War-time financial problems

IV

WAR FINANCE AS IT MIGHT HAVE
BEEN—II

December, 1917

The Changed Spirit of the Country—A Great Opportunity
thrown away—What Taxation might have done-—The
Perils of Inflation—'Drifting stupidly along the Line of
Least Resistance—It is we who pay, not " Posterity."

IN the November number of Sperling's Journal I
dealt with the question of how our war finance might
have been improved if a longer view had been taken
from the beginning concerning the length of the war
and the measures that would be necessary for raising
the money. The subject was too big to be fully
covered in the course of one article, and I have been
given this opportunity of continuing its examination.
Before doing so I wish to remind my readers once
more of the great difference in the spirit of the
country with regard to financial self-sacrifice in the
early days of the war and at the present time, after
three years of high profits, public and private
extravagance, and successful demands for higher
wages have demoralised the public temper into a
belief that war is a time for making big profits and
earning big wages at the expense of the community.
In the early days the spirit of the country was very