PAYING FOR THE WAR

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14050, 1 May 1919, Page 7

PAYING FOR THE WAR

GERMANY’S LIABILITIES. FRANCE ASKS FOR JUSTICE. Under the title, “Who shall pay first: France or Germany ” the Matin prints a striking article on the subject of indemnity and on the proposed levy of a t:5 per cent tax on capital. “Supposing that in 1871,” says the writer, “when the Germans held France from the Loire to Flanders, Bismarck had said to the German people: ‘We have crushed France and imposed on her an indemnity of two hundred millions sterling, which is rather more than the war has cost us. However, as we are not absolutely sure that France can pay this two hundred millions, I propose to take one-fifth of the property of every German citizen in order to meet the deficit in the Budget of the new German Empire.’ If •Bismarck had made such a proposition, do you not think the German people would have shut him up as a lunatic or stoned him?”

The Matin writer goes on to point out_ that, although it has not yet been decided what Germany must pay for having let loose war and ruin on the world, the French Government have already announced that the best means of paying the cost of the war will'■he tn take from every Frenchman onefifth or one-quarter of his property. “The knife is ready,” he says, “not to bleed the -assassin who has been conquered, but his victim, who is the conqueror.” The pronosed new tax on capital, the Matin points out, is aimed not only- at a quarter of the fortune of the millionaire, as some people seem to believe, but at a quarter of the savings which old servants and employees have put aside for their old age, at a quarter of the trader’s merchandise, at a quarter of the farmer’s field, at a quarter of the peasant’s furniture. “Will half or three-quarters of the German fortune be taken first? Nobody seems to know. Will they take first half or three-quarters of the waggons of gold and diamonds the Kaiser took with him into exile? Nobody knows. Will they take half or threequarters of the savings of the people of Pomerania, Bavaria, or Hesse, whose sons apd brothers burnt Bheims, annihilated Amiens, sacked Valenciennes. pillaged Lille, devastated five French departments? Nobody knows. Will they take half or three-quarters of the property of the German Junkers, of the lands of the Bosche farmers, of the beer of the Boscbe brewers, of the furniture of the Bosche peasants? Nolmdy knows. All we know is that, to_ meet this debt due to German crime, it is proposed to take forthwith one-quarter of the fortune of France, and that before even presenting the bill to the debtor they are seeking how to despoil the creditor.” The Matin flraws a bitter contrast between the fact that every soldier wi'l receive a demobilisation premium of ton pounds on leaving the arm", and a few months later will l>e called upon to pay the P*-ato a quarter of all be possesses. Yhe Matin ooncb’d“s by characterising, tho pronged capital tax as “ruin and irnhecß'ty.”