A MESSAGE TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF CANADA

When the Kaiser and his hordes have perished by the sword which they unsheathed, when this cruel war is over and the golden day of peace has come, you will hear many a fireside tale of the " Great War" from your elders who were "over there." And on the night when they are telling the wonderful story of Vimy Ridge, it may well be that some one will mention the incident of the wooden cross over the grave-trench of some of our Canadian heroes, on which had been rudely carved the words

"You say you come from Britain!
Is there a Britain still?
Then thanks to the brave boys like these
Who lie on Vimy Hill! "

And as you listen you cannot but feel that he who carved the lines realized the situation exactly and expressed it happily. For of a truth these were " deeds that saved an Empire." And as the glorious tale unfolds of Canadian valour and Canadian victories, your pulses will quicken and your hearts swell with pride at the thought that these mighty men of battle were your own countrymen, your very own folk; that it is no mean country of which you can boast yourselves citizens, but rather a country whose shining heroism has made it the admiration and the envy of the world.

But hard upon these feelings of proper pride must come to you also the reflection-" And while these splendid countrymen of ours were fighting so valiantly, winning so gloriously, dying so nobly, what were we doing to help their cause?" Well for you and your peace of mind, well for your consciences, if you can look back upon that time of stress and bitter conflict, and say to your own hearts: " Yes, the way in which we could do our part in helping to win the fight and save our country, and in helping to make our country a better place to live in afterward, was pointed out to us, and that way we followed."

Now your country has a very special and direct message, for you, showing clearly the way. The way, she says, is the way of THRIFT and the watchword is "SAVE, save, and LEND me your savings." You may fancy your country, like a mother with her children, calling you about her and appealing to you in words like these. "You are my younger children; of thousands of my elder children have I been bereft. They have died and are dying for you and for me that our lives and liberties maybe safe from the menace of the oppressor. What the enemy would -do to us, were it not for these defenders, you may know from the dreadful fate of Belgium and northern France. Nothing else matters so much now as the winning of this fight. If we do not win, all our sacrifice has been in vain. But we must win, and we can win, if we at home bear our share of the burthen. Our soldiers have shown on many a blood-stained field how grandly they are doing their part. Your part is to do your utmost to help in equipping them at the outset, and in keeping them equipped, so that they may always be at their best in this death grapple."

It will bring the matter home to you more clearly if you are told that merely to provide the personal equipment of one infantry soldier for service in France costs $155. The most of this is for clothes, and clothes wear out rapidly. So you may readily understand how large a sum is required by your Government to equip and keep an army of 500,000 men. But this is only one small item. If you would calculate the immense expense of war, you would have to reckon, among other expenses, the cost of paying the soldiers and all those needed to manage their affairs, the cost of training them, the cost of transporting them, the cost of feeding them, the cost of caring for the wounded, the cost of pensions, the cost of munitions in the making of which 350,000 workers were engaged during the past year.

It must now be clear to you why your Government needs so many hundreds of millions of dollars; and since it must get this money chiefly from our own people, you, as well as your elders, must save in order to lend your savings to your Government. Again, consider this aspect of the matter. If you continue to spend money for the same things and as many of these things as I before the war, where is the Government to get the workers to make the things needed for the war? When so many hundred thousands of workers are taken away from their occupations for actual warfare, and so many others are diverted to the task of supplying their needs, how can you expect the same number of people as before to be available for the supplying of YOUR needs or comforts or luxuries? If a man is occupied in making boots for you, he cannot at the same time be occupied in making boots for a soldier. And what is the answer to this problem? Why, ABATE your needs or comforts or luxuries. Make your boots last longer than before. Save on everything which needs workers to produce; LEND your savings for the benefit of those who are GIVING their lives for you. While the war lasts, there should be no more "pleasure as usual." If you have been accustomed to spend a dime or a quarter or a dollar for something you could do without, for candy or ice cream or "the movies," save that dime or quarter or dollar, and lend it to the Government to help feed a soldier, or bind up his wounds, or supply him with a box of cartridges. You are not even GIVING the money; you are merely LENDING it on the best security with the expectation of profitable returns. For the Government has provided an easy method, and one that should appeal to your sense of thrift. With 25 cents you may buy a Thrift Stamp at the Post Office, where you are given a Thrift Card. With 16 spaces, in one of which you place the stamp. When the 16 spaces are filled, you exchange your Thrift Card for a War Savings Stamp, for which you have paid $4.00, plus, perhaps, a cent; or a few cents, and which will be worth to you $5.00 on January 1st, 1924. With the War Stamp you get a War Savings Certificate with 10 spaces, on one of which you affix the War Stamp. When the Certificate is filled, it has cost you a little over $40.00 and will be worth $50.00 on January 1st, 1924. Even were there no war, this would form an admirable game in "'progressive thrift." The Thrift Stamp provides a means for saving small amounts till these reach the dignity of a War Savings Stamp, which bears interest at 4½%.

You know that the modern watch-word of social life is SERVICE, and the watch-word for the most effective service is TEAM-PLAY. So for this, the most urgent form of service you will ever meet, the team-play can be readily supplied by a War Savings Society in every school.

You must remember, too, that the war will not last forever. It is true that the greatest financial stress is yet to come; but we think we can see the beginning of the end. Money is plentiful now, and the dollar, which will buy so much less than formerly, is less respected and more readily let go. But in the time of re-construction to follow the war, times will be harder and the dollar more valuable. This gives a further reason for saving those dollars now and having them then. But your country likes to think that what will influence you most is not so much the idea of self-interest in the future as the realization of her present grim necessity. You are young - and youth is naturally careless; you are young - and youth is naturally enthusiastic. What your country asks, in this hour of need, is that you should shed some of the carelessness, and summon all the enthusiasm for the grand campaign of thrift, which will be your country's salvation. You are also the youth of Canada, and proud of what Canada has done; the youth of Britain, too, and proud of what Britain has done. And what has Britain done? Hear the answer in the words of a Canadian poet: (Rev. Frederick B. Hodgins, B. A., formerly of Toronto, in the New York Herald of August 24th, 1918.)

What has Britain done?
Kept the faith and fought the fight
For the everlasting right;
Chivalrously couched her lance
In defence of Belgium, France.
This has Britain done!

What has Britain done?
Given every seventh son,
Met the challenge of the Hun;
Placed her men on every field;
Proud to die, too proud to yield.
This has Britain done!

What has Britain done
Answers every far-flung breeze
Blown across the Seven Seas
"Watch and ward secure she keeps
Vigilance that never sleeps."
This has Britain done.

What has Britain done?
On every front her flag unfurled,
Fought a world-war round the world;
Then, when all is said and done
Ask her Allies, ask the Hun,
" What has Britain done?"

What has Britain done?
For her slain Britannia weeps
She might boast who silence keeps.
But when all is done and said,
Call the roll and count her dead
And know what she as done

Can you hear this and not ask yourselves-"What have we done?" "Happy will you be, and blest your country in her loyal children, if you can answer:

" We have saved and have not spent;
Saved, and to our soldiers lent
And that's what WE have done."

Source:  Chapter 12, The Canada War Book (1918)