The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-06-09

to higher grade of efficiency. We
have made a beginning in both these
respects. Women are not only meet
ing new demands Of the munition
works and Red Cross agencies, but
are setting men free by taking places
IN our elevators and our street cars.
In some. lines of Neutrality-suspicious.
nately not in alive are not recoe-
nizing that the laborer who tries to
limit his output Is as much a Stacker
as the soldier who tries to evade mil
itary duty. But these things repre-
sent only beginning. 1t viii be a
slow process to readtust our home en-
ployment to make good the loss Of
productive power incident to war.
For the moment, therefore, we must
lay our chief stress on reducing our
consumption to a war basis We must
abstain from unnecessary expenditures
In the way of comforts and services
We must avoid waste in the use OF
necessary things like food and fuel
Every household which gets on with
one less servant sets one iaborer free
for war work. Every ton Of coal
saved in the cellar is ton Of coal
gained for the factory or the shop.
Every change Of diet which enables
us to keep up our health with less
expensive food releases a correspond
ing asnount of food to feed ou- allies.
ANtAI 70 the quiet hGtFE ante IA INC
draft law last summer. the most I'M
pressive act of patriotism by the Amer
lean people has been the general nc
ccptance among the households or the
country of the need II saving as
measure Of war nauco. There are of
course slackers In saving, as there are
slackers In working and Elackers IN
hghting, but the general record has
been n good one and IS getting bet
ter with every month.
Savings Are what Help Most.
A subscription TO the liberty loan.
or the purchase of war savings
stamps which is based on savings of
this sort is worth at least twice as
much to the country as one that is
based on bank credit or on sales of Sc
curities, The men who has borrowed
money from the bank has simply
promised to contribute to the liberty
loan. The actual contribution comes
when he pays for It. The man who
sells stocks or bonds in order to con-
tribute to the liberty loan is merely
converting one kind OF property into
another. He makes 1t little easier
for the government to raise capital.
and a little harder for corporations
whose work may be almost as essen
tlal to the safety of the country as
that OF the government itself The
man who buys war savings stamps
but does not pay for them out of saw
ings. contributes Attle to the govern
ment
But the man who has earned his
money to subscribe to the liberty loan.
or who has saved his money to put
into war savings stamps has helped to
meet the real cost of the war. II he
has increased his earnings in order
to subscribe. he has furnished the
country some OF the labor power Il
needs. II he and his household have
diminished their consumption in order
to subscribe. they have saved the coun-
try some of the supplies IT needs The
surplus of a workers earnings over a
workers consumption represents an
actual net income available for war
purposes This is why II is even more
important to have a loan widely dis
tributed among the people than to
have II taken up by large corporations.
1t means that We are doing what we
pretend TO do; paying the real cost
as well as tho money cost OF war
finance.