The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-06-13
THE AVERAGE CITIZEN
 AND THE LIBERTY LOAN
(By Hon. Carter Glass, of V1rgln1a' Chairman of House Committee
 An Raplxipc and Currency,)

N6y HOn. carter GldSSb oh VI
 Chairman of House Committee
 on Banking and Currency)
 Tn ordinary times the ordinary, av-
 craze citizen of the United States has
 few demands made upon him by his National Government. He daily re-
 ceives his mail delivered to him by Federal employe. If he is manu- , facturer or exporter he receives con sular reports and other documents. 1T
 he is a farmer he receives various bulletins from the government, and
 through the extension work Of the
 Agricultural Department he receives
 material assistance. He pays his taxes to the Federal government (un-
 less he be wealthy enough to pay an income tax) only in an indirect way and in no great amount by paying a little higher price for some of his pur-
 chases. He serves occasionally on the juries in the Federal courts. But as a general thing the Federal gov i ernment asks nothing of him. In return for the benefits he derives from the Federal government, including i protection at home and abroad and
 what blessings of liberty he enjoys,
 the only return he is called upon to ilIak0 &S lO SIc4o QP WhOh AAAc NSN-- Spangied Banner is played and to cheer a little on the Fourth of July.
 But when the country is at war the l ordinary, average American citizen is
 called upon to show appreciation Of | and make return for the benefits and blessings his country has secured to him. When the honor and prestige of the nation are at stake. when the welfare and success of the nation are threatened and the safety of the na- | ton endangered, there comes call to which every true citizen will re- spond.
 Not everyone is called upon to bear 1 arms for his country, but everyone is called upon to do some service for his country. Some are to fight our :; enemies on the seas. some our ene- ! mics on land, some to manufacture l the munitions and other things our ! army and navy will need, some to grow products to feed our nation and our army and the peoples and armies l of our allies
 To see that these things are done is ] the duty of our government, and to 5 accomplish these things our govern ment must have large sums of money to pay our soldiers and our sailors. | to purchase things they will need for warfare and maintenance, and money !; to lend to our allies who have been hard pressed with the fearful ex- ! penses of three years of fearful war. { This money must be drawn from the body of the people; it is neither de- sirable nor wise to draw it all from the financiers or the wealthy of the country, nor would 1t be patriotic. This "LAberty Loan' should be loan { of the great body of the American people, and not from only one or sew eral classes. The more the people finance the government the less dic- ktation there can be from special in- fterests.s 4 Sor< sis Er5s9
 i The smoney to meet the immediate Sneed of the United States in this wal
 is to be raised by the sale of Liberty ELoan bonds. It is. not to be sent abroad. but to be expended in Ameri- ca,' and it will go back into the pock- cts of the people whence 1t came ir return for their products, their la bor, their manufactures. The people < of no nation ever before had so mag. lnificent a chance to do the patriotic thing, the loyal thing, the noble thing, and at the same time profit themselves so greatly by doing it. ! These are the times that try mems 1 souls" said old Tom Paine in Revo. lutionary days. This year 1917 is g time that tries our Americanism. Not by the amount of money realized by { the sale of these bonds but by the ! number of subscribers to the loan, bs ] the number of Americana who lend their money to their government, is the Americanism of the people of the United States to be demonstrated