The Elbert County tribune. [volume] (Elbert, Elbert County, Colo.) 18??-1920, 1918-09-06
Government Must Have Twenty
four Billions in a Year.
WILL BE RAISED BY SAVING
Sixteen Cents From Each Dollar Each
One Earns, and the Rest by Sell
ing Liberty Bonds to Patriotic
Citizens.
BY LABERT ST. CLAIR.

ent angles, 1t can be made as battling
as Chinese puzzle or as simple as
the operation of an old-fashIoned
dasher churn.
II one attempts to delve into the
qualifications of the expansion of cur
rency. and all that sort Of thing, he
is very likely to develop stiff neck
from craning up and down columns
of figures and wind up by declaring
that figures lie horribly.
On the other hand. II he faces the
situation In broad. concrete way
and compares it with the problem of
financing his homo. or some similar
everyday expenditure. he can grasp
and master 1t as he would the handle
OF the family pump.
Here Is the governments immediate
financial problem In nutshell In
the next twelve months $4,000, 000,-
600 probably will be required by the
United States government to meet war
expenses. The total income of every
person In this country Is only about
$4,000. 00O,0 900 II year. Therefore, If
the cost of the war for the next year
were to be assessed pro rata. every
persons share would be forty-eight
cents on every dollar that he or she
earns
Needed to Beat OFF Murderers.
Now let us bring the proposition n
little nearer home. Suppose that n
band of murderers, in blood-smeared
uniforms of gray. having slaughtered
their way through the helpless waves
of women aud children in nearby
cities just as the Hun has done In
France and Belgium. established
themselves In the woods at the edge
of our town with the fixed purpose of
waging slaughter in our midst. Then,
If Ii were announced by the authori-
ties that 1t would cost forty-eight
cents of every dollar that every earn
err In our town made in the next
twelve months to conduct defense
against the murderer, that would be
clear. wouldn't II? And If the authori-
ties were to go further and say that
they would assess sixteen cents of
this forty-eight on persons who could
afford to pay 1t and accept the other
thirty-two from persons who, out of
their zeal to aid In the defense of
their homes and their loved ones,
would take the promise of the local
government 10 repay H. thnt would De
plain, too.
There isn't bit OF dinerence be-
tween the local case l have described
and the present case or United States
government. The Hun Is In the ofiing
the government needs an average of
4s-one hundredths OF everyone's earn
ing In the next year 10 conduct lis de
tense, and 1t plans TO raise this money
on a one-third tax ana two-thirds bond
or stamp sale plan. Within the next
year approximately %S,ooo,ooO,oOO VIII
be raised by taxes and Sl6,OOO,OOO.Uo
by the sale of government securities
Must Be Raised by Economy
There Is the situation, ana the ques-
ton now arises: How In the land or
Goshen are we ever going to raise
such sum as $24,OOO,OOoOOO? The
answer Is: Save as we never nave
before.
1t VIII not be pleasant to skimp our
selves, for we have not been used to
skimping, but we simply shall nave TO
do 1t. That old S24,OOO,OO0,OOo re
quirement Is going to stick to us ike
n burr to pair of mittens, and we
simply must raise 1t.
we must practice the same economy
10 raise the money with the Hun u
600 miles away that we would II he
were In the grove out mt the edge or
town. He may be 5000 miles away In
person, but at every beat his iustful
Heart spans that gap between your
daughter ana mine ana ms myers
have virulent 1900 mile itch for
your money and your farms.
The question OF what each OF us
must economic on can be settled only