The Raymer enterprise., 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, obvlatino Total
Cost by Taxation.
10y EUGENE p. LYLE, JR., Of The
viqilantes.)

Freedom comes high, being pre-.
cious thing. Being the most precious
thing. 1t comes highest. No people Ia
worthy Of freedom that is not willing
and eager to pay dearly for 1t. In
fact. you will find no people possess
Ing freedom that has not paid dearly
for It, and you will find no people con-
tinuing to possess freedom that does
not stand every ready to pay dearly.
over and over. to retain 1t.
II this were not true, Belgium,
France, Italy and England with her
oversee domlnions, would now be as
Russia Is today. II this were not
true, America would still be neutral.
contemptibly awaiting her turn to pass
under the yoke.
Blood and treasure, anguish and sac
rihce-these are the coin we bring
to market; the coin we must pay. Yet
the coin may be, and. is expressed In
dollars and cents. not alone as a sym.
Dol Of the real price we pay, but be-
cause this real price would be wan
tonly squandered, or paid In more
CHASTITY measure than need be. II the
cold, calm. practical business Of dol.
lar-and-cents financing were not at the
heart Of the heroic transaction.
Valnly would the soldier shed his
blood II he were not trained and
equipped to make his blows count ia
the utmost, and the cost OF this train.
Ing and equipment is an item that may
be, and is, expressed In an exact mum.
Der of dollars added to an exact num-
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 wal
Is costing us as 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 to Our Children.
| Ungrudgingly, yes! OF that we are
proudly conscious that there Is M
question. The one and only question
Is the practical question of finance
How shall the money be found? We
ourselves must supply 1t, since 1t cnn
not be borrowed elsewhere. But how
The bill is too big to pay cash on
the nall as we go. And, furthermore
to pay all as we 60 would be just
neither to ourselves nor to our pos
terity.
1t would not be just to ourselves
because we alone Will not be the bene.
hclaries. The generations to come will
benefit-lncalculably benefit In the lib
critics preserved to then-and It Il
proper that they should be left to as
sumo fair proportion Of the debt
They are buying freedom today as
much as we. But we shall have to
lend them the money now to pay thelr
share. In lending to our government
In buying Liberty bonds We lend to our
children; and gratefully our children
will pay It on.
Any other arrangement would moi
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
as equity. points the way. The wars
burden should be divided. Let us pay
in cash as heavily as we wisely may
that Is taxation. But the rest let us
leave to the future beneficiarles, lend.
Ing them the money now-that is buy
Ing Liberty bonds.
Fresdem's Great Price.
The present moment Is a good time
to contemplate what will happen-in'
evitably happen-If we do not lend ia
posterity to help pay freedoms huge
price. Nothing Is clearer than the al
tentative.
II we do not lend our government
what 1t asks Of us In loans, then we
must consent that the total cost be
taken from us outright by taxation
even by a prorated confscation.
Before such an alternative even the
German. or pro-German. having prop
erty 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
than lend to the last cent we may pos.
sibly save; and this not once merely
but each and every time that Uncle
Sam steps from his counting house ia
tell us that he must have more money
Uncle Sam Is telling us this now.
He awaits our response. But he ID
not the only one who waits. Wherevel
men are free or suffer to be free, there
they await our response as the answer
to their hopes. And there Ia vet an
other who walts--the enemy. In
whatever degree our answer fails OF I
reverberatIng affirmative. in exactly