Arizona republican., 1918-04-19
NOT OUR PART TO DIE BUT BACK UP BOYS AT FR0N

government bonds, what happens? In ampaign of this character every man, woman, or child in America is solicited for as many government bonds as they can buy, and when the subscriptions finally come in, and I accept three or four billions of subscriptions, what IS the result? The buying power of the market has. of course, been absorbed. Every body who had any money to ln- vest in government bonds has bought them, and the result is that if someone offers his bonds, on the stock market, there is no buying power left, and there is a sag. The price sags. It does not sag because the bond is not good. It does not sag because the purpose or determination of the American people to see this war to a finish is reflected in that decline. It does not indicate Q lack of determination upon tfye | Lrt of America to carry the war foi
 rd. It does not indicate that t. ( dence of the people in their gov 6 ament has Decn weakened.
 It merely indicates, my friends, | a the people who sell the.r bonds |thoughtlessly or otherwise. or unneces- sarily in the market, have offered them lat time when there did not happen to be enough money left to buy them, and that is the reason they go down. What is the effect of that? The effect is that when the bonds are quoted below par, everybody says, Put up the rate of interest again." To increase the rate of interest is only a palliative. You know, every time you sell a great issue, the market is combed dry in the same way, So far as investment money is con- lcerned, and the bonds would decline lagain. No matter what the rate of lterest is. As a consequence, my friends, if the credit of the government
 of the United States becomes depre-
 ciated, and if we have to constantly
 stimulate the credit by increasing the
 rates of interest, it is a confession to lGermany, and it causes the kaiser to know, what he believes of America
 that it's credit is weakening. and the
 richest country in the world has not ,enough confidence in itself and in its
 own government to support it's bonds
 at par.
 What Interest Raise Means
 Now, I want to carry that argument
 a bit further, because 1 want the peo-
 pie of America to understand this, ant l know that when they do understand li., we will not have to continue to in-
 crease the rates of interest. Suppose you put up the rate again. We did pu lit up this time to A per cent, and
 ldid it with the utmost reluctance.
 think it is pathetic thing that tft American people have to continue t,
 raise the rate of interest on themselve!
 in order to support the government il
 8 time like this. This quarter of on, lper cent-do you know what tha means to American people on @ ten lyear issue, like the present? It mean
 lat there must be taken out of tn
 pockets of the American people to pa,
 that increase of interest one-quarter o
 one per cent on ten billions of dollar or two hundred nd fifty millions nor
 of interest charges in ten years. Now
 who pays that? The taxpayers O America. Some of you people wh think you don't pay taxes because yoI don't own property or have large in
 come, are thinking entirely mistakenly
 I here is not man, woman or child il America that does not pay taxes in on form or<dnother; taxes on your in comes, if they are large enough, o
 taxes on the consumption of things O
 the things you eat and the things yo
 wear. I mention this because I wan
 you to understand that if you put u the rates of interest on governmen bonds. you are imposing a new burde Of taxation upon the mass of the peopl of the United States. This is an unin lligent thing to do, and I know tha the American people detest unintelli gence more than any other quality. have been told that 1 must nc speak to the Interchangeable on ecc r monies, that the mass of the people ) tle United States cannot understan 9 economies. Let me say, my friend 3 that the people of America do under ' Is and economics. They don't under l Is and the man who cannot explain , i1telligently to them, but they can UT derstand economics if it is explained {
 them intelligently. As l have gor f through the country and spoken c f these questions, I have never failed 1 - lget response from an American auC V Il nee, and it is necessary in this loa V to frankly discuss these questions wit n the American people and let them kno
 what it is to finance a great war an
 what must be done by them to finan( h that war intelligently.
 S Needs Su-nnrt of People
 I cannot do anything as secretary : the treasury without the confident and support of the people of America : ] cannot do anything as secretary | the treasury with only the support the bankers of the United States, gre;
 as that support is and welcome as tn;
 support is, and splendid as it has bee T It is not enough that they alone carr t lthis burden.
 . Another thing of importance IS tn: n the banks perform their necessal f motions and keep their funds in liqu :, form to supply credits to the industri n engaged in the manufacture of nun e ons of war and in carrying on u d general business of the country. al r we must not take all the funds e -