OCR Text |
Show I SEES REACTIONARY I BUSINESS SPIRIT H Herniary of the Treasury Deplores; I Lack of Confidence and Optimism I Which in Unwaranted. I SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 17. A H thing difficult of understanding is the H reactionary spirit whlch,ln some quar- H ters, seems to have seized hold of j H American business. It manifests it H self in a gloomy and pessimistic view H of the future in no way justified by H conditions present or discernible, and H in a disposition to cavil at the further H expenditures the government is un- H der the necessity of making in order H to liquidate the war. H Instead of days of dark foreboding, H these should be days of rejoicing, of H confidence and of high resolve. Amer- H ica is least injured of any of the na- H tions which took active part in the ' H death grapple with autocracy on the j H soil of France and Flanders. Our H fields have not been devastated, our H homes and factories have not been H razed, famine does not stalk among H ii. i. In all material things the nation B is richer and stronger than it was H before we went to war. H Is the American spirit less courage- H ous than is the spirit of the French H or of the Belgians? France, sorrow- H ing, but undaunted, has set about to H repair the wreck the ruthless invader H - wrought, and refuses to view the fu- H ture darkly. Belgian, stripped of all H save honor, looks forward to the day H when a greater nation will arise on H the ruins of the old. Shall America, H then, bend and groan under the imag- H inings of a burden which it should H bear lightly, if felt at all 7 M Sight never should be lost of the M fact that America's war debt is sub- H stantially all owed to the American M . people. Money to meet the interest H charges on it and eventually to pay M off the principal will flow back to the B sources whence it came. A national B debt of this character is not a bur- M den to cripple future business. H It should be kept in mind, also, that B the issues of Liberty Bonds were paid m for, or are being paid for, almost en- m ttrely by the current savings of the H people. There was no impairment of M the capital which had accumulated B from the savings of former years. M More capital is available today for m the financing of legitimate business BH than ever before in the history of M the nation. Moreover, it must be re- B membered for at least two years pri- B or to the entrance of this country into m war American business enjoyed un- B precedent cil prosperity with enormous B profits, untaxed beyond the normal B levies. In affecting the savings by means M of which they bought Liberty Bonds, H the benefits of which will be felt by our children and our children's child- m ren. The billion-dollar indemnity J which Bismarck levied in the belief H that it would keep France prostrate H rojuvinated Frunce and enabled her Laval to become the chief stumbling block i H to Germany's dream of world do- j MS minion. So America's war debt, if H rightly viewed and rightly handled, i J should make for the contentment and H prosperity of our people. To see in J it an obstacle to business progress is H to see ghosts and hobgoblins and oth- J er things which have no existence J outside the realms of fancy. |