Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current, 1918-09-07
FINANCE PROBLEM
IN EASY TERMS
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 LAeERT ST. CLAIR.

BY LAeERT ST. CLAIR.
The problem of government finances
II just as complicated as we choose
to make it. Approached from differ
ent angles, it can be made as battling
| as a Chinese puzzle or as simple Us
the operation of an old-fashiOned
| dasher churn.
If 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, If he faces the
situation In a broad, concrete way
and compares it with the problem OF
financing his home, or some similar
everyday expenditure, he can grasp
and master it as he would the handle
Of the family pump.
Here is the governments immediate
financial problem in a nutshell In
the next twelve months $24.OOO,OO
900 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 100000 a 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
little nearer home. Suppose that a
band of murderers in blood-smeared
uniforms Of gray, having slaughtered
their way through the helpless waves
of women and 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,
II it were announced by the authOri-
ties that it would cost fOrty-eight
cents of every dollar that every earn
er in our town made in the next
twelve months to conduct defense
against the murderer, that would be
clear, wouldn't it? And if the authOri-
ties were to 60 further and say that
they would assess sixteen cents of
this fOrty-eight on persons who could
afford to pay it 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 to repay it, that would be
plain, too.
There isn't a bit of difference be-
tween the local case have described
and the present case Of United States
government. The Hun is in the Otting.
the government needs an average of
4S-one hundredths Of everyone's earn
ing in the next year to conduct its de-
Tense, and it plans to raise this money
on a one-third tax and two-thirds bond
or stamp sale plan. Within the next
year approximately $S,OOOOOO,OOO will
be raised by taxes and $4,000, 100000
by the sale of government securities.
Must Be Raised by Economy.
There is the situation. and the ques-
ton now arises: How in the land of
Goshen are we ever going to raise
such a sum as $24,OOO.OOO.OOO? The
answer is: Save as we never have
before.
1t will not be pleasant to skimp our
selves, for we have not been used to
skimping. but we simply shall have to
do it. That old $24,OOO,OOO.OOO re-
quirement is going to stick to us like
q burr to a pair of mittens. and we
simply must raise it.
We must practice the same economy
to raise the money with the Hun B.
900 miles away that we would if he
were in the grove out at the edge Of
town. He may be 5000 miles away in
person. but at every beat his lustful
heart spans that gap between your
daughter and mine and his fingers
have a virulent 5000 mile itch for
your money and your farms.
The question of what each Of us
must ecOnomize on can be settled only
in our individual minds and at our
own firesides. If the Hun were in the
grove literally, would any of us ask
our neighbors what we should sacri.
flee in order to help raise our respec-
tive shares Of the fOrty-eight cents
on the dollar? l think not.
My notion is that the question every
patriotic American should ask himself
is What must l have? The query:
What can I get along without? is not
searching enough.
Heber Grim's Story Apropos.
Every time the idea Of saving Oc-
ours to me I think Of old Heber Grim,
a character out in my western Indiana
town who had a perennial habit of
Joining church. Just as regularly as
revival meeting time rolled around.
Heber would get himself all het up
over his sins and, along in the last
days of the meeting. he would come
rearing and snorting down the aisle
and join up.
Somehow. though. Heber never got
around to making any sacrifices In
behalf of his new found religion. He
always kept right on chewing tobacco,
swearing like a mule driver. drinking
like a fish. and. worst Of all, squander-