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Show THE CITIZEN try or defense of the republic. Many of them labor under the by the extent to which they registered their will in terms of delusion that they are moved by an admirable sentimentalism, Liberty bonds. What could be simpler? What could be fairer? would exa beautiful altruism. But if those thus The plan is an excellent one, but we fear that the Post will amine as closely into their own motives as they do into the mo-- . self-deceiv- ed tives of others, they would discover that their aversion to the things that traditionally underlie the most successfull experiment in free government the iworld has ever known, and their admiration for or toleration of the revolutionary forces which march toward dictatorship, is the desire for self exaltation, the appetite for power, the rejection of the larger love of country which in thep atriot supplants a petty love of self. Such vaulting egoism carried to its ultimate expression, means violence, not peace ; tyranny, hot liberty ; hatred, not love. As Joseph Conrad says : It requires a certain greatness of soul to interpret patriotism worthily, and also a sincerity of feeling denied to the vulgar refinement of modern thought which understand the august simplicity of a sentiment proceef jcannot ding from the very nature of thinking men. Smallness of soul is responsible for the contempt of loyalty breathed by the pessimistic posers who hope to impress the general public with their cleverness and breadth by deprecating as puerile the love of any cause larger than that of ones own thwarted lust for dominion over others. . MILITARY be disappointed in the reception it gets from the internationalists. For it is probable that most of these canccllationists are like the super-patriwho is the first to shout for war and demand it until war is declared and then the last to enlist They are likely to be the first to demand cancellation and the last to want to do the inevitable paying for it. If this isnt true, here is the chance for them to prove the contrary. ot EFFICIENT SECRETARY Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury, earned his 1927 salary a great many times over when he split a fraction in fixing the interest rate on the new 1947 securities, just offered for sale by the government in its refinancing program. The main purpose of this issue is to help retire Second Liberties next Novem- ber, partly by flat exchange, partly by cash redemption out of money realized from the sale of the new bonds. In addition, some two hundred millions will be used out of the surplus, reducing the principal of the public debt by that amount. Secretary Mellon fixed the interest rate on the new bonds at 3 per cent, instead of the 3 y2 that had been expected. of one per cent does not sound large. But applied to public debt charges it means a reduction of $125,000 a year in government expenses for every $100,000,000 of debt involved. No mere politician would dare to figure interest rates so fine as to split quarters into eighths. But Mr. Mellon is no politician. He is a financier, and one of such training and experience that he can tell when 3 per cent may be shaded to 3 per cent without affecting the prospective market for the bond issue involved. By thus treating the governments finances as carefully as he would his own, Secretary Mellon, in the n years he has functioned as head of the Treasury Department, has saved the public an enormous aggregate of tax money. This splitting of quarters into eighths is merely a sample. Similarly Secretary of Commerce Hoover, by his industrial standardization campaign, mercilessly ridiculed by his critics at the time of its inception, lias saved an enormous aggregate for consumer and producer alike; and much of the producers share of this saving has found its way into pay envelopes. Minneapolis Journal. One-eigh- th It is unlikely that any of the young men now taking military training in schools and colleges will be called upon to fight in a war, for as the number of men trained in military fundamentals increases, the likelihood of war decreases. But wars sometimes come even to a people that do not wish for war. A prepared nation has an advantage. The young men who are giving their time to military drill and studies in the schools are bringing this advantage to the United States. It is especially valuable because it is voluntary. There is no forced military training in the United States, no such thing as a citizen army in the European sense. The American land defenses regular army, guard and reserve are made up of men voluntarily pledged to a program of national defense in keeping with this countrys world position. These men deserve the thanks and praise of the country. They should be encouraged, as the high school cadets were encouraged by tangible evidence of an appreciative citizenship. Indianapolis News. ONE WAY The Saturday Evening Post has an ingenious plan for ducing the European war debt to the United States and at the same time affording the cancellationists in America the joy of performing something in which the performer believes. The plan involves the willingness of the U. S. Treasury to accept from anyone who sends them in, Liberty bonds, the amount to be credited against the debt of whatever European country the philanthropist wants to favor. Under this plan the ardent cancellationists could bring about debt reduction themselves without throwing the burden onto the American taxpayers who do not believe in cancellation. The great bankers who advocate cancellation might throw bundles of Liberty bonds into the hopper and thereby reduce the debt and at the same time dispel the suspicion that they are selfishly in favor of debt cancellation so that they can lend more money to Europe. The college professors could invest their savings in Liberty bonds and then donate the bonds to the account of England, or France or whichever country they happened to have their favor. up, the Post says: The crowning merit of qthis In summing plan is that it instantly reduces the whole vexed and intricate formusettlement to the curt but clean-cquestion of war-dela: Put up or shut up. Every bond would be a vote and every vote would count. The minority would have its wishes at least partly carried out Their strength would be precisely measured . half-doze- THE BIKE re- bt The humble bicycle is becoming more popular than ever. At first the automobile put the treadle two wheeled vehicle out of commission, but not for long. The present parking laws are in favor of the bicycle. Those who have not the time to hourly change the location of their automobiles in the restricted dis- trict, are compelled to park so far outside that many are seriously contemplating carrying bicycles on their automobiles to ride to and from their machines. The annual number of divorces per 1,000 marriages in the United States, according to census statistics, was 35 in 1870, 81 in 1900 and 145 in 1924. Nevada has the highest rate 1,037 divorces a year and only 1,079 marriages; the lowest rate is in the District of Columbia where there are only 2G divorces annually per 100,000 of population. An old Wisconsin Indian laments that war paint has become rouge, the peace pipe has become the cigarette and buckskin leggings have become sheer silk stockings. And let him ponder on what firewater lias become. Detroit Free Press. ut Fords earnings for 1926 are estimated roughly at ninety million dollars, which indicates that Henry wont have to ask for any debt cancellation for some time yet. |