A government has two ways of raising money. One of these ways, the older way, is by taxation. The government says to the citizen: “You have property worth so much money. We shall require you to give us a certain percentage of that money. You have an income of so many dollars. We shall take from you part of it, according to your wealth.” Or the government may put a tax on tea, or coffee, or clothes, or any other article which people use. All this is perfectly right and legal as a means of raising money for the prosecution of a war in which the government must direct the people, to win. The other method of raising money by the government is the sale of bonds. Bonds are really promises made by a corporation to pay at a certain stated time, with interest, the amount which the purchaser gives for them. For instance, when a railroad company wants to get money enough to make some necessary improvements, it issues bonds at a certain rate of interest, payable at a certain time. If the improvements help the railroad, and the company makes money by having done this, the person who buys the bond usually finds that his purchase has increased in value because of the certainty of the interest payments. It is this certainty of payment, both principal and interest, which has always made United States bonds such good investments. It is not hard for a man who has good property to secure a mortgage upon it. The United States is the richest country in the world. The government of the United States has at its command the greatest resources of any nation. Therefore, the government could raise more money than any other agency. When the war came to our country, the government had the choice of raising money by taxation or by the sale of bonds. In order to make the task as easy on the people as possible the government, through its officers, decided to combine the systems. Through the Internal Revenue Bureau of the Treasury of the United States the government set about the collection of taxes imposed by Congress, and designed to raise money for the winning of the war. And the secretary of the treasury announced the opening of the first Liberty Loan. The Liberty Loans are really bond sales. Through them the government sells to the people bonds, which are promises to pay the money which the government borrows. These bonds are promises to pay the purchasers at the end of a certain number of years the amount which they pay for them. In the meantime they pay semi-annual interest. These bonds are investments. Buying them is not making a gift to the government. It is, rather, letting the government make a gift to you.