The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-01
LIBERTY LOAN PROBLEMS.

LIBERTY LOAN PROBLEMS.
In getting ready for the new liberty
loan it is probable that more work has
perfected than on any preceding occa-
sion. This is natural outgrowth of
experience. Each of the preceding
loans has carried it's own lesson and
each has shown how best to approach
the problem of placing the new bonds
most successfully.
The task of financing the govern
ment is getting past the experimental
stage and is being put upon a profess
sional basis with more trained help
ers, quicker and more efficient meth
DDS, and more appropriate modes of
appeal. The outcome may be expect
ed to be better success all around in
the technical sense--a larger number
of subscribers larger unit subscrip-
tons, and more systematic methods of
payment.
The underlying problems of the new
loan cannot be solved in advance or
by any kind of organization as such.
Fundamentally, the question is that of
getting the individual to do his part by
not only subscribing for the bonds
but also arre nging to pay for them
out of his current income and earn
ings.'
4. In the early financing, says the New
York Journal of Commerce, the "buy
and borrow campaign led many per-
sons to feel that if they merely sub
scribed for bonds by borrowing the
funds from their banks, they had per-
formed the chief part, if not the
whole, of their duty. Some of them
proceeded to sell their bonds on the
open market as soon as the loan was
nominally fIoated, while others who
sought to carry their bonds failed to
pay off their borrowings. In some
cases they obtained renewals, and in
others, where the subscription was
small, they allowed the bank to dis
pose of the securities and to reim-
burse itself from the proceeds. One
press the price of the bonds in the
market. Another and much more
serious consequence has been to leave
the bonds in an "undigested" condi-
tion-unpaid for, or, if paid for, then
held on an insecure basis in which the
buyer might at any time have to real
ize in order to meet some sudden or
pressing necessity. Just how large a
volume of bonds is today in this con-
dition it would be difficult to say. but
the sum is large. In certain parts of
| the country it amounts to very sub
stantial percentage of the total sub
scriptions.
What is necessary in the real plac-
ing of these bond issues is now better
understood than ever before from our
own experience and from that of for
eign nations. 1t is the actual purchase
of the bonds and the retention of them
by their owners. The government does
not need money" in the ordinary
sense, but needs food, clothing, NUM-
tons and supplies. It can get them
only thru the release of capital and Ia
Dor in quantities sufficient to manu-
| facture the goods and place them at
the disposal of the authorities. IN or
der to accomplish this end, however,
that there is but one source on which
| he can rely for the funds he needs
himself. His banker may stand ready
/ to advance money, or he may be able
by selling some previous holdings OF
stocks, bonds or other investments to
get the ready cash with which to buy
/ None of these expedients really meets
the difficulty of the situation, but
what is wanted is the actual earning
of wealth and the application of Il
when saved to supplying the require
ments of the government. This means
that the chief problem of the new
loan lies in making the idea of saving
practical and in inducing the average
citizen to participate with vigor and
sincerity in putting 1t to use.