RATES AND GUNS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 71, 25 March 1938, Page 13

RATES AND GUNS

GERMANTS SPENDING

LOCAL TAXATION A SOURCE

FINANCING PLANS

It as often assumed abroad that Ger- , many will.be unable to maintain her re-armament pace, will, certainly be unable to compete permanently with rich countries with foreign investments .like ..Great Britain, says the Berlin correspondent of the "Birmingham Post." The fact.that the Third Reich has already, gone the pace for- four years is adduced as a reason why it must either retrench or ultimately collapse. Observers on the spot (who are indeed no better off for statistical data than observers at the Antipodes, but . who see general conditions more closely) would admit only that Germany has gone, and-Ms going, the pace; .but they would not admit that there need be either slackening or acute difficulty. They know that it is easier for Germany than for Great Britain to add ten "or twenty millions to her armaments outlay. It is easier, that is, to decree expenditure in Obersalzburg than to, prove ■its; necessity to Parliament; and it is easier to get cash by imposing the invisible, gradually-felt, strain of credit and currency inflation than by adding a, contentious shilling to the income tax. .. :: ., THE READINESS TO PAY. In England, the limit is the citizen's readiness to pay; in Germany, the citizen's passivity in bearing burdens. To the latter- there seems to be no end. Hence Germany has not only abundant resources for Army, Navy, and Air Force, which may be necessary, but also for- purposes which are unnecessary, luxurious, and even harmful, and which no -carefully administered country would dream of indulging in. Anyone accustomed- to measuring wealth by display would find the title of the English playlet "Tons of Money" applicable to the Reich. In addition to the Defence Ministries, other Ministries (Reich Ministries only) spend money lavishly; and National Socialist Party organisations do the same. The totals of sums so spent, and, of course, ( all regular Reich expenditure, are unknown. It is a mere conjecture whether the combined Reich Party expenditure is. fifteen, twenty, or thirty milliard marks a year. \ ]■ Visible only are the results;.the ever new pompous buildings, vast engineering undertakings, costly road nets, headlong ■, acquisition of■ private real property—city office buildings, suburban villas, • baronial castles, and country , and mountain, hotels. FOR MUSSOLINI. Recently the Unter den Linden pavements were being ploughed up for electric cables, because Sign or Mussolini must be ■gratified'with a few minutes' extra illumination*" ■. . . ~.".' ■ This tendency, is not new, or specifically Nazi. ■ It has merely got worse in measure ~_as. public control has got weaker, and as the technique of invisible financing,has grown more refined. Although.:during the'inflation the'public were supposed to be underfed and underelothed, the municipalities constructed < rtheir sports fields, public baths, and assembly halls. The Reichpost replaced presentable old buildings with' often unpresentable new; the.iSupppsedlyLji.;hungry public were shown where to buy .their stamps and pay their1 telephone dues by elaborate '■ electric signs; In railway stations the - bankrupt State Department (not yet a -Railways Corporation) found it necesEary to cover decent whitewashed walls with varicoloured. tiles; and set up beaten brass .signs in the place, of plain painted ones. . . The, Reich competes with the States and municipalities. It claims, therefore, to monopolise the' money and capital, markets; and it duly forbids States to borrow, and therefore makes, it impossible' for them to waste. Hence.both State and municipal debts are decreasing, slowly, indeed, but surely; Reasonable economy is pursued. LOCAL TAXATION. •Further,-; the increase of local taxation is in general forbidden; and nearly the whole of the substantial increase in total public revenue since 1933' has gone to the Reich. The Reich, that is,. can afford .to spend, possessing at once the excess tax revenue, the intakings -o£ regular borrowing, atid the yields, of credit inflation. Another abundant source is supplied by the new levies, dues, and virtually compulsory subscriptions. There are dues to the Organisation of- Business, to the Labour Front, the Culture Chamber, and other propaganda Ministry organs, party subscriptions proper, local levies' for, defence; the winter help, bringing in £33,000,000 a year; ■ the Schacht Levy, bringing in £50,000,----000; and so on. The total is estimated, at some £200,000,000 yearly. ' ■ 'This money is not primarily raised for 'magnificent edifices' and demonstrations, but ■ a substantial part goes thereon. The Labour Front took over the office-complexes of the abolished trades unions; and Nazi orators, often with reason, reproached the unions for wasting the workman's pfennigs on architectural splendours. But the Labour Front is now running up its own new complexes of office-buildings. "The pompous public, constructions are being pressed at full speed; and \ the same newspapers that foreshadow shortage of coal and issue warnings for the coming winter, mention with pride that 550 special trains have been/mobilised for the Nurnberg demonstration." :-