AN INDIVIDUAL DUTY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 120, 17 November 1942, Page 4

AN INDIVIDUAL DUTY

While the successful flotation of the second Liberty Loan, oversubscribed by more than £300,000, is gratifying, the fact that the amount was contributed by no more than 24,000 individual subscribers suggests that too many people have not yet I realised the duty which they owe to [the country in assisting to meet the tremendous cost of the war. Loa"ns

for war purposes cannot be regarded as the sole concern of large investors; they are definitely the concern of all. Not only is it necessary that every person should contribute to the limit of his or her capacity for war funds, but it is essential, if the country's financial stability is to be maintained, that surplus money must be withdrawn from the pockets of the consumers. Already there is a gap of £100,000,000 between purchasing power and consumer goods, and unless this can be speedily bridged serious economic difficulties are inevitable and may lead to much greater hardships than are involved in placing surplus money at the disI posal of the State. It is in the public's own interest that surplus spending power should be .transferred either to war loans or to other forms of .national saving. In this way individuals will have the double satisfaction of helping the country to steer a safe financial course and of building up savings which will assist them in meeting the difficulties of the post-> war period. Wider distribution of income carries heavy responsibilities as well as privileges.