THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



351 



Echoes of the Great War. 



THE VICTORY LIBERTY LOAN. 



THE Secretary of the Treasury, Carter Glass, in his P-st ad- 

 dress to the people, issued an appeal to prepare for the 

 Fifth Liberty Loan which the financial demands on the 

 Government dictate must be floated at an early date. Mr. Glass 

 urged the preservation of the same patriotic spirit that has been 

 shown in raising previous loans and recommended that all bond- 

 selling organizations be continued. He noticeably commented 

 on the fact that Americans once for all have disproved the 

 slander that they are merely a money-loving people, incapable 

 of rising above materialistic things. 



As reasons for e.xerting a particular effort in preparing to 

 raise the Fifth Liberty Loan, which is to be called the Victory 

 Liberty Loan, Mr. Glass stated that the expenditures of the 

 Government for that portion of the fiscal year between July 1 

 and December 16, 1918, excluding transactions in the principal 

 of the public debt, exceeded $9,600,000,000; that it is estimated 

 that the cash outgo from the Treasury during the fiscal year 

 ended June 30, 1919, will be $18,000,000,000, of which more than 

 half was spent in the five and one-half months prior to January 

 1 ; and that bills incurred during the peak of production of war 

 inaterials at the time of the signing of the armistice must be 

 paid. 



Mr. Glass took into account that the American people face 

 the Victory Liberty Loan with the handicap of the tendency 

 to feel exultant and self-satisfied with what has already been 

 accomplished and the inclination, now that peace negotiations 

 are under way, to resume individual and business activities ; 

 but he called attention to the fact that our boys still overseas 

 have their work before them, in which we must support them 

 as heretofore, and he finished his appeal with an e.xpression of 

 confidence in the American people that they will "respond once 

 more to the call for service and will at once prepare the ground 

 and sow the seed, so that the harvest may be abundantly fruitful." 



The Victory Liberty Loan campaign will open Monday, Apr 

 21, and close three weeks later, Saturday, May 10. The loan 

 will take the form of notes of the United States, maturing in 

 not over five years from the date of issue, the rate of interest 

 to be based on existing conditions just prior to the opening of 

 the campaign, possibly in excess of 4J4 per cent, the rate on the 

 last two loans. The amount of notes to be ofltered has not been 

 announced, but it has been generally understood that it would 

 be a minimum of $5,000,000,000, with the Treasury reserving the 

 right to accept all oversubscriptions. 



Patriotism first and investment opportunity will be among the 

 chief appeals to the people to support this newest loan. Secre- 

 tary Glass has also e.xplained recently how necessary it is that 

 the new notes secure the widest circulation possible among the 

 people in order that the banks of the country may be relieved of 

 the burden which would otherwise be imposed on them. The 

 business of the country, he points out, looks to the banking 

 system for credit wherewith to carry on its operations, and if 

 this credit is absorbed to a large extent by the purchase of 

 government securities there will be many limitations placed upon 

 the supply of credit for business purposes. The wage-earner is 

 also directly concerned, that full employment at good wages may 

 continue. 



REVISED FREE AND "RATIONED" EXPORT LISTS. 



The War Trade Board announces that the following rubber 

 products will be licensed freely for export when destined to 

 Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Switzerland, Luxemburg, 

 Finland and the occupied Rhine provinces. They may be con- 

 signed directly to the consignee named in the export license, or 

 "to order." The rubber goods named in the revised list are : 



athletic goods, bicycle pedal rubber, rubber erasers, toys, dolls 

 and games of all kinds, including or consisting of rubber. 



The "rational" list of exports to Sweden, for which a fixed 

 ration has been provided under the terms of the agreement 

 with the Government of Sweden, includes raw rubber and rubber 

 manufactured goods other than tires and tubes, pedal rubbers, 

 brake blocks of rubber for bicycles, and rubber erasers. 



Applications for licenses to export these "rationed" commodi- 

 ties to Sweden will be considered by the War Trade Board 

 only when such applications are accompanied by the numbers 

 of the import certificates issued by the Swedish Handel's 

 Kommission upon the guaranties of the appropriate importing 

 associations, and shipments may be consigned only to such 

 associations. 



AMERICANIZATION ACTIVITIES IN AKRON. 



If the great world war had served no otlier purpose than that 

 of inspiring in the minds of the foreign-born people in America 

 a desire to become, first, American, and then so well read and 



\n .'\mericanization Cl.\ss 



cducaled that customs and methods of all countries were dis- 

 closed 10 them, it would have achieved a great social change. 



.American industry has been upheld and operated smoothly 

 by foreign labor, at least seventy per cent of which could not 

 read nor speak the English language. This condition was un- 

 fair to both workmen and the industry. In full knowledge of 

 this industrial concerns and educational leaders in Akron, Ohio, 

 have taken up the project of Americanization among foreign 

 workmen, and the Board of Education is urgently advocating 

 the adoption of an Americanization program by every concern 

 in the city. 



Perhaps no concern in Akron has taken up this work more 

 seriously than the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. Classes may 

 be seen assembled under the direction of instructors furnished 

 by the city Board of Education nearly every day in the spacious 

 lounging rooms of the Firestone Club House, which offers 

 unusual facilities for work of this kind. 



These men and women are instructed much as children are 

 in the primary grades in school. Classes are divided according 

 to the progress made by the student. Rudimentary English, 

 reading, and the use of the English alphabet form the chief 

 subjects for study in the first classes. As a man develops and 

 acquires a sufficient working knowledge of the English language 

 to carry on his studies for himself, he is urged to read the 

 newspapers and magazines and to obtain for himself informa- 

 tion relative to lands, governments, and customs outside of his 

 own native country. 



.After a student completes a course as described herein, he is 



