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Show The Two Billion Dollar Liberty Loan nnn nnn nnn nnn What It Means to N ation and People By W. G. M'ADOO, Secretary of the Treasury. THIS war bond issue, which I have i called the Liberty loan, 13 au is?ue of United States government govern-ment bonds, bearing 3' per cent interest, which are to be sold to the people of the United States for the purpose of raising, in part, the necessary neces-sary money to carry ou the war with Germany. ' These bonds will te issued in denominations of $50 to $lw,00l ea.'h. with interest payable semi-annually, and are exempt from all taxation taxa-tion by federal, state and municipal authority, except, of course, the inheritance inherit-ance taxes. The bonds are an abso-1 lufely safe investment and offer a happy hap-py medium through which high and low, rich and poor, can render indispensable aid to the government in carrying on the present war. Why the Liberty Loan? Wars cannot be conducted without money, and we not qnly must finance the needs of our own government, but wo must help the allied governments making common cause with us against Germany and making common cause with us in our effort to establish liberty lib-erty throughout the world. That is the reason we call it the Liberty loan, the money derived from this loan will be dedicated to the fight for the establishment es-tablishment of free government among all the people of the earth and the destruction de-struction of the autocratic militarv system, sys-tem, conspicuously that of Germany, which has always been the most serious menace to the peace of the world. It is unquestionably true that the future peace of the world and the security of liberty throughout the world rest upon the universal establishment of the principle prin-ciple that all just government rests upon up-on the supremacy of the. democratic principle. Everv " people must become self-governed. XVe are now engaged in a death struggle between progressive I civilization aud the foes of progressive civilization. Free ajid progressive America belongs in a fight ot this kinct. Distributes Cost of War. The great Liberty loan is not going to bring suffering; upon our people. On the contrary, it is distributing over a Ions period of time a part of the cost of the war, and by that means is justly relieving tue present generation of a part of the burden. These bonds also offer a splendid opportunity for investment in-vestment of the savings of the people of the United States. These savings mav he. invested iu government bonds with absolute' security. The bonds ought to be an inducement to every man and woman in the land to save i money and make an investment which will not only be feeure and return a certain income, but will at the same time be the means of patriotically sup-! sup-! plving the neda of the government. ' All wars compel sacrifices. Our people peo-ple were never more prosperous and more able to make sacrifices, at least the. sacrifices involved in stopping needless need-less and extravagant expenditures. We can finance this war out of the saving? of the people of the United States it they will really economise. That is one thing I should like to impress upon the people of the country, the necessity for economy the prevention of wate. Cost of Living Will Fall. The security of business and the prosperity pros-perity for the future will be struth-oned struth-oned immeasurably if we eononne rigorously during this war, ami invent our savings in war bonds, while at th? ! same time, paying our just share of essential es-sential taxation. If we economize all ; over the laud, the cost or living w-ill be docreaed and not increased, aud we will be in better position to support our armies iu the field and our navy upon the high sas. It is doubly important that the people of the United states should buy these government bonds out of their own moneys and out of their own savings. must not relv upon the banks alone to buy these, nonds. There is a limit to which banks should put. Their funds in fixed investments, but there is no limit to -which toe individual may go in iuvestiug his income, and savings sav-ings in safe investments of a fixed r-har-acter like government bonds. Banks must at ali times keep their resources reasonably liquid, so that they can carry on the essential business of the country. coun-try. Therefore, the larger the amount of bonds bought by the people themselves, them-selves, the pater and more prosperous we make business in the country and the more useful we make the banks of , the country. i Taxes Will Have Good Effect. As to taxation: Of course, taxes must be increased, but the very tact that additional tax burdens must be borne will have a wholesome effect upon the people. Taxes will enforce economies and curb waste and extravagance. extrava-gance. To the extent that they prodiuu: this effect, the burden will be diminished dimin-ished and scarcely felt. Good fortunn has for many years favored us, and we have grown' healtlfy, wealthy and far. We must not get too fat. Wholnsonm taxation for a noble purpose is the best , antidote for the fatty degeneration with which we have been long threatened threat-ened as a nation. To do big things in a tug way ha alwayB appealed to the imagination ot the American people, and to do big things in a big way for a noblo idem makes an irresistible appeal to the American people. J f every man and woman in the United States gets back of this liberty loan, puts the fire ot en erg v and pat riot ism into the work . the first $2,000,000,000 installment of this loan will be over subscribed. But the loan will not succeed through its own momentum; we must all work with patriotic fervor. Those who are aide 1 to buy a bond or bonds should subs'-rib" promptly; those who are not able to do i po should pet some one who is able to buv a bond to do so. It should be remembered re-membered that everv subscription, how. over small, is helpful to the government and an honor to tins subscriber. j Twofold Benefit. I i Loans to our allies in Kuropn at thin time constitute a twofold benefit to our own co 1 1 ti try. They enable us to give ! vital aid immediately in prosecuting the : war in vhidi the whole world is con-' con-' corned, by furnishing the soldiers and the artillerv of our allies on the bat.tlo fronts in Europe with the munitions that make them most efficient, fighting units; and, secondly, they keep our : f;irmn ami our industries busy producing produc-ing the things that are needed for our allien, anl thus stimulate en.-'cutia! production pro-duction in the country, while ;i t the same time they make us more efficient in the war prepnrut ions wn must uu-1 uu-1 dertnle for ourselves and iu Niipplviiig our own armies, which muni immediate ly go into training in the United States. We have already made initial advances of monev to England, France and Italy aggregating $.50i.,o00,000. We shall undoubtedly extend aid to the new republic of .Russia, as well as to stricken Belgium. We are, in fact, a base of material and supplies for all the nations of Europe, Eu-rope, and the credits we' are extending to them can be expended by them with the greatest advantage in this country coun-try . Allies Will Spend Money Here. We do not, of course, impose upon our allies any obligation to spend the monev we lend them upon supplies here, but it is to their interest, to do so, as it is to our interest to help thern do so on the most advantageous terms. This is our war as much as their war, and we must make every dollar we lend them tell upon the battle fronts in Europe Eu-rope with the utmost effect. After this war is over the fact that we have rendered ren-dered material and financial aid and that the blood of our sons is intermingled inter-mingled with the blood of their sons upon the battlefields will create indissoluble indis-soluble ties of friendship and make the allied nations an impregnable force of liberty. These bond issues ought to have this wholesome effect upon our general economic eco-nomic situation, provided that, at the same time, taxation is applied wisely and vigorously to provide a large part of the cost of the war. As I said before, be-fore, most of the money invested by our people in these bonds will not become inactive behind the walls of a foreign country. Most of it will be used in this country in our own preparation for war and will be rapidly put back into general gen-eral circulation through the purchase of supplied for our allies and for our own government. If the situation is handled intelligently these operations should not prove hurtful they should be. helpful. Bonds Will Help End the War. Let us, each and every one of us, see to it that we invest some part or our means in this rnat liberty Ion n. It we can't buy a .foO bond at once, let us buy it in installments. Provision will be made for the sales of these bonds in installments. Let us lay now a secure financial foundation for every need of the government in carrying on this great war for human freedom and progressive civi !izn tion. The more qui-'kly we supply the adequate means of defeating the enemy and restoring peace, the greater the service we render to humanity,' because the shorter the war the more human life v save and the less human suffering we enforce. |