Bitter Medicine

It cost something like $25,000 to kill one soldier during the last war. With the increasing mechanization of warfare, the price has risen considerably, and every day some 10,000 men are killed in battle. The United States has appropriated a sum equal to half its national income, in order to meet this cost. And the United States has to get its money from us.

If half the money that people receive in wages, salaries, profits, and even allowances is to go for planes and tanks and battleships, rather than for food, clothing, and movies, there must be some way for the government to take up that money. Taxes play their part, and it will be an increasingly important part, but they are not enough. Unless the gap can be filled with voluntary borrowing, either compulsory loans will have to be initiated, or a vicious inflationary spiral will set in, with the government simply outbidding private consumers by printing more greenbacks. We have seen the disastrous effects of inflation too often in other countries to risk such an eventuality here.

Voluntary saving is imperative now, and the Treasury's Defense Bond and Stamp plan provides the best outlet for it. Defense bonds are worth-while investments for their purchasers, and essential revenue sources for the war effort. If the maids and janitors can afford to save part of their tiny weekly earnings for bonds and stamps, surely Harvard students can cut out a beer, a movie, or even an occasional date, to prevent inflation and help win the war. The medicine may seem a little bitter, but the patient is very sick.