 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. I do not need to tell you that we are still locked in a deadly struggle with our enemies. The enemies of our ways of life. And the war is still the cheap job of each one of us. The greatest production of which we are capable. Faithful adherence to regulations that make it possible to supply our men in battle with everything they need. And buying and holding war bonds. These are things that we at home must do to speed victory. In the past three years, more than 85 million Americans have invested billions of dollars in bonds. Never before have so many people held such a direct share in a great and national effort to save, to buy and to hold all that we can of war bonds. This is a small service to us, of us who do not fight. Yet it is one of the biggest things that we can do for our fighting men. It is one of the biggest things that we can do for our fighting men. These are bonds in action. Now, this minute, here in battle they speak to the enemy in words of steel and voices of thunder. Here right now, you, John, are speaking. And you, Mary, and you, Mike, and you, and you, and you. You're speaking because your name is on a piece of paper, a war bond. And the enemy listens to you and dies when America speaks. But battle isn't all noise. There's also silence, deep silence of men suffering. Here the words you speak fall soft and reassuring. Here your bonds say relief from pain. They say hope, sanity. They reinforce the skilled fingers of surgery, shelter injury and illness. Give back life itself to men who face losing it because it's their job, power of life and death. Death to the enemy and life to our fighting men. That's a tremendous, a vital power. And you hold it in war bonds. You hold another power, too. Your war bond has two sides. One side fights the war. The other side wins the peace. Your own personal peace. As Mr. Phillip Murray, president of the CIO, says, The great payroll savings plan, now numbering some 27 million workers, was introduced as a wartime measure to help finance the war and combat inflation. Few of us realized when it was introduced three years ago that it was also a powerful instrument for winning the peace. Through a program of regular savings engaged in now and carried over into the post-war era, the working men and women of America have an unprecedented opportunity to ensure themselves a substantial measure of security. Mr. William Green, president of the AFVL. Men of labor know that in organization there is strength. And the men and women of America are today organized into a vast war bond army. If we remain united by buying and holding war bonds until they mature, we shall be taking a great step forward toward the realization of that security to which we look forward in the future. The kind they wanted, but they knew what they had to do. And they knew too, these partners of yours, what you have to do. They knew what bonds mean out there and back here, now and in the future. They knew what Mr. Eric Johnston, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce, means when he says, the great industrial machine of America has performed miracles during this war and it will continue to meet any demand that may be placed upon it until at long last victory is ours. But it takes work and money and plenty of both to keep this immense industrial machine operating at full steam. The bonds you buy and hold now account for a large part of that money. And when the war is over, these very same bonds will form a backlog of funds with which you can buy a home or educate your children or put you in a small business or if needed, for food, rent and clothing. The bonds that you buy today and hold in the future give you a vital stake in our America that is and in our America that is to be. Here's how some other Americans stand. When the war is over, I'm going to open up a beauty parlor. My boy is going to go to a good American college. We're buying and holding our war bonds for a little home in the suburbs. I saw what had been up to the last war. I keep on buying my bond, $75 and I get $100 after 10 years for them. Me and my husband buying a war bond and my son come back from the war and I buying a home out the country. I got a brother over there. When he comes home, we're going to open up a filling station. If that doesn't work, we're going to open up some other business. I have a boy in this war and I'm saving my bounds for his education when he gets back. The main thing is to help our boys. That's why I'm buying war bonds. I buy bonds every month and keep them so as I can pay for a college education after the war. I buy bonds every payday and I hold all that I've bought. When this scrap is over, I'm going into retirement and do lots of fishing. I have been buying bonds since the beginning of the war and will continue to buy and keep them until after the war. So as to have enough money to start into a business of my own. And now, the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Morgenthau. I think all of us have a better idea now what war bonds mean to the winning of the war and to our security in the future. But there are a few other things that you should know about your war bonds. The war bonds you buy, e-bonds, were specially designed for your protection. They're an obligation of the government and are guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the government in the same way as a dollar bill in your pocket. But with special privileges. Here are some of the special privileges you get with e-bonds. Each e-bond is owned individually in your name. It's yours. It's worthless to anyone else. If it's lost or stolen, you can get another one. You can name someone in the family to own it with you. A co-owner, which means that you both own the bond like a joint savings account. You can name someone as beneficiary the way you do on your life insurance policy. This means that if you die, whatever you name beneficiary will get the money. After 60 days, the e-bond is always redeemable in cash. And after one year, it is worth more than you put into it. The longer you hold the bond, the more it increases in value, for example. When you pay $75 for a $100 bond, this is what happens. The second year, it's worth $76.50. The fourth year, it's worth $80. The sixth year, it's worth $84. The eighth year, it's worth $92. At the end of 10 years, $100. As Secretary of the Treasury, I can assure you that the government will stand back of this bond and fulfill every provision of it. It'll be paid precisely and exactly according to terms under which it was issued. You have only to hold onto your bond to receive the maximum return for they are designed to favor those who hold them the longest. Keep buying them regularly and hold them to maturity. That's the story. Put every dollar you have into the green uniform of the e-bond and for the nation's future and for your own, hold them. They work for the war and they work for you. I know what I'm talking about. I used to work in a war plant myself two years ago. Since then, but I'm still buying bonds and saw my buddies, millions of them. We're buying them and we're holding them, just like we held Henderson Field at Guadalcanal. You remember? If we're going right on. America and our future. How about you?