Full text of The Story of the Liberty Loans
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THE LIBRARIES
.
THE STORY OF THE
LIBERTY LOA NS
. RTICLE ll.
H er Ma jest y the Queen of th e United Kingd om of Great Britain a nd Ire land ,
His Majesty the E mper or of A ustria , King of' Hungary and Bohemia, Hi s Majesty
the King of the French, His Majesty th e King of Prussia, and His Majesty the
Empero r of a ll the Russias, decl a r e, th at the A rticl es menti o ned in the preceding
Article, are conside red a havin g the sa me fo rce and validity as if they were textually
inserted in the prese nt Act, and that th ey are thus placed under th e guarantee of
th e ir sa id Majesties.
ARTICLE VII.
Belgium , ·w ithin th e limits specified in Articles I. , II., and I V. shall form
a n inde pe nde nt and perp etually neutral State. It s_hall be bound to observe such
neutralit y towards all othe r States.
~~ ~ ~
_,,Q,,#~
PALMERSTON
Br,t,sh Pl~nipottni,ary
SYLVAN VAN DE WEYER
Belg1.1n Plen1po1e01iary
SENFFT
Ausma'! Plen1po1emio.1~
H SEBASTIAN !
Frt"nch Plcn1po1cnt1.iry
BULOW
Pruss,:in Plen,potcntia,y
Pono DI BORGO
Russ,an Pl cnipo1en1111ry
A SCRAP OF PAPER
I
Al\1 but a CRAP OF PAPER.
Once a roya l personage was I, the familiar of Emp ror and Ki ng .
I was created of crinkly pa rchment, sacred oat h and solemn obligation. F r scor of
yea rs, proud in my trapping of silken ribbon and royal ignet, 1 tood before a ll hri t ndom a the Guarantor of Perpetu al Peace. But now I a m on ly
A CRAP OF PAPER, viol a ted , soiled and torn.
This becau e there was one who swore falsely, u in g me and my m ani ng as a n armed
truce, behind which to cloa k hi s fell purpose a nd to bide his time un ti l, drun k with power a nd
madden ed by the canker in his hea rt for world domin ation, he hould aris and t a r off hi
mirking mask, revealing the face of the cru el mon ter, a nd on me, a roya l thing of acred
Promises, lay unholy hand .
He sent forth his countless~hordes of Huns to murder and rapine. Cpo n the pro trat
form of Belgium he placed his bloody heel while all civilization stood aghast. l\I ockin gly
RAP OF PAPER to be ruthle ly
he held me up in deri ion before the world as but A
torn in a thousand pieces and thrown to the wind s.
But look! from out their cave in the hill s rush the Avenging \\"ind . They caught up
my pitiable fragments and bore them across the eve n eas.
The one swept aero s en laved Al ace-Lorraine in to the la nd of the Fr nch, where stirred
the martia l tra ins of the l\ Ia rseil lai e, a nd thence to Afri ca's shore and into the h a rt of
the De ert ,vhere rested the carava n.
Another winged its way across the broad expanse of Ru ia, on to
a nd to Nippon's Isle wh ere Fuji lifts its snow-crowned head. Another aero
Ip into
unny Italy and on into cl as ica l Greece, wh re l\I a ra thon loo k down on the sea.
Another charted its course to Brita in' I le, where on the bank of th e Runn ym d
the M agna Carta was wres t d from th e ha nd of a nother de pot. Th en, following the cour
of the un, across the Atlanti c to snow-girt anada a nd the sin ging water of the a katch wa n, and around th e world to stalwa rt Au tra lia, a nd to the my lie land f lnclia and to
Ancient Egypt, where brood th e ilen t phinx.
Another, following the ma riner of old, touched the fertil \V t Ind ies and p don to
America, where the Liberty of Iankind wa cradled a nd has its tru e t meaning.
Thu to all Peopl e in every lim e the Avengin g pirit of th \\"ind ca rri d th fragm nts of my being and sowed them in the pregnant so il of Liberty . And b hold ! a from
th Dragon's T eth of Eld, a rm d m n to the thousandfold sprang up and to th clank of
sab r a nd roar of cannon mo,· din martia l array.
nd from thi my seed in m ri a came
a noth r mighty a rmy th at in an wer to my vi olation held a loft a th ir battl 0a million
up n million of craps of P ape r, on which they had writ a Bond f Liberty.
And so the Tyra nt was rushed .
u h was th a n w r, su h th ha rv t to th world\,
mad ma n wh o unwittin gly owed the e d.
I am A
RAP F PAPER, vi lated, oi l cl and torn.
But through the tra\'ail of my de ecration I rn was I again to stand st adfa t for al l
Time as a wa rnin g to the de pot th t IIum an Right hall not be d nic:d , n though their
bulwa rk em to b but
R I F PAP ER.
7
COPY RIGH T , 1919,
Bv
JAME S WILL IAM BRYA N
THE STORY
OF THE
LIBERTY LOANS
Cf3eing a Record of the Volunteer Liberty Loan
cArmy, Its Personnel, 8vfobilization and
8vfethods. How cAmerica at Home
Backed Her A rm ies and A !lies
in the World War
CfJy
LABER T ST. CLAIR
JAMES WILLIAM BRYAN PRESS
WASHINGTON, D. C.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
The "Scrap of Paper" . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Americans All! Poster by Howard Chandler Christy
Sure! We'll Finish the Job. Poster by Gerrit A. Beneker
Over the Top. Poster by Sidney H. Riesenberg
Victory Group . . . . . . . . . . .
General John J. Pershing . . . . . . .
We'll Get 'em! French Poster
. . . .
Abraham Lincoln. Poster . . . . . .
Halt the Hun! Poster by H enry Raleigh
Subscribe. French-Canadian Poster
William Gibbs McAdoo . . . . . . .
Are You Big Enough for Your Flag? . .
Beat Back the Hun. Poster by F. Strothmann
. . . .
Fight or Buy Bonds. Poster by Howard Chandler Christy
Down the A venue of the Allies . . . . . .
. .
.
War Loan Organi.t::ation Officials . . . . . . . . . . .
Must Children Die? Poster by Walter Everett . . . . .
Remember! The Flag of Liberty! Poster by Griswold Tyng
For the National Defense. French Poster
Chateau-Thierry Heroes . . . . . . . .
Pershing's Band . . . . . . . . . . . .
For the Flag and Victory. French Poster .
Come On! Poster by Walter Whitehead . .
If Ye Break Faith. Canadian Poster
.
To Make the \iVorld a Decent Place to Live in. Poster by H erbert Pau s
The Opening of the Fourth . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"The Time Has Come to Conquer or Submit." Poster
Fighters Fresh from the Alps . . . .
A Sea of Hats . . . . . . . . . . .
Cruelty of the Huns. Chinese Poster.
You Buy a Liberty Bond. Poster . .
Uncle Sam. Poster by Dan Sayre Groesbeck
Before Sunset. Poster by Eugene D eL and
Your Duty. Poster by Eugene DeLand . .
Buy a Liberty Bond. Poster by Barron G. Collier
Are you 100% American? Poster by Stern . . .
Women! Poster of National Women's Liberty Loan Committee
Stop This. Filipino Poster . . . .
Social Queen and Hobo King . . . .
A Plucky Girl . . . . . . . . . . .
How Much Will You Lend? Poster .
Old Age Must Come. English Poster.
Liberty Altar . . . . . . . . . . .
A Great Leader in a Great Cause . .
Blot it Out. Poster by J. Allen St. John
Keep The e off the U. . A. Poster by John Norton
.
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--ILLUSTRATIONS
(Continued)
Page
Iichigan Boulevard, Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . .
dopting the Honor Flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
That Liberty hall ot Peri h. Poster by Jose ph P ennell
Do Your Bit. Cartoon by John Cassel . . . . .
.
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Remember Belgium. Poster by Ellsworth Y oung . . . . .
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\\ ith Apologies to the Horse . . . . . . . . . . . . .
92
in't it a Grand a nd Glorious Feelin o- ? Cartoon by Briggs
93
9Put trength in the Final Blow. English Poster
harlie Chaplin's Greate t Audience .
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A Close-up from Another Angle . . .
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Faith in Canada. Canadian Poster
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They Serve France. Canadian Poster
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Doughboys on the K aiser's Throne
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American Art Across the Rhine . . .
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Ring it Again. Poster . . . . . . .
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Good Bye D ad. Poster by Lawrence S. H arris
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Lest I Perish. Poster by C. R. Macauley . . .
