The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-06
NECESSARY FOR WINNING WAR


 sarv for the winning of the war, ana IL is inst as important that the governmen. secure them as it is that 1t Snoulu pio cure the funds or credits with " hlNh " ray for them. In some respects ee American people lave not as Net co-op- erated to a sufficient degree, not h''s.e pee of any lack of patriotism. put pec"uso they have not vet been auequa'eis i
 nressed with the imperative necessity TOT 4l. oi,. oon,nlete and constant co-operatloh.
 Thev have not vet been thorousHs aroused to the fact that the lssue-suN- s, cass or failure-our future as natloh lies in their hands.
 "A great campaign of education, na, tion-wide in scope. lies ahead or us, anu in this campaign the banks or .ile eoun try have an opportunity 10 rehuei t1 service by constituting themseNes .n leaders of public sentiment. Each panN in i+s own community ought to make tne neople understand clearly that tne an,o,Int of goods or supplies whlch caii he produced is limited, ana thal 'l eol
 servation and in the avoidance ol "aS'e, as well as by increased production or foodstuffs cotton, wool, Jumper, lloli a"u . steel products and all other suppttea necessary in the conduct of the war, the neonIa who remain at home have the hest opportunity of serving their country These necessary supplies should be TUT nished in sufficient quantities ana m tne shortest possible time. for time IS Vieai factor It is of course essential to ecoiio mize in the use of those things "hich are required by the government, put l WISH to suggest that by restricting ourselves in the tse of those things when are no, required by the government, maternal may be released which can be used Tn other ways or shipped to other coun- tries.
 EXAMPLE GIVEN
 "As an illustration. it may be pointed out that if every family in the Uniteo States would use fewer clothes than they would in ordinary times, cotton ana woolen goods to the value Of millions oi dollars could be made available TOT eA' port and the proceeds could De used Ill making purchases of copper m MeNico hides and wool in Argentina, and or ni- trates in Chile. By consuming smaller amount of goods additional money IS saved which can be used by the people l in paving for the war loans or the gov errment Decreased demand for goods | by individuals and purchases or govern ment bonds out of savings rather thaf | by excessive borrowing from banks VII 1 tend to retard a further rise Tn prices | and to restrict expansion Of banking credits which necessarily contribute te |
 principal customer for farm products ane 1 for manufactured articles and there neet 1 be no fear of any falling off in demand for staple articles of all kinds as the re suit of individual economies.
 "Since the beginning of the war, ane more especially since the entry or thi' l country into the war deposits in bank' have increased enormously, but 1t shouit be remembered that loans and discounts
 and investments have increased in al even greater degree Our gold holdings l in three years have increased more thai l A billion dollars and are now larger thai those of any other country. but at tn same time our percentage of gold re serves against deposits and note issue has decreased These conditions are no unusual in times of war, and to a cer tain extent they cannot be prevented. bu the banks of the country should make 1 l their business to keep these tendencle under control and to prevent too rapit an expansion of credits as far as pos s;ble. without placing in jeopardy the su
 preme object of our national efort-th | xf; Of