Evening star., 1943-04-14
Lend Your Dollars

The TreaSury's campaign to raise
thirteen billion war dollars, now in
its third day, is meeting with re-
sponse throughout the country which
is source of pride and faith in the
American people.
This Is the largest war financing
campaign in history, yet so enormous
Is the cost of this conflict that the
money to be raised will meet expenses
only for about two months. But it
is precisely because war costs so
much that the burden must be spread
over the greatest possible number of
people.
There are two principal reasons
why the public should participate
fully and willingly-in war loans.
First, there is the motive of patriot
ism, of loyalty to the men who are
giving their lives in the front line of
battle. Most of our people will never
see an enemy soldier throughout the
whole of this war, nor have hostile
gun turned against them. Yet this
does not mean that they are out Of
the fight, that they can do nothing
to help their brothers and sons who
are in the thick of battle. Each
American can do his individual job,
whatever it may be, to the best of his
ability. He can cultivate the self
discipline to support the Govern
ment, without complaint or grum-
bling, in the necessary restrictions
that the war will impose on the
civilian population. And he can also
support his Government and his
country by lending for war purposes
every dollar that he can scrape to-
gether. These are the things that
each citizen can and should do for
reasons of patriotism. Individually,
their efforts may seem of less than
great Importance, but If all citizens
were to put their shoulders to the
wheel in this spirit it would be the
worst sort of news in Berlin, Rome
and Toxic.
Then there is also the incentive of
self-interest. Upon occasion a man
is heard to say: why should 1 buy
bonds? The Government will get the
money one way or another" That
may be true enough, but there are
not 50 many ways in which the Gov
ernment can raise vast sums Of
money. One is by taxation, and we
will have to assume a greater re-
sponsibility in that respect. Another
Is by borrowing directly from the
people. When these sources do not
suffice. the Treasury must turn to
commercial banks and similar agen-
cies, and, as last resort, to the
printing presses. In this country
there is no prospect of an attempt to
finance the war with printing g-press
money, for every one understands
the folly of that. But what is not so
we'll understood is the fact that ex-
cessive borrowing from banks, insur-
ance companies, ETC., may also lead
to severe imitation, since this does
not help to bring the purchasing
power of all the people in balance
with the supply of civilian goods.
This can be accomplished through
taxation and direct borrowing, and,
to the maximum extent, it must be
done that way. To fail in this would
be to impair the value of the re-
sources of every one of us.
In Washington a slogan has been
coined-Lend what you have to save
what you have. This is not mere
selling phrase. On the contrary, it
sums up simple truth which must
be brought home to every citizen
that he can best preserve his dollars
and his country by giving unstinted
support to the Government in this
sound borrowing effort to finance the
war