OCTOBER 8, 1918.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
What Do You Mean "Afford"？
★★
By George Ade
We come to another big task. This time we need not call for helpers. The volunteer workers stream in myriad hosts along the main highway leading to victory and vindication.
All patriots, by confession.
The grumblers are awed into silence. If the taint of disloyalty remains anywhere it is hidden as a shameful secret. The heads are wagging and we hear many bold assurances:
"I'll do all I can."
"I'll go as far as the next fellow."
"I'll take all I can afford to take."
We are speaking, of course, of the Fourth Liberty Loan and the willingness of the war-backers to subscribe.
This time we do not explain a Liberty Loan and how it works, or why we battle with Germany or that a war costs money. It will just about require a search-warrant to find a man who does not say that he will take all of the bonds he can "afford" to take.
But, O my countrymen, we need night schools and correspondence schools, private tutors and Chautauquas and special informationbureaus to enlighten Mr. A. and Mr.B. and Mr.C.as to the real meaning of the word "afford."
Are you penciling around to find out how much money you can set aside without the slightest inconvenience to any of your pet private projects?
Are you trying to decide how many bonds you will have to take in order to escape the charge of being a slacker?
Are you getting ready to answer in hundreds a country that has endowed you with thousands?
As you squint your eyes and try to decide upon the sum which will fairly represent your individual quota, are you acting as attorney for the United States of America or have you gone in for technicalities in order to protect special interests?
In reasoning with your conscience, are you trying to be generous or trying to play safe?
It is up to you.
The buck cannot be passed.
It is for each man to decide whether he is going to be a thoroughbred or a squeezer of 50-cent pieces.
For the sake of your own self-respect, come through to the limit. If you live to be a thousand years old you never will have another chance to start your iron dollars upon such a noble mission.
Do you wish to deepen the wrinkles upon the brows in Potsdam? Would you fortify the courage of every soldier in France?
Shall we set in such a stack that the Kaiser can't see over the top of it? All right! You are appointed a Special Agent.
Don't wait for a committee to hunt you up or run you down.
Hurry to the bank and break through the line and order so many Liberty Bonds that the man inside will be dazed and all of the neighbors surprised and all of your relatives proud.
Buy Liberty Bonds- Wholesale, Not Retail
This Space Contributed to Winning the War by
The Men's Student Council The Women's Student Government Association