Evening star., 1921-10-13
Editorial Digest
Uncle Sans Securities Soar.

Ouclc Sdm SECURITIES oO6C.
The recent rise in market value Of
liberty bonds and victory notes has
provoked revival Of the not alto
gether tiresome platitudes concerning
Uncle Sans utter reliability as
borrower. Not that any one ever
doubted 1t; only talk about it was
temporarily out Of fashion during the
reriod when the war securities were
depressed In value. and many original
purchasers for one cause and
another. got rid Of them
ut was no lack Of confidence in
the government" comments the
Scranton Times (democratic) in
agreement with the Springfield
dMassl Union (republican). that
caused the depreciation of the
bonds" and this recent rise. the
thinks. means a great deal in these
days of national and international
emergencies. 1t means that the
United States Is a good deal better
than solvent" while European
countries approximate bankruptcy.
The causes Of the rise are vaIiously
ascribed, but the Chattanooga News
(democratic) thinks 1t mainly
traceable to one cause.-the lowering
of rediscount rates of federal reserve
banks. In most of the comment"
remarks the Springfield Republican
independently. little attention has
been paid to the governments special
interest in forcing the war issues up
to as near par as possible in the
coming year or two. When the VIC
tory notes mature they will be re-
funded in the form OF a long-term
bond. and hundreds Of millions Of
dollars will be saved by the United
| hn
marketed at a low rate. say per
cent"
The New York Times Gndependent
democratic) points out that a mark
ed reason for the rise of liberties is
that the selling has decreased and
that the Treasury has been buying"
while the Providence Tribune (inde-
pendent republican, refers to "rumors
of an intention on the part of the
government to gather up all the
Philadelphia Public Ledger (inde-
pendent). together with the Boston
Post independent democratic). sees
only natural causes at work In the
boost in prices. Liberty bonds had
the reduced price at which they could
oe bought meant an actual yield to
the investor" Commenting on the
Investment value of the bonds. the
Boston Transcript independent re-
ng in unusually good returns can be
made in even such conservative Sc
curtties as Az per cent liberty bonds
1y watching the market quotations
and buying at the right time" and
cember. 1920. when the price was very
low, on which Is per cent was re-
allied. Cases could be cited of pur-
:hases made later" continues the
Transcript. with even a better show
cred pretty fair return for an invest
nent in the most conservative, least
speculative securities known" The
rise is mo doubt to be credited"
rhinks the Syracuse Herald inde-
,endent), lin no small measure to in
creased demands for the bonds for
investment purposes. and also to the
Jlenitude and cheapening OF money
rates"
That these government securities
have proved a p"or investment for
poor people is touched upon by a
number of papers. The Sioux City
Tribune independently, predicting
that government paper will go above
par, says:
Then the harvest will come for the
rich men who bought at cheap prices
the paper the millions Of poor fam
lilies purchased through self to
T. elp the nation in its hour of distress,
and which they had to sell to keep
potatoes on the table and shoes on
the baby. 1t is always that way. The
poor pay for wars"
In the same vein. the Florida Me-
tropolis Jacksonville, democratic)
says: 1.-The spectators took advan-
tage of the moment to prepare to en-
rich themselves after the high tide of
interest died down-and they are fol-
lowing out their plans. The govern
ment must keep faith with the small
investors by protecting them. To fail
to do this is to encourage socialism"
The previous drop in the prices Of
these securities cost many persons
who were forced to sell them dearly"
notes the Buffalo News (republican),
and the Chicago News Independently
says "the market decline was dis
quieting to persons lacking expert
ence in the field of investment" The
Spokane SpokesmanRevisw Onde-
pendent republican,. is Of the opin-
ion that while "some buyers were
forced to part with their bonds at
deprecated prices" the great bulk
of the sales that were made on a de-
clining market came from people who
could easily have held their bonds,
but who yielded to the prevailing
extravaganza"
Judge and Janitor.