Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-04-29
LIBERTY LOAN SLACKERS

. to others. The nrst is from the Saturday Evening Post
where it is published as an editorial under tho It'll
Are You a Bond Stacker? q 1t reads as follows:
THE law says that you must not give aid and com.
fort to the enemy. Good conscience says you must Civ,
aid and comfort to your own country. One. test Off
mans attitude is this Liberty Loan. There is the pro.
German at heart, who wants the Kaiser to win and
obstfucts this country by the mean treason Of passive
resistance-doing all the harm he can without taking q
risk. There are willful dead beats, who deliberatel,
choose to sponge on their %neighbors by taking all thu
advantages the United States offers them and shirkins
as many obligations as the law permits. Others, no,
pro-German or wtlful dead beats, are merely lazy and
lukeworm. They could raise a hundred dollars, or many
multiples of a hundred dollars-to be repaid out Of their
income in the next six months-if the alternative were
some personal calamity: if default meant that they were
going into bankruptcy or into Jail. But they do not
make an exigent personal problem Of this Liberty Loan
They think other people will subscribe: the banks will
furnish the money. Let George do it! ~.
All these people come to exactly the same thing.
Indifference and selashness are exactly as serviceable
allies of the Kaiser as the man who secretly chuckles
over the weekly U-boat toll. Every inhabitant Of this
country who does not do his utmost to put his income
at the service of the Government is playing Hindenburg's
game"
Then comes this from the Minneapolis Journal dated
Paramount, Mimi:
Frank f. Wade, chairman Of the Liberty Loan
campaign for Martin county, and Clifford E. Jones,
Public Safety director, announced that all residents of
the county who failed to purchase Liberty Bonds will
be asked to appear before the executive board Of the
County Safety commission and explain.
Eighteen subpoenas for alleged loan slackers have
been placed in the hands of the sheriff Fifty more sub
poenas are to be issued, it was announced. 1t was said
that one citizen subscribed for $500 worth of bonds after
the sheriff served a subpoena on him.
Martin county proved its patriotism by exceeding
the Liberty Loan quota by more than $3e5,ooo in one
day." said Mr.. Wade, but there is no reason for letting
slackers get away"
The third is in the form of a circular addressed to
all national banks by the federal treasury department,
which reads:
1.-THE Comptroller of the Currency recently approved.
an application for a charter for a new national bank in
a certain Western State, as there was. apparently, an
opening for a bank in the ommurity in which it was
to be established and the applicants seemed to be men
Of responsibility and means and some prominence.
Subsequently, doubt arose as to the loyalty and
patriotism Of the applicants, and it was ascertained that,
although the six applicants for the charter were re-
ported to be men of considerable means-several Of
them claiming to be worth a quarter of a million dollars
or more-the aggregate amount Of Liberty bonds of the
first and second issues to which the six applicants had
subscribed was only $500, several Of the applicants for
the charter having taken no Liberty bonds at all, and
their aggregate subscriptions to the Red Cross had been
only $14s.
The comptroller has today revoked the authority
given for the organization of this proposed national
bank, on the ground that men of means in these times
who show so little patriotism and so little public spirit
IN the matter of making subscriptions to Liberty bonds
and to the Red Cross are unfit to be placed in charge
of any national bank"
The fact is that the borrowing Of money for the war
is a necessary government activity in which the people
must cooperate. The money must be raised. It will
be raised. 1t is discretionary with the government
whether the required funds be received as a loan or col
lected as taxes. In actual practice both methods are
used. Taxes are levied up to the amount which it is
believed wise to collect in that manner, and the rest is
demanded as a loan. The individual is not asked what
taxes he would like to pay. The tax is levied according
to a fixed rule, and then the tax is collected. IT it is
not paid the property Of the individual will be seized
and sold. No credit will be given, and no excuses will
avail
The amount that an individual will subscribe to the
loan is left to his own judgment-within reasonable
limits. This is done in order that the public may be
inconvenienced as little as possible. But it is not done
in order to permit individuals to shirk their obligations.
The obligation Of every individual to subscribe to each
government loan to the extent of. his ability is just as
great and just as binding as his obligation to pay the
taxes that are levied against him. And, while the
methods of enforcing that obligation against would-be
shirks may be a little different from those employed for
the collection Of taxes it is being made very clear that
they will be made effective, and that the individual who
tries to shirk his bond obligation is likely to find, himself
in as undesirable a position as the man who tried to
dodge the payment Of his taxes.
The government will not permit aviators to make
contracts for amusement purposes, They are needed for
other business. Why. will not the same rule apply to
those ambitious to engage in prize fights?
i. mos. ,., any sss-h sss CARRIER PIGEONS
'ish s,n .s sssT the he ARE GIVEN GAS MASKS