The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-22
Topeka STATE JOURNAL
z IN F O R M A TON
URE AU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Director.
Warrington, D. c.
HOLD ONTO YOUR LIBERTY
RONDG
Warrington, D. c.

BONDS.
| Washington, D. c., May 19.-Do not
use your liberty bonds to buy or pay
debts, and, above all, do not trade
| them for other stock, which are repre-
sented to you as being equally safe
| and yielding a much higher rate of
| interest
These are the fundamental princi-
Piles of a campaign of education for
| liberty Bond owners which is being
| conducted by the treasury department
| and the Chamber of Commerce of the
| United States. The latter orga nization
| has received from a number of lis
local chambers resolutions calling up
on the business men of the United
| States to use their influence against
concerns. which, it is charged, have
| been organized for the express pur-
| pose of swindling liberty bond owners
| These concerns approach men VINO
have little knowledge of stocks and
bonds, never having owned any until
they subscribed to the liberty loan for
patriotic reasons. The bond owner
| is assured that the stock offered him
/ is safe, and that it will pay much
larger return, in the form or interest
| or dividends. than will the hperty
| bond An appeal is usually made to
the patriotism of the bond-holder by
representing that the enterprise In
which he is asked to invest is engaged
in munition making or other work
necessary to the conduct of the war.
and that it is therefore a patriotic act
to invest in its securities. 1t is
\ charged that often the stocks offered
under this guise are worthless.
The treasury department has re-
| ceived almost daily complaints OF such
to whether the companies soliciting
| the exchange of liberty bonds foc
stocks in other enterprises are fraud
ulent or not, but it has referred some
| of these complaints to the department.
i of Justice and the postoffice depart
ment for investigation in that respect.
Both the treasury department and
! the chamber of commerce. however,
wish to emphasize the point that the
| patriotic thing for the liberty bond
| holder to do is to keep his liberty
bonds in his own possession. All trad
| ing in liberty bonds tends to depreSs
their value, and so weakening the
, credit of your government
! OF the enormous number OF persons
who bought liberty bonds a large pro-
portion never owned a bond or any
| other sort of 1. security before. Many
| of these persons have little knowledge
| of the nature or value OF govern
ment bond Foreign-born residents IN
some of the great cities bought liberty
bonds in the firm belief that they were
presenting the money to the govern
| ment, and that the bond was merely a
receipt. They were with difficulty
made to understand that Uncle Sam
would pay them for the use of their
| money, and return it when it was no
| longer needed This is an extreme
| example of ignorance. of course, but
| many Americans of education know
surprisingly little about the bonds they
| have bought, and do not understand
their obligation to keep them.
| 1t is perhaps inevitable that schemes
should be formed for taking advantage
of their ignorance, and there is abun-
dant evidence that variety of such
schemes are being worked. Instances
have come to the notice of the treas
ury department in which bonds have
been sold, sometimes for as little as
sixty cents on the dollar. 1t is prac-
| tically certain that such sales were
brought about only by misrepresenta
ton Of the value of the bonds. In this
way not only is the bond-holder swim
died, but his faith in his government
and his patriotism are injured.
All advertising for the purchase of
bonds, or for their acceptance in lieu
of cash, is hencefort to be considered
unpatriotic, whatever motives of the
| intending purchaser. In want-ad col
umns, for example, advertisements
| containing an offer to purchase liberty
bonds are frequently seen. 1t is fair
| to assume that the intending pur-
| chaser could not afford to pay the
expense of such advertising unless he
expected to buy the bonds for less
| than they are worth.
| Some merchants in good standing
have offered to accept liberty bonds
in payment~of accounts. and have
| taken them at par even when the
| bonds were below par. In such cases,
of course, there is no intent to swim
die, but these advertisements are new
| ertheless undesirable, for the bond
holder must be encouraged to keep
his bonds in his own possession, and
so to limit trading in them.
The Chamber of Commerce of the
United States proposes to conduct a
campaign thru it's membership, which
| will not only warn the bondholder
against swindlers, and point out to
him his duty to keep his bonds off
| the market, but will also give him a
more complete knowledge as to the
nature and value of his security.
| 1t will be pointed out that a liberty
| bond is literally the best and safest
investment i'm the world. The inter-
est it yields, while not as large as
that yielded by some industrial securi-
| ties, is nevertheless generous when
! the factor of safety is considered.
Only those who study the market and
have a wide knowledge of securities
| are fitted to invest in industrial
| stocks. but any man can buy a lib
| cTly ooAo WIN ZIG AuAi <SSuA oliSO she.I
i his money is as safe as it would be in
bank, and that it will yield him
more interest than most banks would
pay on the deposit. His duty, both to
the government and to himself, is to
hold the bond until the war is over,
| that its value to him and the credit
| of the government may not be de-
pressed by the placing of bonds on the
market thru other agencies than the
| government.
| Everyone should also realize that
bonds are not legal tender. and that
no one can be forced to accept them
| in payment for goods or of indebted
| ness.
| The bondho1der should also know
| what many of them do NOT know that