Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-10-12
INDIVIDUAL DUTY.

|, A vital responsibility -duu ooiS :, :
duty rest upon the people OF Wapello
county today-not upon some OF tnem'
but all Of them; not on your ne1gnooi
and my neighbor any more tnan Oh
you and me.
The privileges of citizenship carry
RESPONSIBILITIES, just as every privilege
carries responsibility. Today the gov
eminent requires that in recognition
by its citizens of the privileges they
possess, they lend money to their gov
eminent to be used in financing the
participation by the United States IN
the war against the German govern
ment's campaign of barbarity, laWless-
ness conquest and greed.
It is our duty-your duty and mine
to buy Liberty Bonds. BY the
readiness with which we purchase
them we proclaim the measure of our
patriotism. Failure to buy would be
Sinking a responsibility than winch
there is none more sacred.
There is no exception. There can
be no honest evasion Of this duty Inc
purchase of Liberty Bonds is not 10 Dc
regarded as a business transaction. II
is not business sense which permits a
citizen to haggle over the difference
between the 4 per cent interest on the
Liberty Loan and higher return on
any other investment. Only failure
to realize his duty to the government
which has enabled him to obtain mon
ey can deaden his conscience to the
appeal which that government makes
now for the support which he can give
II nv lending it portion of that mon
ey.
No other investment, no matter what
dividends it may yield, could equal the
purchase of Liberty Bond, even II II
the latter paid no interest and II II
did not obligste the United States gov
eminent to pay both principal ana In
terest II the government were ask
ing the people of Wapello county 10
give 1t 100000 outright, instead OF to
lend that sum on the most dependable
security any borrower in the world
can offer, failure to make the eilt
would stamp this community as lack
ing entirely in business sense.
For the stability of every invest
ment in America depends on the sue
cess Of American arms, which in turn
depends on the governments ability
to float its Liberty Loans. Should
Germany defeat America in the pres.
ent struggle, the resulting financial
cataclysm would engulf every fortune
in this country, great and small. SUCH
a catastrophe can be averted by the
patriotism-practical, not vocal-ol
you and me.
Viewed from any angle. then. our
responsibility in the present emer'
gency is distinctly real and distinctly
individual. In the large, national
aspect, based on that same love OF
country which has sent our nefghbors
forth to oppose with their bodies and
their lives the menace OF RUSSIAN
domination, the duty imposed on us
by the governments appeal is duty
to mankind, to the principles and ira
ditions of the American government
and its institutions Of freedom, liberty
and human rights.
In the narrow, individual aspect
the selfish aspect, if you please-tho
duty is no less insistent when 1t ap'
pears as duty to ourselves. to our
families. to posterity.
Tonight, at the Commercial club, a
meeting Of Ottumwa and Wapello
county citizens is to be held, at which
the final plans for this community s
campaign for subscriptions to the Sec
ond Liberty Loan will be made. 1t is
our duty to attend this meeting-your
duty and mine-just as it is our duty
to buy Liberty Bonds.