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THE DAY BOOK
N. D. COCHRAN
EDITOR ANr PUBLISHER.
800 S. PKORIA ST. CHICAGO, IIX.
TplpnhnnOQ Editorial. Monroe 3S.1
1 eieP"s CIrcu,otlon, Monr 353a
"-Subscription By Carrier in
Chicago, 50 cents a month. By
Mail, United States and Can
ada, 50 cents a Month.
fintered as second-class matter April.
21. 1914. at the postofflce at Chicago.
III., under the Act of March 3. 187?.
LET THE RICH PAY. There is
no doubt about the ability of the
United States to finance a -war, how
.ever much it may cost and however
long it may last
Our total wealth is approximately
$250,000,000,000; our annual in
come approximately $50,000,000,000;
our stock of gold upward of $3,000,
000,000. From the standpoint of material
wealth Ave are better prepared for
"war than we ever have been; several
hundred per cent better prepared
than any other nation ever has been.
Such vast wealth has never been
accumulated by any other nation in
the whole history of the world.
And every dollar of it is available
for war or for any other pupose for
which the government wants to
use it
There is no limit to the govern
ment's power to take the property of
its citizens by taxation.
Roughly speaking, there are two
methods of financing a war by bor
rowing through the issue of bonds;
. by direct taxation against incomes
and property.
The former means the creation of
a huge national debt and a big inter
est charge. The latter means that
"we pay as we go.
. One of the bi .problems that' our
lawmakers . must solve as soon as
tney nave aecmea ior war is ine
method of financing it
For many weeks past, ever since it
became clear that the war upon
which the United States is about to
enter was inevitable, the controversy
has been raging among financiers
and economists as to what method of
financing should be adopted by the
government.
The bond method is extremely
popular among the bankers and big
capitalists.
There is very good reason for this.
These men realize that the alter
native method direct taxation
would throw the financial burden of
the war very largely on the rich and
well-to-do people.
That is exactly where it ought to
be thrown.
' Most of the fighting will be done by
those who neither are rich nor well-to-do,
for the very simple reason that
the rich and well-to-do are in the mi
nority: '
For the purpose of temporarily
meeting th'e governments's first ne
cessities it will probably be necessary
to issue bonds.
But the permanent financing of
the war should be on the basis of di
rect taxation preferably the taxa
tion of incomes.
We rather like the suggestion that
an income tax so large as practically
td confiscate all incomes over a cer
tain figure ought to be levied by the
government
For example, let the government
say that all incomes over $100,000,
or even as low as $50,000, shall be
taken for war purposes. ,
On the basis of the $50,000 figure
it is probable that all the money nec
essary to finance the war would be
raised. If more is needed why not
tax all incomes between $25,000 and
$50,000, 50 per 'cent; incomes be
tween $10,000 and $25,000, 25 per
cent; incomes between $5,000 and
$10,000, 10 per cent; incomes be
tween $2,500 and $5,000, 5jer canfc
? I