102
You Buy a Liberty Bond. Poster . . . . . .
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A Liberty Loan Soldier . . . . . . . . . . .
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Keep Your 'vVar avino-s Pledge. Poster by Casper Emerson, Jr.
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Feed the Guns with ·war Bonds. English Poster
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Teamwork Builds hips. Poster . . . . . . .
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be Martin. Cartoon by Kin Hubbard . . . . .
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hall We Be More Tender \iVith Our Dollars? Poster by Dan Sayre
Groesbeck . . . . . . . . .
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Card inal Mercier. Belgian Poster
111
Cincinnati Goes O, ·er the Top
112
\Var R elics Train . . . . . . .
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hare in the Victory. Poster by Haskell Coffin .
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J oan of Arc Saved France. Poster by Haskell Coffin
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The Foreign Legion . . . . . . .
116
The Star and tripes Go by
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The oldier's Dream. French Poster
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Buy \rVar Savings Stamps. Poster
120
Back Him p. English Poster
120
Liberty Loan Buttons . . . . . .
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12The French R public. French Poster
125
The Loan for Fr edom. French Poster
ar a rds . . . . . .
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By Aerial Pare l Post.
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Barnum and Bailey
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Honor Flag . . . . .
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Indu trial Honor Pennant
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1ak His Dream
ome True. Poster by Barron G. Collier, .
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ub crib to Hasten P a e. French Poster . . . .
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For Victory, Buy l\ Ior Bond . P oster by J. colt TT'illia ms
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They K pt th
a Lan
p n. P oster by L . .1 . hafer
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\\ 11? Cartoon by tin son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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ILLUSTRATIONS
(Continued)
Page
Hun or Home? Poster by Henry R aleigh .
Kultur. Cartoon by R alph 0. Yardley . . .
Boy Scouts. Poster by F. X. L eyendecker .
Where the Money Went . . . . . . . .
Liberty otes Sent to Germany . . . . .
Hold Up Your End! Poster by W. B . King .
The Greatest Mother in the World. Poster by A. E. Foringer
A Consignment of Gun Carriages
Liberty Bonds and Tanks . . . .
My Soldier. Poster by B. H. Green
A Stirring Appeal . . . . . . . .
Up, Civ ili a ns. English Poster . . .
England Expects. English Poster .
For Your Chi ldren. Engli sh Poster
I V. ant You for the Navy. Poster by Howard Chandler Chri sty
Captured German H elmets . . . . . . . . .
Victory Arch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Order Coal ow. Poster by F. X. L eyendecker .
Food is Ammunition. Poster by J. E. Sheridan
Pike's Peak or Bust . . . . . . . . . . .
The First Victory Loan Bond . . . . . . . .
On the Job for Victory Poster by Jonas L ie .
A Sea Wolf at Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Together We Win. Poster by J ames Montgomery Flagg
And They Thought W e Couldn't Fight. Poster by Clyde Forsythe
The Fourth's First 100% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
H elp Our District Win This Flag. Canadian Honor Flag Poster
Save Your Child . Poster by H erbert Paus. .
One of the Thousand . Poster of Y. M. C. A
The End of a Perfect Day . . . . . . . .
Looks as Though H e Did . . . . . . . . .
Hip-Hip! Poster . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F our Y ears in the Fight. Poster of Y. W. C. A
Elsie F erguson . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Marguerite Clark . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Oh, Boy! That's the Girl! Poster by G. M. R ichards
Back Our Girls Over There. Poster by Clarence F. Underwood
Mme. azimova . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lillian Gish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Our Daddy is Fighting. Poster by Dewey
. . . . . . . . .
United States Treasury. Window Card by K etterlinus L ithographic Co.
Lend Your Money. Poster by American L ithographic Company
Ring it Again. Poster by K etterlinus L ithographic Company
George Beban . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mack ennett Comedy . . . . . . . . . . . .
Free 1ilk for France. Poster by E. Luis Moran
Le t \Ne Forget. Cartoon by Harry Jvfurphy . . .
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
A crap of Paper-
Dedication
7
Appreciation of Arti ts . . . . .
14
27
ational Story
America's Response Triumphant
27
Liberty Bonds vs. Taxation
Second Liberty Loan .
32
46
Third Liberty Loan
.
61
Fourth Liberty Loan .
65
The Victory Liberty Loan .
80
What the Women Did .
103
Vvar Savings Movement
107
The Four-Minute Men .
135
War Costs to Belligerents
15-!
Boy Scouts of America . .
167
Wealth of the United States
173
The Liberty Bond Itself
17-!
Publicity Campaigns
17-
Data of the Loans .
1 5
1.l
AN APPRECIATION
/1 RT a a constructive fo rce in the execution of the great tasks of the
..fl... Government abund antly demon trated its power in the Liberty Loan
Arti t obligated the Am rican public to top, look and
campaign
buy bonds.
The pa inting used in support of the loans were appeals to patriotism in
lin e and color, which never failed to evoke an oven vhelming response. The
greater part of the art work for the loa n was done without monetary r cornpense to the arti t . As a whole they were notable for their avoidance of the
profiteer and the mercenary.
This history would be incomplete without adequate recognition of the
migh ty concrete values which the artists of the war wrung from the fabrics
of their dream a nd devoted to the rescue of humanity from further bloodshed
and acrifice.
Among the artists who contributed po ters to the Liberty Loan campaign include: C. R . Macauley, D an Sayre Groesbeck, Dewey , tern, H.
H. Porteous, Eugen ie D e Land, Henry Ralei gh , Griswold T y ng, D . H.
Green, Sidney H . Riesenberg, Lawrence S. Harris, Ethelind Rid gway,
H oward C ha ndler Christy, F. X. Leyendecker, H erbert Paus, E llsworth
Young, \i\lalter Everett, J oseph Pennell , F. Strothmann, J. Allen t. John ,
orton, J. Scott 'Williams, ·waiter Whitehead, Gerrit A. Beneker,
J ohn
H a kell Coffin, Alfred Everett Orr, Casper Emerson, Jr., Clyde Forsythe
hafer.
and L.
Cartoonists also were of greatest assista nce in the various campa ign .
Among the great cartooni ts that contributed to success of the Loans were:
Willia ms, I ndianapolis News; Briggs, New York Tribune; M c utcheo n, Chicago Tribune; Cassel, New
York Evening World; Darling, New York Tribune; J\ liss Fay Kin g, San Francisco Examiner; C hapi n, S t. L ouis
Republic; Powers, New York A merica11; Kirby, New York Morning World; Donahey, Cleveland Plain Dealer;
l\ l urphy, Chicago Examiner; Ha rding, Brooklyn Daily Eagle; Mc !a nu s, New York American; Plaschke, L ouisville Times; Ireland, Columbus Dispatch; Evans, Baltimore American; Goldberg, New York Evening li1ail;
Page, Nashville Tennessean and American; Ripley, New York Globe; Bushnell, Central Press Association; Hi ll,
Ne-cJJ York Tribune; Berryman, Washington Star; Ralph 0. Yardley, Free L ance, San Francisco; Westerma n,
Ohio State J ournal, Columbus; Coffman, New York J ournal; Perry, Sioux City J ournal; H. C. ree ning, Free
L ance, East Orange, N. J.; l\ lorgan, Philadelphia I nquirer; Eugene Zimmerman, H orseheads, N. Y.; Fitzpat rick,
St. Louis Post Dispatch; Chamberlain, Philadelphia Evening T elegraph; E. W. Kemble, Free Lance, T owners,
N. Y .; Opper, New York American; Webster, New York Globe; ' esa re, New York Evening Post; T ed Telso n,
V. S. Naval Reserve, Minneapolis; Hu bbard, Indianapolis News; Satterfield, Newspaper E nterprise
Association; ykes, Philadelphia Evening L edger; Sm ith , New York S unday World; Stinso n, Dayton News;
ll ruska, Cedar Rapids Gazette; Spencer, Omaha World- IIerald; Marcus, New York T imes; Hun gerford, Pittsburgh Sun, and Brewerton, Atlanta J ournal.
1-1
DuBo is
Smith
o·Brie n
Cejka
Haucke
Pappandrikopolous
Andrassi
Villott o
Levy
Turovich
Kowalski
Chriczanevicz
Knt1tson
Gonzale
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We'll
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THE STORY OF THE LIBERTY LOANS
T
HIS is the story of the Liberty Loan and War Savings Campaigns, and
something of the persons and the methods that made th m such potent
factors in the grea t v,rorld stru ggle of 1914-1918 for the perpetuation of
the ri ghts of democracy.
