The Jasper weekly courier., 1918-04-12
WAR PR0F!TEER
PUBLIC NUISANCE.
No Ext0rti0n to Re Tolerated, but
Liberal Disposition Toward
Business Needed.
Shrlnkage OF Values Would Cur
tail Capacity to Provide
SlneWS OF War.
"Conseripticn Of Men. ConscrIption OF
Money" Analysed.
BY OTTO n. KAHN.

| sIbln sounding contention that ne
cause certain portion of the young
manhood OF the nation has been con.
S''ripted. therefore money must also be
c"ns'alpted Why, that is the very
| thing The government has been doing.
II has ronscripted portion-a rela-
| lively small portion--of the men of the
marion. II has conscripted portion
large portion of the incomes OF the
nation. Capital and business pay more
than four-iifths of our total war taxa.
ton directly and large share Of the
remaining fifth indirectly.
Ii the government went too far In
tOnscriptine men the country would be
crippled If II went too far In con-
scripting incomes and earnings the
country would likewise be crippled.
Results of Conscription of Capital.
would ask those who would go
further and conscript not only incomes,
but capital, to answer the riddle, not
only in what equitable and practicable
manner they would do 1t. but what the
nation would gain by IT?
Ii is true that a few years ago a
capital levy was made I'm Germany, but
the percentage of that levy was so
small as to actually amount to no more
than an additional income tax and that
at a time when the regular income tax
in Germany was very moderate as
measured by the present standards of
income taxation.
Only q trifiing fraction OF mans
property Is held In cash. Ii they con-
script a certain percentage OF his pos
sessions in stocks and bonds, what
would the government do with them?
Keep them? That would not answer
its purpose, because the government
wants caSn, not securities.
Sell them? Who is to buy them when |
every ones funds would be depleted?
If they conscript a certain percent
age Of mans real estate or mine or
farm OF factory, how is that to be ex-
pressed and converted into cash?
Are ronscripted assets to be used as
a basis for the issue of Federal Re-
serve bank notes? That would mean
gross imitation, with all its attendant
evils, dangers and deceptioas.
Would they repudiate 4 percentage
If the national debt? Reputation is
10 less dishonorable in people than
n an individual, and the penalty for
allure to respect the sancdty Of obli.
cations is no different.
The Thrifty Would Be PenaIized.
The fact is that the government
would gain nothing In the process of
apital conscription and the country
would be thrown into chaos for the
ime being. The man who has saved
would be penalized, he who has wasted
would be favored. Thrift and construc-
i've effort, resulting in the needful and
ructifying accumulation OF capital.
you'd be arrested and lastingly dis
outraged
J can understand the crude notion of
he man who would divide all posses
Ions equally There would be mighty
tile coming TO any one by such distri. I
utiOn, and II Is. Of course, an utterly
npossible thing TO do, but II is an un- ,
erstandable notion. But by the con-
scation of capital for government use
either the government nor any indl-
Idual would be benefited.
A vigorously progressive income tax Z
both economically and socially
ftht- "a tdA II WHOLLY uQSOuQQ
nd economically destructive.
II may nevertheless become neces- q
Try In the case Of some of the belliger- c
II countries to resort to this expedI. I
IT, but ] can conceive of no situation
kelly to arise which would make II u
or advisable In this country. I,
More than ever would such a tax be
lrmful In times Of war and post-bel. IT
m reconstruction, when beyond al G
ost all other things 1t is essential to b
imulate production and promote u
rift. and when everything which tends !"
have the opposite effect should be :,
rejected as detrimental TO a
g nations strength and well-belng. a.
There Is an astonishing lot of hazy " :,
linking on the subject OF the uses of n