The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-12-19
LIBERTY BOND
 LESSONS
 By HOWARD STEER
 Of HinCks Bros. 6 Go.
 LESSON NO. IT THE RULES OF THE GAME

So many people have bought bonds Tor the first time in their lives dur ing the past six months that they are naturally making a good many little mistakes in connection with them , that more experienced investors do not make.
 These mistakes aren't very serious. They are simply violations of some or the rules of the game. But now that you are definitely in the bond buying, coupon-cutting, money-saving class you might just as well fool the people next door and make them think you buy & few bonds every other Saturday on your way home from work. The only way you can do that is to act the part, and you certainly won't do it naturally until you learn first of all some of the rules that bond buyers are accustomed to observe.
 Now here are some of the things that bond is not:
 A aIberty bond is not 6 scrub rax. It IS true that it Is made out of paper and paper is made out of rags, but fl isn't meant to be used as 6 rag just the same. It is 8 very important piece of paper with some very impor- tant printing on it-printing that some one may want to read some time. It should, therefore, be kept clean. We have seen some Liberty bonds presented for sale that any particular person might reasonably hesitate to buy. They had been car- ried loose in the pocket, along with tobacco, nails, handkerchiefs, small change. and all the other things that may be found in the pockets of the average man or woman. After a very few days of this sort of treatment they become so dirty as to be almost unreadable. If the owner continues to treat his bond in this way 1t will soon wear out in his pocket. or else become so soiled that nobody will want to buy it.
 l A Liberty bond is not a memoran- dunn pad. nor is 1t an Identification card. Some people are using the margins of their bonds to scribble ht- tie notes on-lists of Christmas gifts, what they want at the grocery, the address of some place of bushes, etc. Others write their names and ad- dresses on their bonds either in pencil or ink. Now, the great big market for Liberty bonds Is the New York Stock Exchange. No matter where you are when you want to sell whether you are in Bridgeport, or Chicago, or Texas, or F1orida-soone1 or later about 9S per cent. of all the sales of Liberty bonds find their way back to the New York Stock Elk. change. And one of the strtctes' rules of this Exchange is that al bonds must be delivered to the buyer without name or mark of any kint written thereon. It frequently hap pens that a sale is all made, the prict : agreed upon, and the letters writer , closing the transaction, but when tn, bond is handed to the new owner 1
 Is found to have name or othe
 marking written on it. Immediatel. the whole bargain is called off. Tn buyer need not keep his side of tn 7 agreement unless he wishes to do SC , and even if he has already handet
 over the money, the seller must re
 turn it to him and the Exchange au
 thorities will insist upon him doini
 so. The buyer may possibly be vii ling to take the bond, but at 8 re
 duced price.
 In other words, marked bond
 not a good delivery" It is brande and marked for life, and 1t suffers ac cordingly, just as person is brande
 and suffers whose reputation for hon s esty has been challenged.
 } A Liberty bond is not @ piece c pretty kindergarten paper to be folde
 and twisted into all sorts of enter taining shapes-the way we do wit . church calendars to keep the young > sters quiet in church. Neither is Liberty bond fish horn nor a cornu p copia to hold candy or pins or sho > buttons It should not be rolled U Il like a piece of music or a phonograp ? horn, but should be kept flat and folc = ed in the same simple fashion it wa 5 when you received 1t. Put 1t tat in 2 long envelope and take 1t to som V bank to be taken care of for you
 free of charge.
 The reason for all this is becaus' - last of all. a Liberty bond is not jus = 90 much paper money. Money can h
 carried around in ones pocket, an
 when 1t gets worn out or dirty tn
 government takes it in, burns 1t III 7, and issues new money in it's plac = But those Liberty bonds of yours ar
 going to live for 25 or 30 years. Tn I3 1-2s come due in 1s47, and the
 in 1942 You may not keep them a
 that time, but somebody is going
 have those very same bonds 25 and
 years from now. They aren't replace
 when they get torn or dirty. The
 just stay torn and dirty till the bite
 end.
 You can't blame the other fe1lo
 very much, then, for wanting such
 piece of paper to be in good cond
 tion. You received it that way. Kee
 it so, both for your own sake and ft
 the sake of the person who may bu