present plans are car- ried out for the construction of naval vessels and a larger sum than this is probably to be expended in the con struction of other ships
 The allies will presumably expend not all but the greater part of the money which will be raised by the government and received from the peo- pie, in buying not only food but also of war. They will also spend stupendous amounts for com modities needed for reconstruction.
 It almost seems as if the iron and steel industry of the United States in