Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1918-04-04
American People Must Lend Part,
or Pay All to Finance
Great Conflict.
BUYING OF LIBERTY BONDS
Liberal Loans to Government 10 Ad.
vaneing Financial Assistance to
Our Children, obvlating Total
Cost by Taxation.
(ey EUGENE p. LYLE, JR., Of Tho
VioiIantes.)

Vigilantes.)
Freedom comes high, being pre-
cious thing. Being the most precious
thing 1t comes highest. No people Is
worthy of freedom that Is not willing
ana eager to pay dearly for it. In
fact. you will find no people possess
ing freedom that has not paid dearly
Tor II. and you will find no people con-
hhulng to possess freedom TINT does
not stand every ready to pay dearly.
over and over to retain 1t.
III this were not true, Belgium,
france. Italy and England with her
oversea dominions. 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
rificc-these are the coin we bring
To market; the coin we must pay. Yet
the coin may be, and. is expressed i'm
dollars and cents. not alone as n sym
bol OF the real price we pay but be-
cause this real price would be wan
tonly squnndered. or paid I'm more
Ghastly measure than need be. If the
cold. calm. practical business OF dol
lar-and-ccnts financing were not nj the
heart of the heroic transaction.
Nainly would the soldier shed his
blood If he We're not trained and
equipped tn 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 cXnct mum
ber of dollars added to an exact mum.
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 us much as all the wars
we have had before added to all the
other expenses of our federal govern
ment since we first won our freedom
Lending 20 Our Children.
Ungrudgingly. yes. or that we are
proudly conscious that tlere is no
question. The one and only question
IL the practical question OF finance
How shall the money be found? We
ourselves must supply 1t. since 1t can
not be borrowed elsewhere. But how?
The bill Is too big to pay cash on
the nail as we go. And. furthermore,
to pny nll rs we go would be just
neither To ourselves nor to our pos
terity.
Ii would not he just to ourselves
because we alone Will not be the bene-
fciaries. The generations to come will
benefit-incalcuiably benefit I'm the lib-
critics preserved to them-nnd II is
proper that they should be left to as
sumo fair proportion of the debt
They are buying freedom today as
much NJ 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 it 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
rs equity. points the way. The wars
burden should be divided. Let US pay
I'm cash as heavily as we wisely may
that is taxation. But the rest let us
leave To the future beneficiaries, lend
ing them the money now-that Is buy
ing Liberty bonds.
Freedoms Great Price.
The present moment is a good time
to contemplate what will hnppen-in-
evitably happen-if we do not lend to
posterity to help pay freedoms huge
price. Nothing is clearer than the al
tentative.
II we do not lend our government
what II asks of us In loans, then we
must consent that the total cost be
taken from us outright by taxation
even by prornted confiscation.
Before such an alternative even the
German. or pro-German. having prop
crty interests In this country, should
choose to subscribe for Liberty bonds
In our own self-interest, apart from
the issues vital to the integrity of our
manhood, we can do no less-no less
ihan ieEu I'D ihe INST cent we may pos
sbly save; and this not once merely.
but each and every time that Uncle
Sam steps from his counting house to
tell us that he must have more money.
Uncle Sam Is telling us this now.
He awaits our response. But he is
not the only one who waits. Wherever
men are free or suffer 90 be free. there
they await our response as the answer
to their hopes. And there is yet an
other who walts-the enemy. In
whatever degree our answer fails OF n
reverberntlng affirmative, I'm exactly
that degree Will ne take heart to pro-
long the hIdeous slaughter