It is fittin g that such a history, especiall y as it rela tes to th volunteer
workers, should be hand ed down to posterity. Our generation, cast a it was
into the vortex of the bloody European War, never can a ppr ciate th e
extent to which this vas t army of patriotic Americans, by their acrifi ce of
time, energy and treasure, made the financial campaign succes ful and thus
helped in a great measure to shape the d estiny of C hristian civ ilization. In the
years that are to come, however, huma nity, analyzing the influ ence tha t
saved the ·world from a renewed reign of mediaeval barbarism, will r ognize
their efforts at their true value and accord them a deserved place among the
real heroes of the war.
cAmerica's Response Triumphant
History conta ins no more romantic page than that which must be a signed
to Liberty Loan workers. Their story is replete with deed of sacrifi ce,
bravery a nd triumph. The floatin g of Liberty Bonds was no mere co mm er ial
transaction to be performed by anyone capable of sellin g a comm dity. It
was a n adventure into a great unknown fi eld, the very na ture of whi h d manded
and a iled forth to servi ce the most highly devel p d skill in virtuall y v ry
branch of our national life. From the volunteers wh o came int the w rk
th ere was organized th e most capa bl e civili an a rm y ·of a ll Lim , and when it
took up arms in b half of th e gr at cause it was but nat ural that v ry obstacl
shou ld be swept a"id e a nd tha t the organ ization . hould go fon\'ard lo ompl le
and glorious v ictory.
How far -reaching w re the results ac hieved by this army i IJ s t vid n ed
by th e fact Lhat v ir t ua ll y two-t hird of the war fund s us d during a tual h ostiliti s by th
nit d tate were obtained through th a le of Li berty Bond .
Ang! s of th stru ggl t which the e fund s wer a1 pli cl in lu d loan t
th e Alli s, the qu ipping and ma inta inin g f the army a nd navy, th buildin g
of ships forth eem rg ncy fl ee t.
um erous th roull ayswer al ·om l. Itm <y
b said onservativ ly that with out th e a le of L ib rty Bond s the fin an in g
f th war in the nited lates wou ld ha,· ' b ' 11 a lmost impos ii>! . Taxation might have rais d the necessary mon y, but th' le, ·y in g of su h tr 27
PAGE
TWE TY-EIGHT
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
mendous sums as were required would not have been in keeping with the
principles of democracy upon which our government is found ed, and the
destructive effect of such a course on the morale of the American people cannot be underestimated.
Stripped bare of their wonderfu l patriotic element and considered solely
from a financial v iewpoint, the results of the Liberty Loan campa igns stand
without parallel in history. In the five loans $23,972,111,400 was subscri bed
and $2 1,477,335,850 of this amount was accepted by the Treasury Department. This compares with approximately $20, 000,000,000 ra ised by Great
Britain, $20, 000,000,000 by France, $8,000,000,000 by Italy, a nd $1,250, 000,000 by Canada th ro ugh loans during th e four years of war. Some idea of
the magn itude of th e a mount of money that was raised through the sale
of Li berty Bonds m ay be ga ined from the fact that if the total were converted into silver doll a rs and la id flat in rows it wou ld girdl e the earth almost
twenty times.
Still more remarkable than th e amount of money raised is the number of
individu al subscriptions that have been obtained. The $21,477 ,335,850
represents 66,289,900 individu al subscriptions. There are resales in thi
total, of course, but it is safe to estima te on the face of these figures that
approximately between one-fourth and one-third of the entire population of
the United States now possesses or has bought one or more Liberty Bonds or
Victory Notes. Better still, the bulk of Liberty Bond subscriptions came from
the patriotic every-day citizen who purchased bonds of the smaller denominations.
These facts concerning the wide distribution of bonds speak volumes for
the work of the Liberty Loan army, for to it fell the educational campaign t hat
made conversant with government bonds the average man and woman, who,
prior to the entrance of the United States into the European wa r, neither owned
nor understood them. How restricted was the distribution of government
securi ties before t he first issue of Liberty Bonds, in June, 1917, is told by the fact
that on Jul y 1, 1916, all outs tanding bonds cf the governm ent amounted to
only $1,378,124,593 and virtually a ll of them were held by finan cial institutions
or men of wealth. The task of bringing about the ed ucation of people unfamiliar with government securities to such a point that in less than two years
they showed a willingne s to invest in more tha n $24,000,000,000 of them was
one well worthy of the talent which it call ed into the three integral parts of
the Liberty Loan a rmy- the sales, publicity a nd speaking bra nches.
The personnel of this a rmy, embracing the three foregoing groups of workers,
totaled about a m illion persons at the sta rt of the Third Libert y Loan and increased at times to 2,000,000. vV. G. McAdoo, forme r Secretary of the Treas-
--'
,ROL' P
bronze, a nd d igned to sy mbolize th e :\Ii i s 111
in
t
l\ la ny a re th heroic figures carn:d in ma rbl e a nd ca
th \\'orld \Va r n proud di,p lay in cit y stree ts a nd ex lu sive mu ,c urn s. But lo thi s s imple plas ter a t
done under t he insp ira tio n of th e \ ' i tory Loa n , a nd ma de to a dorn th e roof o f th e nited iga r Compa ny's
rd d a first place o f ge nuin merit.
m, in Lore n Broa dway , must b a
\ ' ICTORY
(30]
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
ury, was the directing head of all Liberty Loan work in the fir t four loan ,
and his successor, Carter Glass, directed the fifth.
nder the ecr tary's
direction and the supervision of R. . Leffingwell , s i tant ecr tary of the
Treasury, the \Var Loan Organization, composed of the sales, publicity and
speaking branches, carried on the active work of the campaigns. H eadquarters
for this o-rganization were established and the directing heads stationed in
Washington. Its work was decentralized in great part, sub-comm ittees being
form ed down through the twelve F ederal R eserve Districts of the country, the
states, and, where practicable, counties, town hips and comm uni ti s.
The executives of the War Loan Organization practically throughout the
war were Lewis B. Franklin, Director, and Cla rk on Potter, Assistant Dir ctor;
Fra nk R . \i\Tilson, Director of Publicity; Labert t. Clair, ssistant Dir ctor;
R. \V. Emerson, Chief of the Divi ion of Publications ; H enry l\linor, Editorial
Chief; H a ns R eig, head of the Foreign Language Div ision, a nd ha . F. H orner,
Director of Speakers ' Bureau. R. W. Wooll ey and Oscar A. Price were Directors of Publi city for the first and second loans, respectively . They r tired
to become, respectively, a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission
a nd the Assistant Director General of Railroads. George R. Cooksey, a sistant to th e Secretary, lent invalu able aid to the publicity bur a u in all campaigns. J ohn H . Mason, of Philadel1 hia, succeeded Mr. Franklin in ugust,
1919. Dr. Thomas E. Green directed the Speakers' Bureau during the ictory
Liberty Loan.
In the Fed eral R eserve Districts the War Loan Organization worked in
close harmony with the Governors of the various Federal R eserve Ba nks.
With the exception of a few minor changes, the district organizations engaged
in the various campaigns were as follows :
Boston-Chas. A. 1orss, Governor; C. E. Perkin ,
cretary Executive
Committe ; J ohn K. Allen, Executive Manage r Publi ity ommitt c; J a mes
D ea n, ha irman Distribution Committee, and Philip Dallon, Dire tor of
pcakers' Bureau.
Tew York- Benjamin Strong, Governor; Guy • m rson,
ir ctor of
Publicity; John Price Jones, Ass't Director of Publicity; rlhur l\ I. nd rson,
Dir ctor of Dis tribulion, and J. Horton Ijams, Dir cto r of peakers' Bur a u.
Philad lphia-E. P . I ass more, overnor; Lewis H . Par ons, Dir ctor of
Loan; R. E . orton, Dire tor of Publi ity ; G . E . Goble,
't Dir ctor of
Pu blicity, a nd B. II. Ludlow, Director f peakcr ' Bur au.
leveland- E . R. Fan her,
v rnor ; D.
. \\ ill , hairman
nlr I
Lib rty Loan ommitl e; L. B. \\'illi ams, Vice- hairman; :\I. II. Laundon,
Dir Lor of Publicity, a nd J. B. \\ ork , Dir ctor of p aker ' Bur u.
