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that the Channel Fleet "should cruise as constantly as possible off Brest" with reliefs at Tor Bay was put into force. The military aim of the force was that "the port of Brest may be generally blocked up and detachments sent after every ship or squadron which may steal out from it or the other ports of the Bay." In fact the primary military aim was placed in the forefront, namely the destruction or neutralisation of the enemy armed force.

The above is only one instance from the wealth of historical evidence which Sir Reginald Custance brings to bear in his examination of the French Revolutionary War. This evidence should certainly be studied by every reader of the book, for it illustrates the constant reaction between the national or political object and the military aim, both in war at sea and in war on land. Whenever the national or political object has dominated the minds of those responsible for the conduct of the war to the exclusion of the military aim, then operations, whether by land or sea, suffered. On the other hand, when the military aim dominated as the means whereby the national or political object— security was to be attained, then operations, whether by land or sea, achieved success.

It may be well again to quote the Admiral's own words on winding up a consideration of this war :

As is well known, Nelson destroyed the French fleet in Aboukir Bay on 1st August. The effects were wide and far-reaching. It was the long-delayed battle required to balance the victories of Bonaparte on land; it assured the supplies of the British fleet as those victories had provided for the wants of the French army; it swallowed up and cancelled all the past efforts of Bonaparte to control the Mediterranean; it fatally impaired the chances of French success in Egypt and India; it made more secure every British oversea possession and interest, and materially helped towards the formation of the second European coalition against France. But more than this, it reaffirmed the importance of the battle and the wisdom of the strategy which makes opportunities to attack whenever a favourable opportunity offers; it confirmed the future ascendancy of the sea military school which, under the guidance of St. Vincent, Cornwallis, Barham and Nelson, made certain the future defeat of Bonaparte..

Within the limits of this article it has not been possible to touch upon chapters of immediate interest and instruction such as the one dealing with the principles which should govern the relations between the navy, the army and the air force, or the one

which considers certain political and military reactions during the Great War. But it is hoped that sufficient has been said to draw attention to the vital principles underlying the theory of war outlined in Sir Reginald Custance's book, namely, that war includes both the national or political object of security and the military aim; that in order to obtain political security the primary military aim, namely the destruction or neutralisation of the enemy armed force, must be accomplished; that this is achieved by battle or the threat of battle. The accomplishment of the secondary military aim-that is weakening enemy resources and strengthening our own-is contributory to the primary aim, but its achievement alone only leads to an armed truce.

Again it must be stated that the book itself must be critically examined and studied. The object in writing this article is simply to endeavour to emphasise the importance of the theory and principles of war with which Sir Reginald Custance deals in a small book of just over 200 pages, which displays to a high degree the art of compression, It is a book, as stated before, not only for sea and military officers, but for politicians and the general public.

ROGER M. BELLAIRS

THE

TAXES AND SALARIES IN FRANCE

HE French financial problem is largely a taxation problem, and it is a problem which, though greatly aggravated by the circumstances and results of the war, dates much further back. The population of France on the whole is not poor. No Frenchman wastes money. Every Frenchman saves part of his income, however modest that income may be, and-as has been said recently by a highly qualified British observer-France would be the richest country in Europe to-day if the French had not been tempted again and again to lose in dangerous investments abroad the money which, with such admirable thrift, they have so carefully economised at home. The fact that the French peasant always has savings to invest has indeed partly led to the bad financial policy which his Governments have followed for many years. Naturally it has not always been abroad that he has invested these savings, and his own Governments have been the first to be ready to borrow them, as he has always been ready to lend them. Indeed the very qualities which have induced the peasant to save money have been accompanied by a disinclination to make payments of any kind, such as has tempted succeeding Governments to borrow from him rather than to tax him. The moment has now come when the borrowings must cease and the peasant must be made to pay; and the members of the Government have to deal with the uncomfortable fact that, instead of educating him for generations to be a taxpayer, their predecessors have constantly flattered his belief that he is not paying anything at all. They have flattered that belief not only by borrowing from him instead of taxing him, but also by raising the greater part of such taxes as they did impose in an indirect rather than a direct form, thus making him pay almost without knowing it.

