New-York tribune., 1917-06-01
A Two Billion Bagatelle
1t Is Hardly More than 5 Per Cent OF
Our Average Per Capita Income

4. the request of the Liberty Loan Pub
Hcity Committee, James $. Alexander,
president of the National Bank Of Com
p,erce. in New York made the following
statement yesterday regarding the per
capita dpportionmcnt Of the Liberty Loan:
Two billion dollars, the amount of the Lib
erty Loan. sounds like staggering figure,
hut measured in terms of per capita appor-
tionment. wealth and income. and compared
with the war borrowings Of other peoples who
are fighting in the world struggle for liberty,
the men and women of the United States are
being asked to make a relatively small con-
tributon That this is true Is made strik-
ingly obvious when the Liberty Loan IS com
pared with tho S220.000,000000 national
wealth and the S3S 900 100000 annual aggre-
gate income of the people of this country as
a background.
Two billion dollars in the United States
means only 500 from each Of our people. The
pec capita income Of each person in this coun-
try averages $3.50; the per capita wealth, S2,-
! 200, and it is the plan Of the government that
the S2.O00,000,OO0 called for in the Liberty
1 Loan shall come from every part of the popu-
! laton, apportioncd in accordance with its
ability to contribute. so that the war for lib
/ Crty snail De truly peoples war.
! Comparison of the aoove per capita figures
/ in detail with the corresponding figure for the
cour leading nations of the Entente Allies
will make clear how very little the people OF
the United States a whole are being asked
to do. The United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland. with per capita wealth of about
i,165, or more than S4i0 less than that Of the
United States. and with an annual per capita
income of 1921. or Sll9 less than ours in this
country. has already made borrowings for the
war at the rate OF s444 per British bject.
And this country now is asked to loan at tho
rate of $50 person. less than one-twentieth
of the average war obligation of the English.
/ The war loan obligations incurred by the
British as a nation mean that, on the av-
erage. English subjects have personally
/ loaned or been made responsible for S444, in
asmuch as the national wealth, which is COM
posed of the aggregate wealth of all the ndi-
viduas in the nation, is pledged as security
for war borrowings.
Even more striking is a comparison with
the financial burdens which France Russia
and Italy have assumed France has a per
capita wealth Of S1,767, and per capita in
come of only S15l; yet to do her share in
making the world safe for democracy France
has already assumed financial obligations at
/ the rate Of $53l per every man, woman and
child in her population.
/ Russia, vast is it is has per capita wealth
Of only $3.50, and mere pittance Of income
! for each person of only s36; yet with all her
disorganzation and internal stress the Rus
sian people have made war borrowings at the
per capita rate Of Sl7 Italy, with her per
capita wealth of 1894 and income Of Sill,
has borrowed at the rate of $50 a head
/ bavo
been put forth by the two chief TeJtonic al
lies, who are warning to make the world un-
safe for democracy; with the added sgnlh-
canoe that their borrowings have been made
cut of the pockets of their own people, since
their military isolation has prevented their
going outside their own borders for ready
money. Germany, with per capita wealth
of 81 ,33S and income Of Sl6l, has made bor-
rowngs at the rate of $3.50 per person.
/ negligible percentage OF her $ll.000.O00,00s
war loans has been placed outside the Ger
man Empire
Gcrmanys chief ally. Austria-H Hungary, with
a per capita wealth Of $S0s and income OF
Sill, has borrowed at the rate Of $96 per per-
son. every cent Of her loans having been
raised either within her own borders or in
Germany
With S22O.000000.0O at their backs. and
with $38,O00,O 100000 pouring into their pock-
etc each year the people Of the United States
are asked to loan, on mperlshabc security
and for lucrative interest, At tho rate Of only
$50 apiece. Over-subscrption 10 the $1,000
100000 Liberty Loan many times over will
manifest our national determination to play
as heroic part in the world war as has al
ready been so clearly manifested By the ma
tions which are our allies in this world war
; There is no reason why there should not be
Liberty Bond in every home.