It was early in our entrance into World War II. The United States was spending billions in making guns, tanks, ships, and planes for the war. Money was needed, so a campaign of selling bonds and stamps was begun. Bonds were for adults to buy. Stamps were so kids could be a part of this patriotic effort. I had a stamp book. I think they were ten cents a stamp.
America's greatest song writer, Irving Berlin, got into the act. We were hearing Kate Smith sing his "God Bless America". Now we would hear the Andrews Sisters and others sing: "Any Bonds Today?" See if these words bring back the tune.
Any bonds today?
Bonds of freedom
That's what I'm selling
Any bonds today?
Scrape up the most you can.
Here comes the freedom man
Asking you to buy a share of freedom today.
The middle part of the song was..."First came the Czechs and then came the Poles,
And then the Norwegians with three million souls.
Then came the Dutch, the Belgians, and France.
Then all the Balkans with hardly a chance.
Its all in the Book if only you look,
Its there if you read the text.
They fell every one at the point of a gun.
America musn't be next."
So, with the singing of this song, and the patriotism that swept our land, Americans bought bonds. Billions of dollars of them. The least expensive one was, I believe, $18.75. At full maturity in forty years it would be worth $25.00. Today there is more than 16 billion dollars worth of unclaimed bonds either lost or forgotten.
Now, the states Attorney Generals are suing the Treasury Department, charging the federal government made no effort to find these people to let them know of their bonds. The states claim they have a better system to help find the owners of these unclaimed bonds. You and I can read between those lines and see what our states really have in mind. The Treasury department claims they have a Web site where people can simply type in their Social Security number to see if they have one. First I ever heard of that!
This will be an interesting battle over long-spent money. A few may actually discover some long-forgotten bonds. I won't be one of them. At a time when my Dad was bringing home less than $50.00 a week for a family of seven we didn't buy a lot of bonds, BUT..... you may have some in your family long forgotten. As Berlin wrote it, "Any Bonds Today?".