In actual fact he has also paid-again without knowing it— considerably more than the amount levied upon him by indirect taxation. Currency inflation has effectively deprived him of part of the money which he has lent to the State. The debased value of the franc is in effect a tax on capital which the peasant has to pay, though he continues to declaim against the proposed Socialist

tax on capital and to declare his intention to refuse to pay it. In much the same spirit the Government continues to declare that it will resist a policy of inflation to the last. The legal limit of the note issue of the Bank of France has indeed not yet quite been reached. But what else than inflation is such a measure as the recent issue of a special currency for the Sarre, and the withdrawal therefrom of the French banknotes, which will be added to the volume of the notes circulating in France? Another inflationist device is the giving of a five per cent. discount on taxes paid in advance. This ingenious plan in reality amounts to a State issue of notes in competition with the Bank of France. It is a peculiarly dangerous device, for this new kind of paper carries interest and, although nominally destined for the payment of taxes, need not be so used, and is subject to reimbursement by the State if it is not so used. But whatever may be the effect of these new measures, already the fall of the franc due to the actual note issue of the Bank of France has unquestionably reduced the value of the money which the French peasant has lent to the State.

That the Government must somehow find the courage to bring borrowings to an end and must enforce heavy taxation is generally admitted by French economists, although there is little sign as yet of that courage being shown. M. Gaston Jèze, the distinguished professor of the Faculty of Law in the University of Paris, wrote the other day with great frankness on this matter. The immediate occasion of his article was the latest sinking fund proposal of the Government. He declares boldly that to create a sinking fund on the one hand while borrowings of any kind are continued on the other is an absurdity. A sinking fund is only possible when there is an excess of receipts over expenditure. Admittedly much of the present financial difficulty in France is due to the fact that for a hundred years there has been constant borrowing, never followed by the creation of a sinking fund. Admittedly also it is logically absurd to make payments to any sinking fund when resort is still being made to loans. He adds that the time has come when the liability can no longer be passed on to a succeeding generation, as has so often been done in the past this generation must face the accumulated burden. As to the phrase so often heard, "I have no wish to evade my taxes, but I object to these inquisitorial methods," M. Jèze roundly declares that it only means a determination to avoid payment.

The truth is that it takes many years to educate the taxpayers of a country into submitting to direct taxation, and also to educate the tax collectors into getting the money. I speak of direct taxation, because it is generally agreed that the saturation point of indirect taxation has been reached in France and that it is through direct taxation that increase of revenue must be found. In Great Britain this necessary education has extended over several generations, and if the income-tax works satisfactorily and smoothly on this side of the Channel it is because Englishmen and Scotsmen have been accustomed to it for so many years. In France the income-tax was first introduced by M. Caillaux and it is for this offence more than for anything else that he has never been forgiven by the property-owning classes. The law which created the income-tax was passed in July, 1914, and the tax was first collected in 1916. Since that time the average Frenchman has continued bitterly to resent both the declaration of his income and the steps taken by the authorities to discover what it is. Public opinion has certainly been in favour of evasion, and M. Loucheur's famous phrase describing the income-tax as "l'impôt des poires " (or the " mugs' tax ") has represented not only the feeling of the country but the successful expression of that feeling, as shown by results. Although the limit of exemption is so low as 7,000 francs (or £75 a year) yet only 927,000 persons paid income-tax in 1923 out of the total population of 39,200,000, and it only produced 1,300,000,000 francs, or about £14,000,000. In the same year the income-tax in the United Kingdom brought in £379,000,000. It may fairly be assumed that there is a very considerable margin of undeclared and untaxed income in France.

Important as this margin undoubtedly is, the details of the yield of the income tax are worth examination, as giving some evidence of the distribution of wealth in the country. It is often argued by the supporters of indirect taxation in France that it not only conforms to the habits of the people, but that it is the most economical way of raising money in a country where there are very many small fortunes and very few large ones. The conclusion may be disputed but the sub-division of property in France is certainly a fact. It was caused largely by the Napoleonic law enforcing the division of inheritances, but has since become part of the whole social organism. Out of the 781,000 people

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