PAGE
T HIRT Y-TWO
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOA S
Ri chm ond- 1eorge J. Seay, GoYernor; R. E . oltin g and Frank H. West,
Directors of Publicity, and Carter B. Keene, Director of Speakers' Bureau.
tlanta-J o ph . l\IcCord, Governor;\\. C. \Vard law, Chairman Executi\'e ommittee; t. Elmo :\Ia sengale, Direc tor of Publicity, and Carroll
H. mith, Dir ctor of Speakers' Bureau.
hicaao-Jam e B. l\IcDougal, GoYernor; Cha . \\. chweppe, Cha irman
Liberty Loan ommittee; Frederick l\ Ierritt, ExecutiYe Secretary; Wilbur
e bit and Ben F. l\IcCutcheon, Directors of Publicity, an d Henry P.
D.
C ha ndler, Directo r of Speaker ' Bureau.
t. Louis-R olla\\ ell , GoYernor; \Yill iam R. ompton, Chairman Liberty
Loan Committee ; Tom K. Smith, Secre ta ry; H. . Gardner, Director of
Publicity, and A. 0. Wi lson , Direc tor of peaker ' Bureau.
Minneapolis-Theodore \,\ old, GoYernor; Arthur R. Rogers, Chairman
General Executive Committee; B. S. Bull, Director of Puhlicity; M . B. Harrison, Chief of News Division; Curtis L. fo her, C hairman of Distribution, and
Joseph Chapman, Director of Speak rs' Bureau .
Kansas City- ]. Z. l\i ill er, Governor; J. L. Cr , Executive Manager
Liberty Loan Committee; V-J. R. R owe, Executi 'e ecretary; J. M. \i\Torley,
Director of Publicity, and E. E. Violette, Director Speakers' Bureau.
Dallas-R. L. Van Zandt, Governor; J. \V. Hoopes, Chai rman of Publicity,
and Judge C. L. Simp on, Director of peakers' Bureau.
San Francisco- Jam es K. Lynch, GO\· rnor; G. K. \Veeks, General Campaign Manager; George A . Van Smith and C. A. Farnsworth, Directors of
Publicity, and Allen L. Ch ickering, Direc tor of Speakers' Bureau.
There also was orga nized a Woman's Liberty Loan Committee, of which
Mrs. W. G. McAdoo was chairman. Its work is dealt with fully in a separate
chapter of this volume.
Liberty Bonds
YS.
'Taxation
MMEDIAT ELY upon the decl aration of war by the United States on
April 6, 1917, the problem of financing the country' share in the struggle
leaped to the fore in ongre s. The utstanding phase of the question was
whether a greater part of the cost of the war should be met by taxation or
bonds, or if the cost shou ld be venly divided between the two. Secretary
McAdoo, after extended conference with leading fin a n ial experts, maintained
that a greater part of th e money shou ld come from th sale of bond s. He held
that it would be unwise, if not impossible, to inflict such a heavy tax burden on
the present generation. Th e 'half and half plan, "- that is, dividing the war's
cost equally between taxation and bonds,- had many propon nts. Eventually
however, it was decided as an initial s tep to authorize the issuance of $5,000,-
I
C[\ 1•: IU I. JOii, J. 1'1 , R-,111'-<.
.\ t th e ope nin g of th e Fourth l.<Mn, C: l' nl'ral l'er,hin• ca hied -,,,n,· t.1n \Ii .\ cloo . " l' h, , 11 cc,·s, of th·
Fourth l. il ll' rt) I.nan mea ns 111wh to th v l11 l' n "ho ,1n· l'ng,1g,·d in till' t,:ll',ltl',t h,1ttl,· of till' \\ ,Ir ,our
s t urcl ) sons fighting thi s ,1ar or rre!'do111 firn1h 1·,pt'l't tlw co ntinu,·d ,uppor t ol .di \ nH'rll\111' ,ll home."
,\t the dos(' o r th e l.o, n h(' ca hied : ". \ II rank, ,ir(' ,lt-lightl'd ,ll ,our su<T1·s,
l'k.1,,• ,1n-,·p t our , incl'r<'
th. ink s a nd cong ra tulatio ns." Th e (;l'ner,11 is her!' ,hm,n ,It th<' lwad of his ,1rtur1011s forn·, 111 the \ IL
tor ) l'.ir.ide at \\ ,1,hing to n.
1331
{/h
~ ~ _,
2~EMPRUNT
DE
,
LA DEFENSE NATIONALE
O f V AM BLZ' IM r
0
PAR I S
..:econcl L oa n fo r the ;( a li o na l D efcn~c
ScB~CRIBE
13.; I
TRA ;s,SLAT IOX FR0 :'1 1 T H E F R E:--;C l-l
7
Sub scrib e to the L oan fo r l icto ry
[ 38]
\\' I LL I AJ\ I C I BB ' l\ l cADOO
\,\'h n Libe rt y Bo nd s we re firbl co nsid e red , mu h pess imi s m wa heard fro m e \'e r y s id e . l\ lc ciao,
the n ec r ta r y of th e Trca ur y, ho we \' r, r fu s cl to be ha ke n in hi confid e nce in me ri ca a nd un hesita tin gly as ked billio n wh e re o nl y milli o n we re c un se ll ed . .\ l uc h of the redit fo r t he Libe rty
Loon and a ll the y mea nt to hum a n libert y un q ue ti na bl y belo ng to .\ I r . i\ lc doo .
[ 401
THE STORY of
the
LTRERTY LOAN
PAG!i:
FORTY-ONE
000,000 in bond s, not over $3,000,000, 000 of which should be applied to loan:to the Allies, and ta ke up th e t ax problem later.
Thi authoriza tion ,ms ap proved by President \Vilson on .\pril 24, 19 17.
r\ few days later Secretary McAdoo annou nced that he would offer for subscription, begin ning i\Iay 14 a nd co nt inuing until J une 1- , 2,000,000,
000
1
in Liberty Bond . The bond were to bear 3½ per cent interest.
A call to the banks of th e coun t ry for volunteers to a id in obtaining subcriptions met with a generous response a nd on l\ fay 4, the open ing day of
the preliminary campaign, a flood of pledge from banks began pouring into
the Treasury Department from every part of the Un ited tates.
t t he
end of the first day it was shown th a t $33 0,166 a minute had been , ubscri bed.
A Treasury Department sta tement on the night of Jay S declared t ha t the
first d ay's sales indicated tha t th e loan wo uld be oversubscribed several t imes.
New York City led all oth er communities in the amount subscribed t he first
day, obtaining $63,293 ,000, included:in which was'."one $20,000,000 subscrip tion.
Th e night of lay 5 was one that long will rema in in the memory of t hose
who were alive at th a t tim e. News th a t th e loan had achieved a flatter ing
tart set the country wild with ent hu sia m . T he front page of irt uallye ery
newspaper proudly accla imed the successful start.
rators, actors, preachers
and others announced the result in pu blic meetings.
ecretary l\Ic. <loo's
office was swamped with co ngratulat ory telegrams. And to every person
th e eloqu en t answer given by th e people's doll a rs meant the same t hing-the
country was behind th e war.
The enthu siasm which foll owed the report of the second day's elling
virtually "blew the roof off th e co un t ry. " Sales on that day jumped to an
average of $480,508 a minute. At sunse t it was anno unced that approximately one-sixth of th e loan had been subscribed. Total pledge of $53, 000,000
in New York City includ ed two offe rs of $10,000,000 each, one of $-1-,000,000,
one of $3,000,000, two of $2,500,000, two of $2 ,000,000 and ix of $1,000,000
each. Other la rge pleqg s inclu ded severa l of from $1,000,000 to $3,000,000
from levela nd , Milwaukee, Ph iladelph ia, San Fran ·isco, Detroit, Boston,
re, Ori an , T oi do, hi cago and P ittsburgh .
T en days after the first pledge \\'as offered, the puulic clri e began, S cretary IcAd oo i suing a n offi ia l tatement settin<r fort h the different features
of the loan, and Lib rty Loan ommittees begin ni ng acti,·e am·assing throughout the ountry. Widely know n men and women in e, ·ery walk of life immediat ly dropp d a ll other bu in ess and turn ed th ir und i,·i<lecl attention to h
loan. Banker a nd bu iness men generall y accept ·t.l leading position s in the
sales campai gn, prominen t state and national official - and other widely known
orators took the platform to urge an enormous oversubscription and av ritable
PAGE
FORTY-TWO
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
army of publicity men began to bombard the public with printed Liberty
Loan ammunition.
