THE ECONOMIC EFFECT OF WAR.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—May I point out to you what is evidently a slip of the pen in the article on "The Economic Effect of War" in your last issue ? The error is in the sentence,—" It is often said, for instance, that England could borrow a hundred millions, and then pay for it by a twopenny tax on sugar, and that as a financial statement is correct." The writer doubtless meant to write "halfpenny tax on sugar." The annual consumption in the United Kingdom is upwards of one million tons ; a tax of a halfpenny per pound, nearly £5 per ton, would yield a revenue of about 25,000,000, provided the tax did not curtail consumption. It would do this to some extent, no doubt; but not to such a serious extent as it would have done when wholesale pricex were higher than they are now, and when, as you pointed out in your article on "Retail Traders' Profits' last week, there has not been a corresponding reduction in retailers' prices.—!
am, Sir, &c., R. MORTON.
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