Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-09-06
HERE is MEANING
OF LIBERTY BOND
Buying II Is Merely Lending
Money to Yourself for a
Great Necessity.
US. GOVERNMENT MEANS US
etupendous Amounts Are Needed to
Pay for Work and Materials, SO
Our oId-TIme Extrsvauanees
Must BE Dropped.
BY JOHN PALMER oAvlr.


One OF the good results that win ac-
crue to the American people from their
participation In the war Is a better
understanding of the purpose and
function OF money. Also, they will
more fully appreciate their relation to
the government and the fact that II Is
their government--as much theirs as
their homes and farms and factories.
For purposes OF poetry and sentiment
u Is well enough to talk about "Uncle
SnIn." your devotion TO him, your will
ingness TO lend to him by the purchase
of bonds. War Savings Certificates and
Thrift Stamps. and to give your own
life and the lives of your sons on the
actual fighting front; but you must not
lose sight OF the fact that after all. the
United States, "Uncle SAM" U. S."
Our Country" and so on-whatever
poetic phrase we use to represent the
nation In Its united action and aspi-
ration--is Just US. ourselves in our
own proper persons, working and saw
ing and applying our joint strength, for
ourselves. our children and our chill
dren's children.
Too much have we thought of the
government. the nation. Uncle Sam,
and 30 on, as something separate from
ourselves; something to which we give
and lend, eagerly or willingly or
Erudgingly or under compulsion. as the
case may be. We have had too little
OF the practice of team work for a
great common purpose-our own pur'
pose.
The Liberty Bond campaigns fur.
nish occasion for reminding ourselves
that it Is our country. ourselves in our
organized capacity, that Is engaged in
the war to abolish autocracy; that
"Uncle Sam" Is us. In common de-
termination to do and give all Of our.
selves to an enterprise as thoroughly
worth while as the American Revolu
tion or the war to preserve the Union
and free the slaves. And one of the
ways In which we can participate di
rectly and actively in this enterprise Is
90 turn our money-all of 1t that is moi
absolutely and honestly necessary tC
the essential purposes of living ant
keeping well and efficient for the Other
things we have to do to help along ths
enterprise-over to ourselves in ouI
organized capacity; that is, to the
government, for the work Of the wal
which II is conducting for us.
Money Useful Only for Exchange.
Money Is nothing in itself-just pa
per and metal. It is useless unless
somebody else will accept 1t in ex
change for something he has or some
thing he can Go. The measure Of III
vnIue to you is the other fellows neet
Of the materials or the labor which 4
VIII in turn command for him. Spend
ing money Is the way we have of get
ting from other people the things the,
hnwe or the work they can do--'Goodi
and Services" Our responsibility
therefore, lies In the question of th'
kind Of things for which we choos,
20 exchange money, and the time anC
circumstances in which we exert tina
choice
Now. we have been a very wastefu
and extravagant people; we have no
thought much about the effect upoI
ourselves and other people and upor
the nation as a whole, of the ways il
which we spent our money, or the TIM
and circumstances I'm which we spen
n. But the war is compelling us Il
think about that. Not even the great
est nation. or the most powerful gov
ernment. or the shrewdest financier
can make something out of nothing
And when war. the most ravenous kin,
of waste and extravagance that man
kind has devised, comes along to TAX
workers out of industry and of tn
farms. and to turn them from produC
fion to high-power consumption ant
ceEtsuction--nO matter II the ultimat
purpose OF the war be quite worth II
cost in life and property-there simpl
are not material and labor enough Il
the country to permit both the contir
nance Of the old kinds OF expenditur
and the taking on Of the new.
Why We Must Do Without
For the purposes Of the war tn
government Of the United States mus
have stupendous amounts Of material
and work. and there is not enough q
these to give the government what
must have and at the same time allo'
the people generally to have as muc
material and work for their privat
uses MS they have in ordinary times.
Therefore we must to the creates
possible extent keep out Of the mark'
for materials and labor, so as (1) I