Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-04-11
American People Must Lend Part,
or Pay An to Finance
Great Conflict.
BUYING OF LIBERTY )oNOs
Liberal Leans 70 Government 10 Ad'
vaneine Financial Assistance to
Our Children, Obviatin0 Total
Cost by Taxation.
(ey EUGENE p. LYLE. JR, Of The
viailantes.)

W sSSSNS - ~
vigiIantes.)
Freedom comes high. being a pre-
cious thing. Being the most precious
thing, 1t comes highest. No people Is
worthy Of freedom that Is not willing
aud eager to pay dearly for 1t. In
fact. you will find no people possess.
ing freedom that has not paid dearly
for 1t. and you will find no people con-
tlnuing to possess freedom that does
not stand every ready to pay dearly.
over and over. to retain 1t.
If this were not true, Belgium,
France. Italy and England with her
oversee dominlons. would now be as
Russia Is today. If this were not
true, America would still be neutral.
contemptibly awaiting her turn to pass
under the yoke.
Blood and treasure, anguish and sac
rifice-these are the coin we bring
to market; the coin we must pay. Yet
the coin may be. and, is expressed In
dollars and cents, not alone as n sym
Dol of the real price we pay, but be-
cause this real price would be wan.
tonly squandered, or paid In more
CHASTITY measure than need be. If the
cold. calm. practical business Of dol
lnr-and-cents financing were not ut the
heart Of the heroic transaction.
Vuinly would the soldier shed his
blood II he were not trained and
equipped to make his blows count to
the utmost. and the cost of this train
Ing and equipment Is an item that may
be, and is, expressed in an exact num-
Der Of dollars added to IN exact nun.
Der OF cents. His country must spend
precisely this amount to enable him to
defend her.
Consequently we Of America are
now confronted with the biggest war
bill in history. One year Of this war
Is costing us as much rs all the wars
we have had before added to all the
other expenses Of II federal govern
ment since we first won our freedom.
Lending to Our Children.
Cngrudgingly. yes! Of that we are
proudly conscious that there is no
question. The one and only question
Is the practical question Of finance.
How shall the money be found? We
ourselves must supply it, since It cam
not be borrowed elsewhere. But howl
The bill is too big to pay cash on
the nail Is we 60. And, furthermore,
to pay all AS we go would be just
neither to ourselves nor to our pos
terity.
1t would not be just to ourselves
because we alone will not be the benc-
ticiaries. The generations to ON will
beneft-incalculably benefit in the lib
critics preserved to them-nnd 1t Is
proper that they should be left to as
sumo a fair proportion of the debt.
They are buying freedom today as
much as we. But we shall have to
lend them the money now to pay their
share. In lending to our government
in buying Liberty bonds we lend to our
children; and gratefully our children
will pay 1t off.
Any other arrangement would not
be Just to them for the reason that.
should we strip ourselves bare to pay
all now, we would be crippled in pre-.
pairing our children for the ordinary
duties Of citizenship. Better far that
we retain enough to so equip them for
success in life that they may without
undue hardship take over their quota
Of this wars burden! Better fer us,
and better for them!
Sound common sense, then, as well
as equity, points the way. The wars
burden should be divided. Let us pay
in cash as heavily as we wisely may
that is taxation. But the rest let us
leave to the future b%enefciaries, lend.
Ing them the money now--that Is buy.
ing Liberty bonds.
Freedom's Great Price.
The present moment Is Il good time
to contemplate what will happen-in.
evitably happen--if we do not lend ia
pVotSIAtS W AVip puS ieeuOIu n huge
price. Nothing Is clearer than the al.
tentative.
4 We do not lend our government
what It asks Of us In loans, then We
must consent that the total cost be
taken from us outright by taxation
even by a prorated confiscation.
Before such an alternative even the
German, or pro.German, having prop.
erty interests In this country. should
choose to subscribe for Liberty bonds
In nj own self.interest, apart from
the issues vital to the integrity Of oul
manhood. we can do no less--no LEST
than lend to the last cent we may DOS.
slbly save; and this not once merely
but each and every time that Uncle
Sam steps from his counting house ID
tell US that he must have more money
Uncle Sam ID telling us this now
He awaits q response. But he Il
not the only one who waits. Wherevc,
men are free or suffer to be free, there
they await our response as the answe,
to their hopes. And there Ia vet an.
other who waits--the enemy. ID
whatever degree our answer falls Of 4,
OwnrhcpNtlny afRr,nnfiva IN a...n.