The patriot. (Glenmora, La.) 1918-1955, 1918-09-13
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 LARERT ST. CLAIR.

to make it. Approached from differ
ent angles, it can be made as battling
as a Chinese puzzle or as simple as
the operation of an old-fashioned
dasher churn.
If one attempts to delve into the
ramifications 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, IL 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, ,0O0,-
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
$50 600. 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 of Murderers.
Now let US bring the proposition a
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,
IL 1t 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 a 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 I-have described
and the present case OF United States
government. The Hun Is in the offing,
the government needs an average OF
4S-one hundredths of everyone's earn-
Ing In the next year to conduct its de-
Tense, and 1t plans to raise this money
on q one-third tax and two-thirds bond
or stamp sale plan. Within the next
year approximately $S,O0000O. 600 will
be raised by taxes and $4,000, 000, 00C
by the sale of government securities
Must Be Raised by Economy.
There Is the situation, and the CUES
81 ton now arises: How in the land OF
Goshen are we ever going to raise
such sum as $4,000, 100000? The
answer is: Save as we never have
before.
1t will not be pleasant to skimp our
selves, for we have not been used tC
skimping, but we simply shall have tt
do it. That old $24,000,000,00O re
quirement is going to stick to us like
a 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 3.
600 miles away that we would If h
were in the grove out at the edge Of
town. He may be 1900 miles away IL
person, but at every beat his lustfu
z heart spans that gap between you
daughter and mine and his fingers
have virulent 1900 mile itch fol
your money and your farms.
The question of what each Of III
must economic on can be settled onl.
In our individual minds and at on
own firesides. If the Hun were In thu
grove literally, woula any of us asl
our aeighbors what we should sacri
fee In order to help raise our respec
tive shares of the forty-eight cent
on the dollar? ] think not.
My notion is that the question ever.
patriotic American should ask himsel
is What must I have? The query
What can l get along without? is no
searching enough.
Heber Grinn's Story Apropos.
Every time the idea of saving oc
ours to me / think of old Heber Grim
q character out in my western Indians
town who had perennial habit o
joining church. Just as regularly a
revival meeting time rolled around
Heber would get himself all het u
over his sins and, along in the las
days Of the meeting, he would com
: rearing and snorting down the aIsl
and Join up.
Somehow. though, Heber never &c
around TO making any sacrifices |
behalf of his new found religion Fl
always kent right on chewing tobacct
swearing like a mule driver. drinkin
like a fish. and. worst of all. souandel