The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-05-17
MANS THE ONLY ANIMAL
THAT MUST PAY TAXES
Daily News of London Discusses Prob.
lem from Variety of Brand
New Viewpoints.

London, May l7.--Man is the only
animal that pays taxes. declares the
Da ~ News, Other animals do most
of the things that he does most of
the very expensive things. at least.
such as fighting-but they manage to
do them thout having their pockets
picked by the way by chancellor of
the eXchequer
! do not know who invented taxes
1t was probably civil servants, who
could not otherwise have made liv-
ing They wanted to be paid for or
ganiz ng things, such as fighting and
the preservation Of law and order.
that every other community of living
creatures can do for itself without
organization.
Could we not have initiated the
bees who preserve perfect law and or
der without paying a saary to a
single home Office clerk? Could We
not have modelled ourselves on the
rocks, who punish the delinquents OF
the rookery without a costly retinue
of policemen, gaolers. magistrates,
and prison commissioners?
Even n making war. for all the
money we spend, we do not seem to
have been able to ach eve more than
the trick of killing each other at a
distance instead of killing each other
close at hand, as the other animals
do We are not really more deadly or
dev lish than the beasts of prey-the
tiger the boa constructor, and the
flea on the Bombay rat. We cannot
make fighting more deadly than il
was in the days when Cain killed
Abel. Some people even contend that
if we were disarmed altogether, and
fought with sticks and stones aud
things that can be picked up on the
roadside, fighting would be more
dangerous than we have been able Ia
make it in these days of bombing
plane and submarine aud poison gas.
Useful Ways of Spending Money
Why, then, all this nonsense of an
nual budgets? One would not grudge
few guineas If there were some
chance of their achieving something
that wild beasts do not do every day
for nothing. One would like to see
them used for the purpose OF running
a permanent Shakespeare theatre
and paying d substantial fee to every
body. if anybody, who could be per
suaded to attend. One would gladly
see them spent on official propaganda
in defence OF Beethoven against mod
err musical critics.
There are many useful objects fol
which a chancellor of the exchequeI
might demand our money He might
raise a few millions, for instance. fol
the purpose Of running special ira ms
for people who Ike to travel with the
windows shut. He might raise a few
more millions TO run special trains for
those other nuisances who Ike e
travel with the windows open
One would not object even to the
money being wasted, if it were vast
ed amusinely But it is wasted in
way that seems to leave nearly every
body far more miserable than the,
were before.
Free Meals in Restaurants.
! Poss bly,, human beings prefer to bO
. miserable. They certainly pay states
men to make them miserable. The,
will always support statesman whit
says he wants to buy bombs They ar
Immediately suspic Gus OF a Statesman
who says he wants to buy something
useful like a telephone system.
he told them he was go ne to prOvid
free meals in the restaurants, the
would think him mad, and turn hir
out On the other hand, II he offere
TO lead them TO disaster, they woul
follow him with the widest enthu,
iasm, and ask him if he was sure h
had eonugh money to do the thin
Thoroughly.
conclude that paying taxes mus
lie a form of collective mania. II
the sort of thing no man would d
singly The ideal thing, of course
would be to make taxes voluntary, $
that anyone who wished the prim
minister to take firm line abou
Yap or to make war on San Marin
could forward his request to Dow
ng-street and enclose "a cheque tow
ards expenses.
Under such a system a war coul
be noated like a company, and thos
who really wanted it could take tn
r SKIS and pay the expenses. No on
need fear that this would do ava
with war. 1t would be a poor war ]
which the shares did not stand at
premium within few hours of tn
opening of hostlities