The Washington herald., 1918-01-20
Post st-Bellum Finance.

Tb. American government will recoup its
losses bv a good old-fashioned stand -patter
tariff when peace comes That is the easiest way
of raising revenue this side OF the Atlantic and
the Democracy will have qualms about resorting
to it. having condition and not theory to con-
tend with. We may yet see Woodrow Wilson, the
greatest "stand-patter" of them all, outdistancng
Payne Aldrich Dingey and the other inardortals
of the "old guard" 1t will add ten years to Uncle
Joe" Cannon's life to such metamorphosis
The United States is instinctively and ira
dtionally tariff nation. Talk about the income
tax, "conscription of wealth" and other direct
means of reaching the citadel OF national resources
as you WILL none Of them has really worked its
way into the flesh and blood of the nation; none
of them is beyond the experimental stage. Faced
by an enormous debt after the war, the American
government whether it be Republican or Demo-
cratic will take to the good old protective tariff
to keep itself afloat naturally as duck takes
to water. We may as we'll start to figure on it
now.
Great Britain, being neither self-sufficient nor
self-sustaining is tariff nation and its imam
cial problem, therefore, is much more complex
The British trades unions recently sent memo
randum to the chancellor of the exchequer, A.
Bonar Law, urging him Immediately to conscript
the wealth of the nation" Just what is meant by
this IS not clear; it surely cannot mean the con-
fscation OF wealth its seizure under a more or
less indefinite promise OF return in the dim future.
The chancellor indicated his vague grip on
the phrase, when he said: Until now have never
seen any proposal which seemed to me to be prac-
ticable for getting money during the war by con-
scripting wealth and, personally, up to this moment
/ do not believe it is possible"
But the chancellor made a very radical sugges-
ton to his petitioners. He said Great Britain
should aim "at making the burden after the war
one which will practically the wealth that
has been created and is in existence at the time
the war comes to an end. not merely that it should
fall on the wage-earning classes or on the peo-
pie with small means, but that it should, far as
possible be borne by the wealth that exists at the
time so that it would be there a handicap
on the creation of wealth after the war"
He then made this significant statement:
The question OF whether there should be con-
scription of wealth is matter which concerns
mainly not the working classes, but the people
who have money. In my opinion, it is simply
question OF whether it will pay them best, and
the country best, to have general capital levy
and reduce the national debt as far can,
have it continued for fifty years constant bur-
den of taxation. My feeling is that it would
be better, both for the wealthy classes and the
country, to have this levy OF capital and reduce
the burden OF the national debt
Here have phrase substituted for
other-"conscription OF wealth" gives way to gen
eral capital levy" To layman the problems in
volved in such process appear to be almost in
surmountable, unless the world is ready for head
long plunge into Socialism after the war. The gen.
eral principle OF making wealth pay the cost of the
war is sound But how?
The American government by indicating its
preference for the path OF least resistance" by
taking refuge in the protective tariff clearly shows
it does desire to start anything OF so revolu-
tionary character on this side OF the Atlantic