How the Public Should Pay for the War

There are many popular fallacies as to the ultimate source of funds for paying for the war. In the first place, there is the as usual fallacy, one which is fostered today by propaganda on the part of those special interests that do not wish to retire in favor of the public interest. It is perfectly natural that a manufacturer or vendor of superfluities should in a time of war resist sacrificing his business, especially if others around him lack patriotism and set him a bad example, but it really makes my blood boil to see the efforts that some of the big interests in this country, that I might mention by name, are making to befuddle the public on this subject by telling them that the way to finance this war is to keep their business going so that they can subscribe to liberty bonds. In other words, if we pay them $100 they will pay $5 to the government. Of course if we paid our $100 to the government in the first place the government would be $95 better off than if we support somebody in order that he may subscribe. There are two ways in which we subscribe to liberty bonds, or two ways in which we pay our taxes. One is the right way and the other is the wrong way. The right way of subscribing to the liberty bonds is to sacrifice in some other expenditure in order to buy them. If, for instance, we give up the purchase of a pleasure automobile and put the same sum that we would otherwise have put into the purchase of that automobile into the purchase of a liberty bond, we have done our duty in the full sense of the word, because we have not only given Uncle Sam the funds but we have gotten out of his way in industry, and the same labor and capital which would have made my pleasure car will make a motor truck. But if we decide that we will not give up that pleasure car and at the same time think that we can be patriotic without any sacrifice, and subscribe to liberty bonds by going to the bank and saying, Here, I have not got the money; I am not willing to give up my pleasure car but if you will lend me the money I will lend it to Uncle Sam; if, in other 112

Economics · Political science · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · Military and Defense Studies · Psychology

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