The Washington herald., 1917-11-18
PENNY-WISE BY WAR
Happy. Careless Waseful America Will Learn Save Cheese
Parings and Candle Ends and Thus. by Thrift Gain New
Ideals of Action and New Habits of Thought.
By THOMAS W. LAMONT.

less:
I'VE must supply abundant food
for ourselves and for our armies and
our seamen not only, but also for
large part of the nations with whom
we have now made common cause,
in whose support and by whose side
We shall oe fighting.
I'VE must supply ships by the hun
dreds out Of our shipyards to carry
to the other side of the sea, sub
marines or no submarines, what will
every day be needed there, and abun-
dant materials out OF our fields and
our mines and our factories with
which not only to clothe and equip
our own forces on land and sea, but
also to clothe and support our peo-
pie for whom the gallant fellows
under arms can no longer work to
help clothe and equip the armies
with which we are cooperating In
Europe, and to keep the looms and
manufactures there in raw material;
coal to keep the fires going in ships
at sea and in the furnaces of hun
dreds of factories across the sea
steel out of which to make arms and
ammunition both here and there;
rails for worn-out railways back of
the fighting fronts; locomotives and
rolling stock to take the place OF
those every day going to pieces;
mules. horses. cattle for labor and
for military service; everything with
I which the people of England and
France and Italy and Russia have
usually supplied themselves but can
not now afford the men. the ma
terials. or the machinery to make"
Consider the whole problem from
/ another angle: During the present
fiscal year-the year ending June 30.
lSlS-the Federal government will. 1t is
estimated, need 10000, 10000. an aver
age of over 100000 a day Where.
in the first year of the war. England
had to raise an average'of 81, 900. 900 a
day, America must raise 0.000, 600
That measures the intensity which the
struggle has reached and shows again
the greatness of the task to be per-
formed.
How can we meet these enormous
demands? It is not sufficient that we
merely turn over to the government
our dollars in the form of taxes and
loans. or, whep we say that the gov
ernment must have SIS, 600 900 900 this
year we mean that It must be supplied
with goods and services valued at
that amount-wheat, cotton, wool.
coal. copper. steel, etc. and the serv-
ices OF those engaged in the govern
ment service. The available supply Of
all these products has already been
greatly depleted by three years Of i'm
mensely destructive warfare. and IL
our government and our allies are to
be furnished with what they require
for the successful prosecution of the
war 1t is clear that we must UNDER
take the thrift campaign upon a Wig
orous scale.
For nearly three years. business in
America has been working at high
pressure. Since July L 1914. we have
exported more than thirteen billion
dollars in merchandise. or almost
double the amount exported in the
preceding three years. Profits have
been large and in many Industries
wages has been heavily increased.
This great prosperity has been largely
due to expenditures of the allies in
this country, and has, to use the
words of Sir Stafford Northcote, be
gotten in us a habit and even a
taste for expenditure such as it is
much easier to acquire than to get
rid of. Economy, however, now be-
comes common obligation. Every
man and woman must. as Mr.. Her
bert {. Hoover has pointed out with
great force. tackle this saving prob
lem individually. No one can ar
range the other fellows economies
what would you do If you suddenly
found your income reduced by a GER
tain amount? That is the question
each must ask himself. That is the
situation facing each one of us
Business will continue to be stimu-
lated by huge volume of public ex-
penditure and there should be no lack
oil employment. But all energies will
be devoted toward war Goods for
private consumption will be in less
supply. and the needs Of the gov
ornmcnt will require a large portion
Of our income. in the form of taxes
and loans.
Our problem today is the problem
that England faced two years ago
HOW shall we teach ourselves, how
snail We teach every man, woman and
child In the country to save?
A committee appointed by the Brit
lsh chancellor Of the Exchequer to
study the question reported in jan
uary. 1916, that two important objects
We're TO be attained by the successful
sointlon OF the problem; first, the re-
duction or general consumption, such
reduction tending to check the rise
IN prices; and, second, the rising Of a
certain sum Of money for the prose-
cutlon OF the war. In order to accom-
pliSh these results, the committee
DOinfpn nrlt fhn
for savings and OF the placing of
certain facilities within reach of
everybody. These facilities were:
First, simple method of investing
savings; second. a guaranty that the
capital value of the investment would
not depreciate; third. the ability to
withdraw savings at short notice: and.
fourth, the knowledge that as high a
rate Of interest would be paid on the
money of the small investor as on
that of the large.
Tapping a Peoples Savings.
The government promptly appoint
ed a national War Savings Commit
tee. This committee has established
on large scale, voluntary War
Savings Associations for Cooperative
saving; and deYises, approves and
supervises plans to promote and 10
safeguard the financial soundness of
these savings associations. Through
the medium of these associations wage
earners and others are enabled to
purchase on the installment pIan
what are called War Savings Ger
tificates. These certificates are is
sued by the government through the
Postoffice Department at a cost of
15s Cd (about $3.50 each, and have
a cash value of s1 at the end of
five years. Thus this certificate has
the appreciable merit to the investor,
of saving his interest as well as his
principal. The certificates have fixed
cash-surrender values for intermedi-
ate periods between date of purchase