The publicity campaign, though small as compared with later efforts,
seemed enormous at that time. Three posters were issued. One, of which
1,000,000 were prepared, depicted the Goddess of Liberty leaning forward,
eyes ablaze, fingers pointing at passersby and saying, "You buy a Liberty
Bond, lest I perish." Two display sheets, one showing Uncle Sam pointing
a finger and saying, "You buy a Liberty Bond; I'll do the rest," and another,
picturing Uncle Sam grasping a lapel of a man's coat and asking, "Where is
your button?" were prepared for 11,000 billboards. A Liberty Loan button
which was given each subscriber also was designed. Every motion-picture
theater in the United States carried during the campaign on their regular
reels a trailer saying, "Buy a Liberty Loan Bond." Posters, buttons and
motion pictures, from this small beginning, grew to be very important factors
in subsequent drives.
From the inception of the First Loan patriotic newspapers throughout
the country, realizing that it would be impossible for the Government to
either pay for advertising or distribute paid advertisements equitably, urged
merchants and other patriotic citizens to include Liberty Loan advertising in
their regular space and also to buy additional space for it. At the outset of
the campaign some objection to this course was voiced, particularly by advertising agents, but as business men came to realize that patriotic advertising
was the best paying publicity they possibly could buy, the dissatisfaction disappeared .
The generous manner in which the country responded to the Treasury
Department's invitation to help boost the loan typified the true patriotic
American spirit. A force of men was kept busy during the early days of the
drive answering telegrams from civil, social, commercial, fraternal and patriotic
organizations which inquired how they could be of assistance. Pittsfield, Mass.,
suspended all business for one hour in order tha! the entire town might turn its
attention to purchasing Liberty Loan Bonds. A Liberty Loan Sunday on
which thousands of clergymen urged the support of the campaign opened the
Liberty Loan week and proved a great aid to the cause; a special women's
day was set aside; the Boy Scouts of America made a special campaign, and
various other organizations lent their assistance in a national way.
Despite the fact that the bonds sold readily, it was a difficult task to
make the buyers understand them. Instancing this situation, a number of
letters were received at the Treasury D epartment asking whether Liberty
Bonds really were obligations of the United States Government, making it
necessary for Secretary McAdoo to issue a statement saying that they were
.\ R I--: \"OL' B IC i:'.;'\"Ol CII HJR YOL R l'L .\ c;,
n Hag in
:- l' \\' Yo rk Cit~ t h i~, t he l,1r:,·~t \ 111crica
In th e great con cour:,e of th e Cr,i ncl Centra l ~t,nio n in
sym bo l o f t h bigness of
g
llin
te
a
as
ns
ig
C.unpa
n
I.a.i
y
ictor
'
\
and
Fourth
th w rid, hung during th
Th e f1<1 g is 160 fl'et lo ng ,llld 80 fee t wid e.
111 ri ra and t he mi ght of he r pl'o pl c.
1-13 J
PAGE
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
FORTY-FIVE
official obligations a nd t hat they were called Liberty Bonds "becau e their
proceeds a re to be dedicated t o t he cause of human li berty." It was not unusual for th e D pa rtment to receive letters from buyers of bond a king when
t hey would have to pay t heir interest on them.
Secretary i\IcAdoo a nnounced on the do ing day of the campaign that
th e Li berty Loan had been oversubscribed, and there was general r joicino-.
"The succe s of t he loan," the Secretary said, "is a o-enuine triumph for
democracy. It is the unmistakable expression of America's determination
to carry t his war fo r the pro tection of American life and the reestablishment
of peace and liberty th ro ughout the world to a swift and success[ ul conclusion . "
A week later the ecreta ry a nnounced t hat a total of $3,035,226, 50 had
been ubscri bed to t he loan and t hat $2,000,000,000 wou ld be accepted.
Tore
th a n 4, 000,000 perso ns bought bonds, and ninety-n ine per cent of these sub ript ions were for d enominations of from $50 to $10,000. Twenty-one sub cribers
bought $5,000,000 or more to a total subscription of $188,789,900.
Bonds were allot ted in full to a ll subscribers who bought $10,000 worth or
less, a nd purchase rs of bond s of larger denom inations were compell ed to a c pt
less tha n th e a mount for which th ey sub cri bed . Subscriptions by F d ral
R eserve Districts were as foll ows :
Bos ton .. . .... . ....................... .
ew York .. . ................ . ........ .
Phil adelph ia ................ . .......... .
Cl evela nd ............... .. ............ .
Richm ond ... . ........ . .. . ............ .
A tla n ta ........ . ............... . ...... .
Chicago . ............................. .
St. Louis . . ... . ........ . ............... .
M inneapolis .... . ...................... .
K a nsas City . . .................... . ... .
D all as .......... . .... .. ......... . ..... .
Sa n F ra ncisco ......................... .
$ 332,4-17,600
1,186, 7 8,400
2?2,309,2'"0
2l,6, 148, 700
109,737,100
57,878,550
357,195,950
86, 13-1, 700
70,255,500
9 1,758, 50
4 ,94 ,350
175,623,900
TOTAL .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
$3,035,226,8-0
SECOND LIBERTY LOAN
I
THE interim between the d o e of the First Loan and the opening of
the Second, on October 1, 1917, there was grea t agitation, particularly
in financial circles, for an increase in th e interes t rate on Liberty Bonds, some
persons insisting that the rate should go as high as 4,½ or 5 per cent. After
careful consideration it was decided by Congress to increase the rate to 4
per cent, but to impose certain tax restrictions on the bonds. On September
27 th e Secretary announced that he wou ld offer "$3,000,000,000 or more II in
Liberty Bonds for ubscription.
The Second Liberty Loan campaign started with much greater sp ed and
precision than did the First. By this time the machinery of the Liberty Loan
organization throughout the country was working smoothly, and the public
generally had a greatly improved grasp of the government's financial problems
and its plan for a solu tion of them. Special efforts to distribute bonds more
widely in small communities and rural districts, where they had not sold so
freely as they did in the cities in the First Loan campaign, brought flattering
results. A country-wide speaking tour which Secretary McAdoo made lent
ma terial aid in getting the message of the loan to the people.
From the beginning of the campaign workers injected into it spectacular
effect, which had not been in evidence to a marked degree in the first drive. The
public responded quickly to these special attractions, reports from many
cities telling of the strength of the police forces being greatly taxed to keep
moving the crowds that gathered around Liberty Loan headquarters and sales
booths. Cleveland workers erected a hu ge striking machine in the public square
and permitted every purchaser of a $50 bond to strike a trigger with a maul in such
a manner as to ring a bell concealed in a papier-mache head of the Kaiser at the
top of the machine. Society women in Boston opened a Liberty cottage on the
Common for the sale of bonds and put it in order with scrubbing brushes and
brooms. Liberty Bonds were substituted for money prizes at the Grand-Prix
automobile races in Chicago. A Liberty Bond advertisement was placed on
every tram-way pole in D nver. San Francisco public schools were decorated
with Liberty Loan poster and a part of each day was set aside for "Liberty
Loan education. A salesman in i\Iarion County, 1issouri, invaded the country
di stricts and sold bonds to the first 345 farmers he met. At a meeting in Baltimore addres ed by Senator Lewis of Illinois, $20,000,000 was subscribed,
setting a new record for a single gathering.
11
46
OR
YBONil
THIR
IBERTY L lAN
\
' - - - - - - - -- -
__ _ _
___,
~
-I'-
§) ( 1ufrr woo d <.'7- ( ' 11 dcn.l•ood
DO\\'l\ T II E AVENUE OF T JI E ALLIES
Alo ng Fifth Ave nu e in New Y ork City, th e Ave nu e of th e Alli es had its co lorful way. Eac h a nd eve ry nat io n of our Alli es he ld o n it s a ppo in ted day, on
bc-ha lf of the l, ibc rt y Loa ns, 111erry riot of e nthu sias m wit h a s pectac ula r parade dra wn fro m th e cos mopo lita n peoples of Crca tc·r New \'ork. I Jere is
pictured the ope nin g de111o nstra ti o n, hea ded by Presid ent Wil son, his military a id es, Admiral G ray~o n a nd Sec re ta ry Tumulty .
