BONDS AND THE STUDENT

The measure of a man's national-support lies in his personal actions and in his contributions of wealth. He may enter the active service of his country or he may offer his possessions. For the present at least, those of us in College must content ourselves with the latter of these two courses. The need for resources in the prosecution of the war must be apparent to all. The Government has chosen bonds as the method of raising the necessary funds. We have therefore the obligations and the machinery for meeting it before us. There remains only a consideration of the conditions which the college man must face in order to best serve his country.

As Mr. G. A. Clark has pointed out, the college man is essentially unproductive. He is engaged in laying up a store of potential ability which will serve him and society in the future. In so far as the only useful contributions are those taken from personal income, the present service of the undergraduate must be small. If he borrows money to invest in bonds, he merely prevents someone else from doing the same. If he sells securities, the purchaser can not buy bonds. There remains, therefore, as the only effective contribution to the nation's support, the investment of real savings. These may be in the form of income from securities he may own, or of an allowance from his parents. By reducing expenditures for unessential or extravagant purchases and investing the resulting savings in bonds, he materially aids in war production. Again, as Mr. Clark has said, his accomplishment is two-fold. He discourages the non-essential industries, which are competing against the Government, creating a rise in prices and scarcity of labor, and he contributes funds with which the Government may finance the war.

This much must be remembered. Serve your country through real sacrifices and an earnestness of purpose, or you serve it not at all. It is only in personal economies and abstinence from unnecessary consumption that you may add to the nation's capital. All other pretences at service tend but to defeat the end toward which they are directed.