The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-07-02
NEA Service Writer

Washington-All the excitement
 over the debts-reparations morator-
 ium proposal may incidentally i'm
 press the fact that big wars cost a J ot of money and that the costs are | likely to cause lot of trouble in later years.
 Thus certain interesting thouE h not especially comforting thoughts are inspired by the assertion Of | Bernard NJ. Baruch, who was chair | man of our War Industries oBard, | that abmout half of our expenditure | in the World War was unnecessary. That Is, our war expenditures were | nearly $40,000, ,000,0O0 and Baruch says that an efficient comprehensive | war plan embracing an effective 1 method of preventing imitation would reduce the cost of war at least 90 per cent.
 Paync's Views.
 Assistant Secretary of War Fred erick Fl. Payne. addressing the Ma tional Association of Retail Credit Men at Boston. Justified the army's extensive industrial war plans by citing Baruch's estimates as given to the War Policies Commission and implied that the war plans not only would provide success in war but would be a big aid In attaining sub segment prosperity
 "As we consider the general effect on present conditions in our country If we had saved some 10 to 15 bil- l5 billion dollars of our expendi- lures in the late war" Payne said, i've are encouraged to intensity our efforts to insure efficient conduct Of
 Il
 Baruch proposed a drastic war time price freezing" plan which has stirred up some controversy. It would give the president power to declare that all prices prevailing on d certain day should be eqffectivc until further notice.
 Imitation enormously increases the cost of war and multiplies bur
 dens on the backs of generations yet to come" he explained. '"rhc
 war debt of the nation Is necessarily
 incurred in terms of debased dollar values. In the inevitable postwar cdfiation the debt, of course, r"-
 mains at the inflated figure. Thus
 the bonds that our government sold | in the World War for 50-cent dollars | must be paid through the years by taxes levied on 100-cent dollars. For example. our total war ex- penditure was $39. 9.O00. .000,000 in-
 cured in terms of 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1920 dollars. In terms of the purchasing power of 1913 dollars it probably would have been only $13,- | 900, ,00O,00O. oI in terms of 1850 dol | lars probably not more than $l5,- | 900, 100000.
 | Checking Imitation. | "Such a grotesque result would | be almost unbelievable were the fig . ures not living facts. If anything can be done to avoid this practical doubling of the economic burden of 1 war, we should spare no effort to | accomplish 1t. We did,, In 1915,
 arrive at a method which checked the process of imitation in America
 and kept 1t In check until all con trols were released in November, 1918. We have proved in practice
 q method to control imitation and | that proof convinces me that 1t
 would prevent imitation if applied at
 once upon the advent of war and
 before the inhationary process be- gins"
 | Attempts to check imitation after 1t begins are old in American his tory, according to Baruch. who
 pointed to a New York law of the
 revolutionary period which fixed manufacturers profits. wages of me- chanics and laborers and many com
 modity prices at a figure mot to
 exceed twentyfold of the prices paid in 1774." The figure measured the