Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1944-03-09
Might Be
WrOng--Bu
P. G. STROMBERG

AZ thinking of the early years
following peace. 1t may be be-
cause we are too optimistic about
the wars conduct. Certainly if
the boys in Washington who
hand out the censored news
have given US correct reports
there is every reason for public
optimism. Our
ssThe Hotter military leaders
The and our men
War are giving an
account of them
selves which prompts US to say
"on with the war to an early
success. The hotter the war
the sooner the peace"
Whether our confidence in the
wars outcome or our gradual
realization that the early years
of peace will still be years of
war of a different nature is re-
sponsible for the trend of an
alysis of the future it is never
theless a fact that peacetime
probably are being given much
thought. And uppermost among
the topics of conversation is the
steadily mounting national debt.
Just where it will stop; what
effect it will have; how both in
terest and payments can be
made; what the unemployment
problem will bring, etc., are
among the subjects of serious
conversation.
There are still men high in the
country's councils who take the
view that there is no real dam
ger to a huge national debt.
This school of thought contends
now, as they have for years, that
there can be no danger when we
actually owe the money to our
selves. Others maintain that
the size of our national debt
will be the undoing of our great
democracy; that it will be i'm
possible to meet interest pay
ments and general government
expenses. When that time comes,
they contend, our economic struc-
ture will crumble and our pri-
vate fortunes will be liquidated.
In any study of the problem
it must be recognized that never
again will we, of this genera
ton, live in times such as were
known in the twenties or earlier.
1t can never be again that we
will be able TO keep nearly all
the money we receive from sal
airy, business or profession. That
day is definitely in the past. No
matter what So
The luton is reached
Sooner The it Will have to
Peace" carry a heavy
tax burden, We
had just as well accept as in
evitable the fact that the Fed
eral Government will take from
twenty to forty per cent of our
individual incomes. 1t just
can't be otherwise. Our inter-
est alone will amount to more
than the entire Federal expenses
Including interest on debit in
the years before the present
war. That interest will be two
TO three times as high as the
general Government expenses in
years prior to the Roosevelt adj
ministration. There is no way of
acquiring a balanced budget
without taking from the people
close to a quarter of the entire
national income of a year equal
to the best recorded income prior
to these war years. If the ma
tional income can be maintained
at level in excess of 800 bill
lion then the government will be
able to meet obligations through
levy of not more than twenty
percent. And to maintain an
income level that high there
must be very little unemploy-
ment. A national income in ex-
cess of 500 billion means twenty
per cent more than 1929 which
was the best year on record
prior to 1941. How to absorb
the millions Of men and women
IN the war production plants as
well as the millions of returned