The Cordova daily times., 1917-06-06
How Other Wars which U. Engaged in Were Financed

tOl NlCIoTy anu lne consequently en-
 hanced credit of the colonies. American credit was desperately
 low during the war of 1912. The great
 financier, Albert Gallatin, was able | to sell only about one-half of the first
 eleven million dollar loan at 6 per
 cent. The second loan of sixteen
 million dollars only produced about
 five million Finally the government offered a premium of 13 cents on the
 dollar and David Parish, Stephen Cir ard and John Jacob Astor took the balance of the sixteen million dollar loan.
 During the remainder of the war the securities of the government sold for
 between S5 and 95 cents on the dollar. The Civil war, 1861 and 1865, re- quired financing on a greater scale than was ever known to the western hemisphere until now. Five years of warfare cost the United States and the states of the north over five billion dollars, or less than the first loan of fered to finance the war with Ger many. At one time during that war the United States had 2,6S3,523 men under arms.
 Government credit was again at a low ebb during the Civil war Paper money Qegal tender notes) to the ex- tent of $443,0O0O00 was issued, and it Appreciated tremendously and magni- fled the cost of living. Bonds to the extent of more than 1000. .00O, ,OOO were sold. One of the spectacular money raising campaigns in the his. tory of the United States occurred during the Civil war, when Jay Cooke was employed on a commission basis to sell a government loan of s3OO., OOOOOO. He succeeded remarkably.
 At the end of the Civil war the debt of the United States was greater than any time in all it's history, reaching approximately $2,7OO,OOO,OOO. During the eighties this debt was greatly re. duced, the government paying large premiums to retire outstanding in. debtedness.
 The war against Spain in 1898 cost more than one and one-half billion dol lars. A large part of it was raised by taxation. The first war loan am. 1 bunting to $20O,O0O,000 at 8 per cent was spectacular success, being over | subscribed more than seven times.
 The history of war financing in the | United States attests the correctness | of the present government policy of | issuing bonds to meet war expenses and levying taxation sufficient to meet the newly created interest charges and an additional sum for amortization, The bonds acknowledge a government obligation that will draw interest and will be repaid. The tax program elim- mates the tendency toward harmful price imitation.
 A vigorous tax policy should always supplement borrowing for war pur- poses. Taxes, except tariff taxes, are levied against property and income. The government which demands the lives and services of its men at the front surely has a better right to de- mand those lesser things - property and income. Paying all of a wars ex- pense by borrowing puts off the day of reckoning until after the war is over, and compels the men who have offered their lives and their labor to pay off the debt after they go home.
 The magnificent manner in which the United States has reacted from financial depression produced by war, constitutes powerful proof of the ma terial resourcefulness of it's construc- tive genius. From every trial it has emerged stronger than before. It has been tempered in the furnace.
 It is the inevitable conclusion that the crossing of swords with the giant | of Europe will furnish the insporation | for the nation to rise proudly to it's | new plane of world leadership.