Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 97, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1919 — A Business Proposition [ARTICLE]

A Business Proposition

By WILL PAYNE.

Secretary Glass said the Victory Liberty Loan should appeal to the patriotism of the people of the United States and not be merely a business proposition. Isn’t that so? It was no business proposition that sent two million young Americans to France and made nearly two million more gve up their time for more than a year to train for going. This Victory Loan is to pay for equipping them; sending them over, keeping them there and fetching them back Will you look one of them in the face and say, “As soon as you stopped fighting and I had given you three hearty cheers you became Just a business proposition?” But the loan is a business proposition, too —this way: You are Uncle Sam —a hundred odd million of you, individually. Bays Uncle Sam to himself, “I owe several million dollars—owe it now on due and maturing obligations that must be met to the last cent My credit is practically unlimited. I can borrow that money of the banks. They’ve got to lend it to me. That will mean a huge inflation of bank credit —bank loans all swollen up with my paper—banks consequently in a poorer condition to take care of the ordinary business of the country. But if I do horrow the money of the banks I’ve got to pay them back some time. There are only two ways in which a man can finally get out of debt. One way Is to sell some property and pay up; the other way is to earn more than he spends, saving the difference. I have no property to sell. Can’t sell the White House or the national forests. The second way is the only way for me. “Shall I borrow the money from the banks now and thereby put off the real settlement, or shall a hundred million individual Uncle Sams right now save out of their incomes and lend the saving to the collective Uncle Sam, thereby enabling him to pay the bills and wipe the slate, with no Inflation, leaving the banks in sound condition to meet the needs of ordinary business?” That is the question. It is your debt. Yon owe the money. Finally you’ve got to pay it in some fashion. To lend in on the banks now is the most expensive way temporarily to dispose

ot It To save, inaivlffuaiiy, 'is tie best and cheapest Way. Even waiving patriotism, it cornea down to a business proposition. Only the savings and subscriptions of the whole public can take care of the loan without inflation. » .