Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1918-04-04
1.-THE RICH MANS WAR
A HATEFUL CALUMNY"
American Business Men Ready to
Make Sacrifices With
out Stint.
TAXES HERE AND ABROAD.
American Taxation the Most Demo
cratic In the World.
BY oTTo Il. KAHN.

BY OTTO n. KAHN.
Nothing Is palmer than that bust
ness and business men had everything
to gain by preserving the conditions
which existed during the two and
half years prior TO April. 1917, under
which many OF them made very large
profits by furnishing supplies. provi.
sIons and financial aid to the allied
nations. Taxes were light. and this
country was rapidly becoming the
great economic reservoir Of the world
Nothing Is palmer than that any sane
business man In this country must liaye
forescen that. II Americu entered the
war. these profits would be Immensely
reduced and some Of them cut on en-.
iirely. because our government would
step In and take charge That It voaid
cut prices right and left, rs. IN fact. II
las done that enormous burdens Of
taxation would have to he imposed. the
bulk Of which would naturally be borne
by the well.to.do IN short, that the IN
prccedcnted golden flow into the COT
fers Of business WIS bound to stop With
our joining the war. or nj any rate, TO
be much diminished.
But u ls said the big nnnnciers OF
New York were afraid that the money
loaned by them to the allied nations
nigh, be lost II these nations wete de-
rcated. aud therefore They Unanswered
TO get America into the war In order to
sBve their Investments
Proof That the Charge IL Absurd
4 moments reflection will show The
utter nbsurdisy Of ,ha, charge, lie, Us.
assume. Tor arguments sake, that The
alii,.s had been defeated. let us make
the wildly improbable assumption that
they had defsuItsd Tor the time being
,dn6d t6S5e foreign deBis7 THE grgater
far ot whlch. by the way, Is secur9d
ty ihe deposits Of collateral in the
,ta,,e Of American railroad bonds ard
stocks and Of bonds " neutral coun.
irirs aEgSsgating more than sufficient
10 value 20 cover these debts Let us
lsymnc that The entire amount Of al
iicd bonds placed Ia America had been
held rs rich men In New York aud the
east instead u belng distributed. - IL
ip. throughout the country
Is II not perfectly manifest that a
angle years American var luxa,ion and
REDUCTION Of profits would take out Of
tho poctcts Of such assuued holders
vastly greater sum tha, uny possible
loss they could have suffered by . ID,
faun on their allied bonds. NOT 10 men
Hon the heavy taxation which Is bound
TO follow the war for yeprs 10 come
and the shrinksge Of fortunes through
the decline Of all American securities
10 consequence Of our entrance into The
wRr1
Not only Is the rich mans war an
absurd myth; the charge IL a hateful
cuiumDy.
business men. grea, or small. are 20
different from other Americans, anal
we reject the thought thar any Amcri
cnn. rich or poor, would be capable Of
the nideous and dastardly plot 60
bring upon his country the sorrows
aud sufrerinEs Of war In order to en-
rich himself Business men are bound
TO be exceedingly heavy financial losers
through Americas entrance into the
war Every element Of self-Interes,
should have caused them to use their
utmost efforts TO preserve Americas
neutrality. from which lhey drew 80
much profit during the two and half
years before April 1917 Every con
alteration OF personal advantage com.
maudcd men Of affairs TO stand vilh
aud support the agitation OF the peace
at.any.price" partS The spurnel
such ignoble reasoning they rejected
that nGiliatlon; they stood for va
when II was no ionge; possible, nth
safvty and honor, 20 maInain peace,
because they are patriotic citizens
first and business men afterwards
Our Ineem Tax and Taxes Abroad.
a. Tae largest Incomes IRE taxed
far more heavily here than anywhere
else IN the world
The aximnm ~, Of Income taxn
ton here IL 81 per cent. In England
II is AN per cent ours is therefore
30 per cent. higher Than England's. and
the rate in England is IN highest pre-.
saillng anywhere In Europe. And in
addition to the federal ras we must
bear in rind our state and municipal
taxes.
(2) dernte and small Incomes. ! a
the other hand, orc suoJect TO far
smaller RITE Of 10 xadon here thar. In
England.