Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-09-19
THE FOURTH LIBERTY LOAN

The United States has spent during it, seventeen
months Of war at the rate of a billion dollars a month
OF late the rate has risen untl it reaches about double
that figure. In the coming year our expenditure will b
twenty-four billions or more. Unexpected development.
may at any time call for q vast increase in the expendi
ture. The sums involved are c%alculable but not under
%standable. The human mind is incapable in grasp,ne
sums SO vast From the time when the American, re.
public was founded doyn to the date when the, Europear
war began. the total expenditures Of the federal govern.
ment had amounted to Just about twenty -four billion
dollars. This has provided for all the expenses of con.
gress, the federal courts, the various departments OF
the government, the work Of the war and navy depart
ments In war and peace, and the OUTLAWS at one time
considered vast for rivers and harbors, public buildings
conservation projects, and the multitude of other thing.
undertaken by the national government People Otter
criticized the government for spending so much money
1t is not very long-perhaps twenty years-since We had
our first billion dollar congress-" That congress, in the
two years Of its existence. appropriated a little over a
billion dollars for> national expenses. Later we have
grown accustomed to the expenditure Of a billion dollars
a year rather than by a two-years' congress. 1t took, all
our activities prior to the breaking out of the war to
reach an expenditure of twenty-four billions. And we
are not spending at that rate in a single year. \
Whatever the sum needed, it must be raised. We
have raised parts of 1t by increasing current taxation
and parts by the sale Of bonds, which means that the
people who follow will be required to bear their share
of the cost of that which is done for them as we'll as for
ourselves. The taxes. which will amount to one-third
of the total amount to b raised. must be paid now. The
bonds are sold to persons who are willing and able to
invest their savings in them, to draw interest on them
and to hold them for redemption later on.
We have become accustomed to the purchase OF
these bonds. They constitute the best security that is to
be found on earth today. The securities of no other
government compare with them. in stability, and private
securities are not in the same class at all in the, matter
Of reliability. For every dollar that the government re-
ceived from the sale of it's bonds it will return a dollar
with interest at a rate which is very satisfactory when
the security Of the investment is considered.
These bonds cannot be bought without some incon.
venience, some sacrifice. The government is doing all
that it can to make their purchase attractive. But, when
all is done that the government can do. the purchase
represents, to the vast majority of people. some present
sacrifice, some self-denial. The individual must place
himself. and his personal interests in the background
He must be prepared to impose upon himself some re-
straint. lie must realize that it is for him to make a
real contribution to the cause, and to suffer a little for
it. 1t is in this spirit that the offer Of the former Lib
erty bonds has been met, and it is in this spirit that the
present demand will be received when the formal tender
is made by our government.