39, after which
come the United Kingdom with $18.28, and Germany $14.08. Let me add, in
this connection, that a good deal of the French gold is still in
stocking and cupboard.
By the end of 1916 the war had cost France $11,000,000,000, which means
an annual fixed charge of $600,000,000, to which must be added
$200,000,000 for pensions, making the total fixed burden of
$800,000,000.
All this cannot be paid out of savings, although in normal times France
saves exactly $1,000,000,000 a year. But the Government has one big
trump card up its sleeve. It is the large fortunes of her citizens. They
have been untouched by the war because practically no income tax has
been levied.
While the average Frenchman will sacrifice his life rather than submit
to taxation, the upper and wealthy class will do both. The annual income
of the people of France is $6,000,000,000. Therefore a 12 per cent tax
on this income would very nearly produce the entire fixed charge on the
war debt. France looks into the financial future unafraid.
Financially, Russia ambles along like the Big Bear she typifies. In one
respect her method of financing the war cost differs distinctly from her
Allies in the fact that she has received heavy advances from England and
France. From England alone she borrowed $1,250,000,000 which was
expended for arms and ammunition and field equipment. The Czar's Empire
has put out five internal loans while the rest of the money needed has
been raised out of the sale of short term Treasury Bills, paper money
issues and tax levies.
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