﻿THE FUTURE

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tials, the result is the same, as to the release of in-
dustrial labor and capital for war service, as though
this sum had been taken in taxation. Indeed to
the extent that the war taxes are of so restricted a
kind and rest in the main upon so limited a class
that payments will be effected by the aid of bank
loans or at the expense of further savings, there
is strong likelihood that the resultant curtailment
of unnecessary production will be less than that
growing out of a widely distributed bond issue paid
for out of current savings.

The final test of a fiscal expedient — preemi-
nently in war financing — is the likelihood of its
success. Is the direct absorption of an installment
payable bond issue of the needed volume—even
a succession of issues extending well beyond the
war — within such reasonable bounds as to justify
trial. The answer will rest upon our estimate of
the economic resource and the patriotic response
of American citizenry. As to the first, an install-
ment loan makes no greater requisition upon the
income of the nation than a certificate funding
loan of like amount, payable to like extent from
out of savings. Whatever doubt there may be on
this score therefore has to do with the total sum
obtainable by borrowing rather than with the par-
ticular manner of obtaining it. The Treasury in
its wisdom will determine the amount that may
reasonably be obtained by borrowing from the
national income, and only the borrowing device is
a matter of choice.

There remains the possibility of popular disfavor