1-+9]
TrIE STORy
of the
LIBERTY LOANS
PAGI!:
FIFTY-O:-fll:
Special sales days had a very timulating effect on the campaign.
aturday, October 20, ,vas made aviation day and men from all army trainino- amp
in the United States "bombed" citie with Liberty Loan literature. :\Iillions
of dollars worth of bond were sold on ctober 24, de io-nat d by Pre ident
\Vilson as Liberty Day. The Boy Scout , 300,000 trong, brought in a flood
of subscriptions in a special one-week campaign.
While Secretary McAdoo was on the Pacific coa t speaking, word ame to
him that German sympathizers were attempting to intimidate bankers who
were active in connection with the campaign.
He immediately is ued a
statement inv iting bankers to send the names of the guilty persons to him, with
the understandin g that he would prosecute them. Mere publication of this
statement sufficed to frighten the pro-Germans o badly that they a e no
further trouble in this dire tion.
In ome ections of the country, it was de m d necessary to resort to
vigorous m thods in order to stamp out unpatriotic and treasonable activities
·hi h were hurtful to the loan. G rman sympathiz rs in a f w place declined
absolutely to. ubscribe to bond and local committees t ok it upon th mselve
to impre s the slackers forcibly with the nece ity for e ery resident of the
nited States to support his country in time of war. Local committees sometimes resorted to such stringent methods as placing German sympathizers who
refused o buy bonds on exhibition in wire corrals in public places until the
recalcitrants were prepared to show their loyalty to the country by investing
in bonds. Such methods were re orted to only rarely, as they alway were
frown ed upon by the Treasury Department, but many local committeemen were of the opinion that they were helpful in extreme cases.
On the whole, however, the campaign was well supported, and as early a
the beginning of the third week of the campaign it was evident that the minimum quota sought, $3,000,000,00 0, would be greatly oversubscrib ed. A · an
illustration of the scope of sales, on one day there were reported to the Treasury
Department sales to the President of Panama and his cabinet, citizens of
Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippine Island , and, fin lly, to inmate of
every prison in the United States.
On the losing night of the loan, ctober 27, ecr tary IcAdo aid th t
a gr at versub cripti n had b en obtained and a few days lat r th offi ial
total of $-!-,617,532, 00 was announced. Of this amount 3, 07, 91,900 , a~
accept d. The total number f ub riuer , a i11 :,.. s f 9,-!-00,00
otal subscription by di tri t and state wer a, f ll w :
Districts- Boston $476,950,050 ; rew York $1,550,45 ,1-50; Phil d !phi
$380,350,250 ; leveland $486,106, 00; Richmond $201,212,500 ; tlanta 90,-
PAGE
F:IFTY-TWO
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
695,750;Chicago $585,853,350; St. Louis $184,280,750; Minneapolis $140,932,650; Kansas City $150,125,750; Dallas $77,899,850; San Francisco $292,671,150, totaling $4,617,532,300.
States-Alabama $15,641,500; Arizona $12,092,450; Arkansas $13,572,950;
California $183,371,200; Colorado $23,017,850; Connecticut $80,514,600;
Delaware $8,314,200; District of Columbia $23,561,400; Florida $8,978, 150;
Georgia $22,046,100; Idaho $10,833,300; Illinois $271,731,750; Indiana $81,403,050; Iowa $82,922,400; Kansas $30,104,500; Kentucky $33,873,100;
Loui iana $25,693,450; Maine $25,840,500; Maryland $54,343,300; i\Iassa1ichigan $115,530,550; Minnesota $79,504,200;
chusett $317,799,250;
Mississippi $12,072,800; Missouri $122,226,600; Montana $19,996,400; Nebraska $33,3 17,200; Nevada $2,870,050; New Hampshire $18,327,800; New
ew York $1,413,045,800;
Jersey $140,336,850; New Mexico $3,945,700;
Ohio $268,304,950;
$10,230,550;
Dakota
North
1,200;
$27,53
North. Carolina
Oklahoma $28,998,800; Oregon $25,027,400; Pennsylvania $497,372,550;
Rhode ·Island $38,983,100; South Carolina $17,921,750; South Dakota $12,864,600; Tennessee $31,591,950; Texas $66,045,250; Utah $15,322,450; Vermont $11,256,850; Virginia $51,373,250; Washington $41,024,850; West Virginia $35,804,450; Wisconsin $86,941,150; Wyoming $5,692,200; Alaska $1,070,600; Hawaii $5,724,000, totaling $4,617,532,300.
0OU61-<TA
L181'TY 8ONI>.
HE' D•D!
REMEMBER!
THE FLAG OF LIBERTY
I
SUPPORT
IT !
TR .\ :S:SLATIO:S: FRO :\! T II E FR E.\" C II
Third Loa n for th e Natio na l D fense
Subscrib e
For France Pl-ho u--ars!
FOR THE LITTLE O E WH O E CH DAY
ADV AN CE
A STE P TOW A RD \\'OMA HOOD
[54]
r
3!E MPRUNT
DE LA DEFEN SE NATIO NALE
~
,
,.., ,
~
C\
c) { 11dc rwo nd (½- ( • ndcr;,l•ood
0
CI-I ATEAU-T I I ! ERR \ ' I I E ROES
perh aps th e blood iest en12;agc 111cnl o f th e
I [ere was .\ merica's first glimpse o f her ow n ve teran s o f the \ \/oriel \Va r. Th ese bo ys ha d bee n throu gh
but witho ut exceptio n a ll we re a nxio us lo
\\'a r a nd had won the und y in g fame of hav in g "Saved Pa ri s from th e ll un ." Ma ny were wound ed,
Th e wor k th ese boys did on beha lf of
gt•t har k a ncl "ca rr y on." Am erica wa s neve r prouder of her so ns, nor loved more worth y ones.
l.ibert y Loa ns wa s treme nd o us.
.!.. .....
:..:-=
::
0
LES
SOU SCR IPTIO NS
SON T
RE(, UES A
PA RI S
BA NQ UE NA TIOANA LE
ET
DE
EN
P ROV IN CE
CREDIT
T R.-\ •. L.-\T IO\! FRO:. [ T l I E ~' RL C l I
F or th e Flag
For Victory
·ubscribe to th e X a tiona l Loa n
B
RIPTIO
RECE IV E D IN PARI
A
D TUR
THROUG H TH E ~A T IO AL
[5 l
l ' C lf
RE J IT
BA
T T HE
'K
O
1
TR Y
---,
j
Come
O n .I
THIRD LIBERTY LOAN
T
H E Third Liberty Loan campaign was notable for the manner in \vhich
it reached down into the heart of the small comm unities.
One new feature which was responsible for this situation was the
offering of honor flags to communities which equalled or exceeded their
quotas . J. H. Burton, a widely known ew York business man, concei ed
the idea and it proved to be one of the most potent influences of the campa ign. Competition among communities in every part of the nited tates
to be either the first in the country, or in certain sections of the coun try, to
earn the right to fl y an honor flag aroused the keenest competit ion. Fortynine cities reported on the opening day of the loan that they had achie ed
their quotas during the first minute of the loan. Many cities sent representa tives to their F ederal R e erve Bank centers a nd to Washington to file thei r
cla ims for flags. An extra star was awarded to a city every time it doubled
its quota, and it was not unusual for communities to win several extra stars.
Carthage, Ohio, the banner city of the country, won forty-seven stars.
During this campaign war exhibit trains were used for the first time.
Exhibits of war materiel, including cannon and other impl ements necessary to
trench warfare, were borrowed, largely from the French government, and
routed on six special trains through the St. Louis, Dallas and Atlanta districts.
Speakers of national reputation and soldiers who had seen active service in
France accompa nied the trains. The exhibits proved an enormous success,
carrying the war into the homes and the hearts of the people as it ne er had
been brought to them before. Sales of bonds amounting to millions of dollars
were directly traceable to the use of these trains.
More than a hundred United States soldiers, who had seen service with
Pershing, and fifty of the famous French "Bl ue Devils" were brought to this
country and sent on speaking tours.
President Wilson, Vice-President Marshall and virtually every member of
the Cabinet participated in the speaking campaign. Secretary McAdoo made
another swing around the country.
M any special days were set aside in behalf of the loan. The open in g day,
April 6, which was the anniversary of the first year of the war, was d dared
a holiday in a lmost every state. On the night of April 12 Liber ty Loan ralli s
w re held in more than a hundred thousa nd school-houses throu ghout the
country. On April 21, 114,000 preachers d eliver d Liberty Loan s rm ns.
April 27 was observed throughout the nited ta tes as ational Lib rty Loan
Day.
