The Cordova daily times., 1918-07-25

demonstrated. that unprecedented loans and taxes can be borne by the business community and the money market with little sign of stress This month saw the completion of the pay mcnt of the income and excess profits taxes, which may turn out to have amounted to some thrc" thousand mil lions. Last year about fprty-hyc hun. drcd millions in shOrt-t"rm treasury certificates were placed through tn" banks. and already this year an equal amount has been sold, with $G.on0, ,0o8- uUU to be disposed of between no" md October Two funded loans last year totalcd nearly $G.ooo, ,oo0. and this year on" such operation has brought the treasury more than $iUoo. .oo0.oon Yet. in the face oI these tremendous demands upon the money market. there has been no ac tual stringenCy in the rate for loans.
 " llI SUI 'tl \ Idl'' IDl NNiltdllh Ibdil" has fer months past been kept at or below 6 per cent, and time loans, as far as New York is concerned, have been available at about the same figure. ShOrt-t"rm corporate borrow averaging perhaps per cent But maturing obligations are being met or renewed with little difficulty. except in the case of a few public utility concerns and the new issues which are brought out are promptly taken by investors.
 The confidence which is evident in the business world is by no means a result of ignoring the difficult and still unsettled factors in the present situation and outlook The who'll" theory ol wartime finance and indus trial control is built upon the propo- shall be applied in the most efficient manner possible to the winning ot the war: but a difference of opinion at once arises over the definition of ef- fciency Shall we al one stroke elim- mate the so-called non-essential in dustries? or should we stand to lose more than we would gain through nrn1aHnra bpplnGp nf tho shock and derangement which would inevitably be felt throughout the en- tire economic structure? The gles- ton is purely one of expedienCy, once granted that every private interest should be sacrificed. if need b.. to the national necessity.
 Fortunately. the attempts which were at first made enthusiastically but rather ill-advisedly. to define the non-essentials. in order that they might be led forthwith to the exau- tioner's block. have given way tS a more rational method. We have at tackled the problem from the other side. determining what are the essen tials and attempting to make prpVi- sion for them. So much steel will be required for ships and munitions. so much food for ourselves and our al lies. so much money for loans and taxes When these requirements are provided the non-csscntials are vel. come to thc rest. provided they can operate under the difficulties which such d program imposes. Th"l" op- cratlon, il needs to b" recalled. hIl" it may not be immediately necessary for us. is distinctly necessary ill main taining American credit in nertral countries, which have not yet agree | 10 forcgo luNurics. and which are will ing to exchange for our luxurious products their own products which We impcratiycly need.
 k the stme difficulty which we have met with in the matter of national finance. namely, the lack of com prchensiyc and accurate budget. Tn" secretary of the treasury last No}"m- Der forecast war loan of not more than $lG 900 .0o0. .ooo" before the end of the fiscal year; yet it turned out that we raised little more than $4 ,OO0. .OOO.0o through q funded loan The difficulty of estimating precisely how much steel. copper, sugar, lum Der and other products we shall need for our construction program is Ob- viously far harder to overcome than that of forecasting our financial needs. For one thing. our allies, who seem to get along with a reasonable degree of preciseness in their fnan, cial estimates. have been changing their estimates of what they would need from us, with resulting confu- sion in our industrial scheme Once