Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-12-01
hazi Policies Fail
To Wipe Out Chances
For Private Wealth
Several Closes Hove
Benefited by War,
Survey Shows
BY DAVID M. NICHOL,

chieaEo Daily News Foreign Correspondent.
BERLIN. Nov. 30.-IJaz social
policies and war and 1earmament
taxes have done much to level and
adjust" incomes but apparently
have not wiped out the chances of
accommodating private fortunes.
In general there have been no
spectacular. profits during the war,
but there are several classes which
have benefited. A remarkably can
did survey, obtained through an Of
ficial source, lists four such general
groups and even refers to some of
them at least with q phrase that
can only be translated as million
aires in secret" or hidden Million
aires" These groups the survey
describes as:
l. ament manufacturers
whose profits are rigidly controlled
on q cost plus basis, but whose turn
over has been vastly increased.
2. Smaller manufacturers and
building contractors whose profits
are less vigorously limited and whose
benefits have come indirectly as
result of the demand for heavy
goods.
Merchants Benefited.
8. Merchants and manufacturers
not directly or indirectly connected
with war activity, whose fields have
been freed of foreign competition
as q result of NaZi trade policies
and whose markets have been
broadened by general unemploy-
ment.
4. Owners of large agricultural
estates, especially those devoted to
wheat production.
To these the study adds two other
groups which cut across the previ-
Gus classifications.
One comprises those business and
professional men who have been
provided additional opportunities
through the elimination of Jewish
competitors or who may have been
enabled to purchase Jewish busi-
nesses under very favorable condi-
tons"
No Objection to Profits.
OF the second the study says:
1T cannot be denied that q large
portion of Germany's new wealth
owes it origin to inner political con-
ditions. Hitler and his collabrators
have placed large number of their
followers and party members in
leading economic positions to act.
As they neither reject the principle
of private ownership nor of pri-
vate incomes. they have no objec-
ton to these men earning a lot of
money"
Little is said for domestic con-
sumption about any of these in
comes the survey describes, and the
stress had generally been on the
other side Of the picture. The best
informed neutral observers agree,
however, that the study is essen
TALLY accurate.
Income from security investments
has been the most closely controlled.
A decree, which expires next month,
limits the amount of distributed
profits, with some exceptions, to
per cent. Any declared profits over
this figure must be deposited with
the Reichsbank, where they are
available for investment in govern
ment securities and credits, by which
the Nazis are financing roughly half
Of their $4,000 900 900 marks yearly
expenses. The Minister Of Econom-
les, Walther Funk, has stated pub
hcly, however, that this measure
will not be extended.
Pressure Against Dividends.
There has been obvious pressure,
too, to prevent increases IN declared
dividends Of companies dealing
heavily in war and government Or
ders. The directors of one of Ger
r1any's largest shipbuilding con-
Germs, for example, announced in
June that they would increase their
declared dividends this year from
10 to IL per cent.
. A few days later came second
announcement that they had re-
considered and would maintain the
earlier 10 per cent figure. Many
concerns with earnings of less than
per cent, however, have announced
increases.
The last year for which compare
tive figures are available is 1887,
and the study says that the share
Of interest in the national income
from 1882 to 1887 dropped from -
to 4 per cent. During the same
period the share of wages and SAL
aries increased from $40 to ssh
per cent, while the share Of indie
pendent incomes from trades and
professions more than doubled from
l1.6 to Is per cent.
Drain on Bachelors.
Taxes on which the government
depends for about $4,000, 000, 900
marks Of its annual expenditure
are likewise an admitted heavy
drain, particularly on bachelors and
childless families. There are cases,
the survey says, where bachelors
with incomes of 100000 marks re-
tain only 10000 after taxes are paid,
and It Is theoretically possible for
an unmarried man who has been
exempted from military service to
part with his entire income by the
tax route.
Wages meanwhile have increased
from to 10 per cent since the
beginning Of the war. The survey
says the average for the Reich IN
1898 was 28 marks per week, com.
pared with a. marks in 1882. and
may now have exceeded 80. Fore
men earn as much as $50 to 400
marks q month. The average flg'
ure appears low, but it includes the
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