This campaign also was notable for its rapid fonvard stride in p l r a rt,
thanks in part to the iv ision of Pi to rial Adverti in g of the om mi tl
n
Public Information, of which
harles Dana ibs n was chairman. This
div i ion, cooperating with the Treasury D epartm nt, indu d m ny wid ly
known artists in the Third and subsequent loans to contri bute po t rd igns
61
PAGE
SIXTY-TWO
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOAN
to the campaign. Artists also contributed independently, with the result
that at times as many as 250 sketches were submitted to the Department
through the Bureau of Publicity.
Fifty cartoonists also contributed drawings to this campaign which were
used in a "Wordless Book" and distributed to the extent of 5,000,000. The
cartoonists of the country, in the Third and other campaigns, also drew hundreds of special cartoons, some of which are reproduced in this book, which
helped put the loan over.
In the closing days of the campaign Frederic J. Haskin, a Washington newspaper man, conceived, and the Bureau of Publicity for the War Loan Organization executed, the "match the President" feature which stands out as one
of the greatest single selling achievements of the war. On a certain night
President Wilson announced that although he had bought Liberty Bonds to
his financial limit, he would buy another $50 bond on the installment plan
and he invited all patriotic Americans to " match" his purchase. The result
was a flood of subscriptions which it is conservatively estimated totaled $100,000,000.
The $3,000,000,000 total sought was obtained many days before the end
of the loan and final subscriptions amounted to $4,176,516,850, representing
sales to 18,308,325 subscribers.
Subscriptions by districts and states follow:
Districts-Boston $354,537,250; New York $1,115,243,650; Philadelphia
$361,963,500; Cleveland $405,051,150; Richmond $186,259,050; Atlanta
$137,649,450; Chicago $608,878,600; St. Louis $199,835,900 ; Minneapolis
$180,892 ,100; Kansas City $204,092,800; Dallas $161,220,650; San Francisco
$287,975,000; Treasury subscriptions $17,917,750. Total $4, 176,5 16,850.
Treasury subscriptions represent money sent directly to the Treasury Department for the purchase of bonds.
States-Alabama $23,153,850; Arizona $11,176,450; Arkansas $22,709,950 ;
California $174,823,150 ; Colorado $31,049,800; Connecticut $70,31 9,550;
Delaware $25,396,400; District of Columbia $25,992,250; Florida $18,031,100;
Georgia $39,133,050; Idaho $1 0,657,050; Illinois $279,253,700; Indiana $84,729,200; Iowa $117,211,450; Kansas $47,390,700; Kentucky $43,672,600 ;
Louisiana $34,533, 150; Maine $18,348,100; Maryland $48,729,800; Massachusetts $228,329,750; Michigan $107,671,400; Minneapolis $98,778,000 ;
Mississippi $17,804,950; Missouri $110,811,350; Montana $17,632,750 ; Nebraska $50,684,850; Nevada $4,725,250; New Hampshire $14,252,000; New
Jersey $139,914,300; New Mexico $5,998,500; New York $985,559,600 ; North
Carolina $24,582, 250; North Dakota $12,100,400; Ohio $225,133,350; Oklahoma $39,440,500; Oregon $28,291,700; Pennsylvania $446,753,550; Rhode
Island $28,717,700; South Carolina $19,426,250; South Dakota $31,443,600;
Tennessee $33,762,000; Texas $97,322,500; Utah $13,048,650; Vermont
$9,330,750; Virginia $44,048,750 ; Washington $42,908,350 ; West Virginia
31,913,250; Wisconsin $86,484,250 ; Wyoming $7,330,550; Alaska $1,737,250;
Hawaii $4,819,850; Guatemala, C. A., $500; Treasury subscriptions $17,917,750;
Unallocated $529,150.
-_ "U ye break faith ,_
we shall not sleep"
© c.:ndcrwood f.,;. Cndcr':..t'OOd
Tl IE O PE :'\ l.\'C OF T l l E FOl. RT I I
\'ice- Pres ide nt ~ la rsha ll i, here b uyin g a Li bert y Bo nd l'fe re I by :'I I i, C era ldin e F a rra r, Op ra in ge r
and Libert y Loa n \ 'olun tee r. This was th e first bond so ld in th e Fo urth Ca mpa ign, which was destin ed
to clo ea the grea te t in gle fin a ncia l ac hi eve me nt in a ll hist ry, not a l ne b ca use f mag nitud e o f a le ,
but beca use o f diffi culti es o,·erco me.
FOURTH LIBERTY LOAN
T
H E Fourth Li berty Loan campaign, which ran from September 28 to
October 19, 1918, inclusive, a lways ,;, ,· ill stand out as the gr ate t single
fin a ncial drive conducted during the entire war.
This stat ement is true not only because the largest amount of money and
th e larges t number of subscri bers to a ny single loan were obtained, but al o
because these remarkable results were achieved in spite of what appeared to
be insurmountablP obstacles.
T wo great forces-a widespread epidemic of Spanish influ enza and a
determined peace drive by the Germa n governm ent-combined to make the
problem of floatin g the loan extremely difficult. As a result of the pid mic
practically a ll public meetings were ca nceled in many sections of the country
and no section entirely escaped the effec ts of the dread disease. The Hun
peace drive had even a more far-reaching a nd sinister effect. Pro-Germans and
other foes of the government who had been fri ghtened in to a dormant state by
the assertion of aggressive Ameri canism on every hand, again raised their snakelike heads above th e surface and resumed emi tting their poisonous propaganda.
In the face of these great discouragements , however, the Liberty Loan
volunteer army again proved itself unbeatable. Someone has said in r lation
to the epidemic feature of the drive that the workers "buried their dead in the
morning and sold bonds in the afternoon." And everywhere that the Kaiser's
peace overtures appeared to receive even a lukewarm. reception, workers fell
upon the community and did their utmost to nullify its insidious and harmfu l
effects.
How well the workers succeeded is best shown by the cold figures on the
resu lts of the loan. Tota l bond a llo tm ents reached $6,992,927, 100 and the
total number of subscribers was 22 ,7 77,680.
It was evident several months before the campaign opened, even when
the coming of the influenza epid emic and the German peace drive \Yere not
expected, that the floatin g of the loan would not be an easy task. Our army
really was just getting into action. American dollars were being hot aero s
the wes tern front by hundreds of millions in the form of bullets aimed at the
Hun hordes. Hundreds of thou ands of soldiers w re being ru shed t France
in troop ships and the bigges t army America had ver had wa in camp in
this country. H ence, ex penses were moun ting as th ey never had before and
the golden stream of money requ ired to ma in tain a ll of thi ountry's acti,·itic
was nothing short of stupend ous. Th e proceeds of the Third Liber ty Loan
were expended before the Fourth Loan had gotten under way.
In the face of the e conditions timorous individuals began to de ry effort
to float furth r 1 ans by pop ul ar s ub crip t ion, urging that they sho uld be
taken by bank and wealthy men. One f the fr qucnl a ser tion wa that
th e people of moderate m a ns had a ll the b nds they oul<l reasonably carry
and th refore they hould buy no more. till others, unwillin g lo g n r c rd as
absolutely opposing popular flotati on of bond issues, ur cl that the Lionds be
65
PAGE
SIXTY-SIX
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
made tax free or that the interest rates be raised to an indefensible level. Simultaneously, sharks of the worst type began intensive campaigns for the purchase
and resale of Liberty Bonds, with the result that the market prices of the securities dropped to unwarranted levels. Hence, many so-called "experts" expressed fear that the low market standing of the bonds would be sufficient
to defeat another popular loan.
Fortunately, however, Treasury officials had learned by their intimate
touch with the people during the three preceding loans that American patriotism
was measured neither by the market value of securities, the interest rate on
them, nor the price of any sacrifice. Therefore, as early as June, 1918,
a statement was issued declaring that under no ci rcumstances would the
interest rate be in excess of 4¼ per cent, and the Treasury stood firmly
by this declara tion almost three months later when it announced the terms
of the loan.
On the opening day of the loan it was noticed that a great change had
taken place in the attitude of the entire country toward popular fin ancial
campaigns. The flamboyant holiday spirit which had been so noticeable in
some of the previous loans, if, indeed, frequently it had not bren the dominant
note, had almost entirely disappeared . Supplanting it was an attitude of grim
will to succeed without ostentation. In other words, the country had set its
teeth and put its shoulder to the wheel as it never had before.
