ABSTRACT
IF it be proved, as seems sufficiently clear, that the propertied classes have not “ made money out of the war,” but are, on the contrary, very much poorer as a result of it, are there still any arguments in support of a Capital, Levy on them in order to pay off the W ar Debt. Mr. Bonar Law told the Trade Unionist Deputation, intro duced by Mr. Sidney Webb (November 14th, 1917), that “ the question of whether or not there should be conscription of wealth is entirely a matter of expediency, which con cerns mainly not the working classes but the people who have money.” It is deplorable that a Chancellor of the Exchequer should use so vague a phrase as “ people who have money.” Taken literally it is a truism, for a pauper obviously cannot pay either a levy
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116 T H E W A R D E B T or a ta x ; but in this sense it should not be used in contrast with “ the working classes,” since there is no class nowadays, except the aged and disabled, which does not work, and if Mr. Law means wage-earners, as no doubt he does, his assumption is unfounded because, as we have seen, the wage-earners in the aggregate have had far more money to spend than the rest of the community. If, again, Mr. Law means persons with large incomes, e.g. over £3,000 a year, his statement is still untrue, since these incomes are not all derived from property, probably not even the m ajority of them, for they include the salaries of Cabinet Ministers and Judges, who show a regrettable disinclination to serve their country for naught.
