The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-12-12
LIBERTY BOND
LESSONS
BY HOWARD SPEER
OF Hincks Bros. 6 Co.
Article No. IL.
Delivering the Goods.

We all like a man who delivers
the goods"
This article is prompted by $4,000 |
questions, all alike, which take the |
few days ago:
will you kindly advise me why |
| the government is 30 slow in deliver
ing the first Liberty Loan bonds? II
bought a bond on June 18th for cash
and SO far have not heard anything
from it. People generally like to get
| what they buy even after a delay of
| five or six months. Some one must
have gone to sleep on the job.
Patriotic"
In this particular case it is posi-
Bile that ''Patriotic's'' bond is waiting
for him at the bank where he bought
1t. He speaks of not having heard
from it which indicates that perhaps
he has not made inquiry at the bank,
but is simply waiting to receive
word. If SO he ought to inquire at
once as the banks have, in the main,
received their full allotment Of bonds
by this time.
But even if "Patriotic's'' bond is
ready for him now, that does not ex-
plain why there was such delay. He
asks a fair question and one which
deserves an answer.
Now if Patriotic" or any Of the
rest Of us had ordered stove from
some manufacturer out in Detroit
and had not received it after waiting
an unusually long time, we might
have felt annoyed, but knowing about
present business conditions we might
have reasoned as follows:
Freight conditions are bad. the
worst the country has ever known.
That fact may be delaying my stove.
Steel and iron conditions are equally
bad. Perhaps they are all sold ahead
and can't get raw material to make
stoves.
Labor conditions are bad. There is
a great scarcity of good help. Per-
haps they are suffering as most other
manufacturers are.
, Now If on top Of these things we
| knew that the stove firm had just
received the largest order for stoves
in their history, and If they had an
nounced that they expected soon to
make a far better stove which they
. would give to their customers free of
I charge in exchange for their old
stove. we might reason this way:
A great big order naturally clogs
! things up. They can't deliver 10000
stoves in the same time that they can
! deliver 100. > Furthermore, maybe
they are holding back on some Of the
} stoves that they could deliver be-
cause they know that the buyers will
Lei, MI boo oh ~
{ for that better stove in few weeks.
: You will probably admit that all
] these arguments are reasonable.
. Librty Bonds.
3 Freight conditions afrece the gov
( ernment's supplies Of raw MATERIAL
: paper, ink, printing and engraving
3 tools, fuel for power. etc.
The raw material conditions in the
paper and printing businesses are
Just as congested and difficult as in
other lines.
Labor conditions are probably
worse in the printing and engraving
trades than in the metal lines. be-
cause the latter are hiring away the
formers help at excessive wages to
engage in direct war work.
And now about the size Of the or
der! The Secretary of the Treasury
q has said that it required more thar
100000 separate bonds to fill the
: subscriptions for the first Liberty
: Loan. More than 100000 Of these
: were for $50 and 800 bonds.
Now these bonds are printed ir
= three colors. That means running
: through the press three times Each
t bond has a separate number. The
" seal of the Treasury Department il
t impressed upon each bond. The sig.
e natures of the Treasury officials are
e printed or engraved, but each bond
!. must be personally recorded and ex.
amined by hand, and the initials OF
= the records and of the examiner are
written in with pen and ink on eacl
bond. A plate must be prepared fol
the face of the bond and another one
for the back of it. and these plate.
must be different for each denomina
ton Of bond, whether $50, 500
$1,000, etc. A plate must also be pre-
pared for each sheet of coupons and
there are three sheets Of coupons t.
each bond-60 coupons in all, eacl
r one bearing different number ant
| QaL0, anu AlBO QlH6T1N8 II
v amount according to the denomination
of the bond. Lastly, the face shee
and the coupon sheets must be bount
together first with wire clasps ant
then with a strip Of cloth binding
Then comes the simple little job o
mailing and expressing all these 8,
1000 pieces to their owners!
Now how would you like to do al
that before breakfast and withou
much help? And If you knew tina
thousands Of those 3h per cent
bonds were going to be sent bacl
within a few weeks to be exchanged
- for 4 per cent. bonds, wouldn't 20,
y postpone sending out the first lot til
you had some idea how many woult
really be wanted?
4 The whole truth of the matter 1
q that the government had on its han,
one of the biggest, and one of tn
most particular jobs in history, an,
at time when it was almost impos
sib1e to get work done we'll and quick
ly. It was the first time in tn
country's history that such an issu
Of bonds had been sold, and the re
L. Spouse of the people simply over
whelmed the limited facilities of tn
government, No one was asleep o.
the job, but there were only "a hour
in each day and even Uncle San
couldn't stretch them into 25.
But he always has delivered tn
| nxnI y, ~r4T ~ - to- t~-nA 49,