The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1918-09-05
FINANCE PROBLEM
N EASY Terms
Government Must Have Twenty
four Billions in a Year.
WILL BE RAISED BY SAVING

a--.- Gs
slxtssn Gents From Each Dollar Each
Zone Earns, and tas Rest BY Sell
Ing Liberty Bonds to Patriotic
Citizens.
Dy lABERT 81. CLAIR.
The problem Of government finances
% Just az complicated 90 ws.choose
to make It. Approached from differ
ent angles. it can be made IL banning
as 4 Chinese puzxle Of - simple as
the operation Of an eld-fashioned
dasher churn.
II one attempts to delve into the
ramiflcations Of the %expansion Of cur
rency, and ell that SORT Of thing, he
is very likely to develop stir neck
from craninE 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 4 broad, concrete way
and compares 1t with the problem Of
financing his homo, o some similar
OVS1yVoy SAHSAUAIuA0S ~ Sau 6A0SH
and master It ii he would the handle
Of the family pump.
Here IL the governments immediate
financial problem in a nutshell In
the next twelve months $24,OO0,0O0,-
coo 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
$50,000,OO0,O00 a year. Therefore, IL
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.
Nssdsd to Beat OF Murderers.
Now let US bring the proposition q
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 u midst. Then,
II 1t were announced by the authori-
ties that 1t would cost ~forty-eight
cents Of every dollar that every earn
o. In our town made in the next
twelve months to conduct q defense
against the murderer, that would be
clear, wouldn't lit And II the authori-
ties were to 60 further and say that
they would asses 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 1t. that would be
plain, too.
There isn't a bit Of difference be
tween the local case I have described
and the present Ease Of United Slater
government. The Hun is in the oflng
the government needs an average Of
48-one hundredths Of %everyone's earn
ing in the next year to conduct its de
tense, and it plans to raise this money
on q one-third tax and two-thirds bono
or stamp sale plan. Within the mex
year approximately $s,000,OOO,OO viii
be raised by taxes and $4,000 ,000.00t
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 o.
Goshen are we ever going to raise
such a. sum as $24,O 100000 TIT
answer is: Save az we never hav'
before.
1t will not be pleasant to skimp our
selves, for we have not been used t,
skimping, but we simply shall have Il
do it. That old 1924, OOO,OOO,OOO re
quirement is going to stick to us lik'
q burr to a pair Of mittens, and VI
simply must raise it.
We must practice the same econom,
to raise the money with the Hun 8.
600 miles away that we would If h
were III the grove out at the edge o
town. He may be 5000 miles away II
person, but at every beat his lustfu
heart spans that gap between you
daughter and mine and his finger
have a virulent 5000 mile itch 70
your money and your farms.
The question Of what each Of q
must economic on can be settled onl.
In our individual minds and at GU
own firesides. If the Hun were in tn
2 grove literally, would any Of us asl
. our neighbors what w should sacrl
ice in. order TO help raise our respee
. tive shares Of the f%orty-eight cent
on the dollar? I think not.
Ny notion is that the question ever,
patriotic American should ask himsel
is What must I have? The query
What can I get along without? is no
searching enough. =;
Heber Grlm's Story Apropos.
Every time the idea Of saving oc
ours to me I think of old Heber Grim
character out in my western indiana
town who had perennial habit o
Ss.Sn. ol,~oh Y,ok 80 ~n~r~1ou 1~v a