Scarcely had the loan opened when a message from San Francisco told of
the subscribing of Alaska's entire quota by a Pacific Coast packing concern
which had large Alaskan interests. Word of this subscription flashed to
Alaska brought the determined respo nse that the people of the t erritory
were unwilling to have their quota subscribed by a ny one interest, a nd that
while the subscri ption was appreciated they most certainly would obtain their
quota by private subscriptions. Many Alaskan communities went even farther than this in the subsequent days of the campaign, doubling and tripling
their quotas.
Four days after the loan opened the state of Iowa was officially reported
to have subscribed its quot a. The stat e of Oregon later asserted that it had
obtained its quota before Iowa. The Treasury Department never was able
to decide which state was entitled to initia l honors, so it sent congratulatory
telegrams to both states.
Before the campaign was five days old influenza had begun to assert itself
in the Boston district. Initial reports of it came from Worcester, Mass.,
where an elaborate voting system tha t had been worked out for putting over
the loan had to be abandoned at the last minu te on account of the wid esp read
epidemic. Und aunted, however, the citizens went doggedly ahead and raised
their quota of $15,000,000. From that day henceforth, the story in the New
E ngland distri cts was one of abandoning public meeting , making house-tohouse canvasses a nd resorting to unique forms of bond selling because of the
spread of the epidemic. Nevertheless the sturdy New Englanders fou ght a
bitter fight to the end and emerged from the campaign gloriously vic torious.
News of the difficulties under which the New England and other di tricts
stricken by the "flu" were laboring only aroused more fortunate districts to
~
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~
© U 11 derw ood & U 11 dc rwood
F IG I ITERS FRES I I FROi\ l T H E ALPS
In th e dark da ys of the Fo ur th Loa n \\'hen thi s co untry wab pro,, tra te und er th e epid e mi c o r Spa ni sh l nflu enz::i , th e Vo lunt ee r Li ber t y Loa n Arm y
aga in pro,·cd itsc lr unbea ta bl e. l•' ro m " Ove r Th ere'' th ey ru shed co ntin ge nts of men wh o ha d see n th e ha rd est fi ghtin g, a mong who m were th ese grim
visaged Ita lia n~, th e 131uc Dev il s of J,' ra nce , En gli sh, Belgia n a nd Serbia n ve tera ns . By co mpa riso n Lo their s ufferin g a nd ha rd ships, o ur ow n burd en~
see med li ght, a nd th ey did mu ch to turn threa t e ned defea t into vi ctory,
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THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
PAGE
SEVENTY-NINE
greater efforts, and many were the stories of sacrifices that reached the Treasury
Department. Do·wn in Raleigh, N. C., a little blind girl who worked in a mill
subscribed for a $100 bond and 226 orphan children in the same vicinity bought
a $1,000 bond. David Raines, a colored man in the Caddo, Louisiana, parish,
bought $100,000 worth of bonds, this investment representing his entire bank
account, which he had amassed through the sale of oil rights.
By the end of the first week of the campaign the influenza epidemic and
the German peace propaganda were delivering telling blows despite the efforts
of everyone connected with the drive to thwart them. Our armies were advancing rapid ly on the German foe and the Kaiser and his cohorts had begun
to send out peace feelers on every hand. The weak-kneed and the pro-German
propagandists in this country immediately seized upon the opportunity to
shout that the war was over and, despite the apparent ridiculousness of their
claim, it carried conviction in many parts of the nation. So serious did the situation become that both President \Vilson and Secretary l\IcAdoo issued
vigorous appeals to offset the rapidly growing ha ndicaps.
The two statements had a very stimu lating effect upon the loan and the
whole country soon settled down to the business of achieving the quota.
The loan by this time had passed the fifty per cent mark and on October 19 the
St. Louis District went over its quota, being the first in the country to accomplish this result. Shortly after the St. Louis District reported that it had
attained its quota the l\Iinneapolis District made a similiar report. Then
in the last hours of the loan unparalleled enthusiasm gripped the country
and every Federal Reserve District obtained its quota. The final resul ts of
the loan were as foll ows :
By Federal Reserve Districts-Boston $632,124,850; New York $2,044,931,750; Philadelphia $598,763,650; Cleveland $701,909,800; Richmond $352,685,200; Atlanta $217,885,200; Chicago $969,209, 000; St. Louis $295,340,250;
Minneapolis $242,046,050; Kansas City $295,951,450; Dallas $146,090,500;
San Francisco $462,250,000.
By States-Alabama $36,2 16,500; Arizona $14,533,700; Arkansas $26,657 ,650; California $291,134,950; Colorado $42,007,550; Connecticut $124,558,750;
Delaware $22,621,300; District of Columbia $51,262,100; Florida $27,538,350;
Georgia $62,814,550; Id aho $16,895,150; Illinois $467,291,200; Indiana $136,753,800; Iowa$158,155,400; Kansas$73 ,914,550; Kentucky $64,2 17,800; Loui iana $50,438,350; Maine $27,694,150; Maryland $88,064,800; l\Ia achusetts
$405,257,500; Michigan $177,349,000 ; Minneso ta $133,315,250; Ii sis ippi
27,708,150; l\rl i souri $177,244,300 ; Iontana $22,489,050; cbra ka $75,583,200; evada $5,996,150 ; 1Tew Hampshire $21,979,050; ew J ersey $236,816,orlh arolina
600; New Iexico $5,898,150; New York $1,826,448,250;
$48,186,850; North Dakota $21,657,450; Ohio $384,864,300; klahoma $-± ,724,300; Oregon $38,362,550; Pen nsylvan ia $812,217,400; Rhode Island
$61,350,300; outh Carolina 38,580,550; South Dakota $36, 15,850 ; Tenne e
tab 19,878,600; ermont $15, 15,450;
$55,867,250; Texas S124,651,500;
irginia $86,079,500 ; \Va hington $70,189,650; \\ est Virginia $54,748,900;
Wisconsin $122,397,300; \Yyoming $10,183, 150; Alaska $3,180,950; Hawaii
$7,080,650; Treasury $33,885,550. Grand Total sales $6,993,073,250.
THE VICTORY LIBERTY LOAN
NE poster used in the Victory Liberty Loan campaign, that of a workingman with a broad smile on his face, reaching for his pocketbook and
saying, "Sure, We'll Finish the Job , " typified the final great Liberty
Loan drive. From one end of the United States to the other patriotic America
again bought bonds generously in a determination to show a doubting world
that it was willing to continue to fight debts with its dollars as strenuously
as it had fought the savage Hun with shrapnel.
The campaign was a tremendous success, for a total of $5,249,908,300 was
subscribed during the three weeks' drive, which started on April 22, 1919.
This was $749,908,300 more than Treasury officials had asked. What gave
more general satisfaction, however, than the amount subscribed was the fact
that 11,803,895 persons bought bonds.
As had been the case prior to other Liberty Loan campaigns, there was
present before the beginning of the Victory Liberty Loan a small crowd of
calamity howlers in different parts of the country who declared that the loan
was doomed to failure. Some of them even advocated not attempting a popular
loan, and urged that the money needed be raised by increasing taxes. Still
others maintained that unless the interest rate on the bonds was raised to five
per cent and the sales put on a commercial basis the loan would fail. They
reckoned not, however, with Carter Glass, the new Secretary of the Treasury.
This figh ting Virginian, although new to the office of Secretary, was not to be
misled by a timorous minority. In the many years that he had served in
the House of Representatives, where he fathered, among other pieces of
constructive legislation, the renowned Federal Reserve Act, he had come to
know that the American people never shirk a patriotic duty. Hence, when
efforts were made to induce him to abandon the popular campaign or raise the
interest rate to an unwarranted height, he declined most vigorously to accede
to either suggestion.
Speaking before the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce on February 8,
1919, in regard to the forthcoming loan campaign, he said in part:
O
"When I am told of the difficulties which will beset the Victory Loan, I
refuse to lose faith in the enduring patriotism of the American people; I decline
to believe that the fathers and the mothers who gave four million sons to die,
if need be, that liberty might survive, will now haggle over the material cost
of saving the very soul of civilization from the perdition of Prussian tyranny.
"But I am told, in a rather disconcerting way, by men of steady judgment
and tested patriotism, that we must approach the problem of future loans in a
distinctly cold-blooded mood; that things have assumed a different phase;
our attitude of mind and heart is altered; we must consider the matter strictly
from an investment point of view and put the loan on a commercial basis.
80
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©Unde rwood & l'11d1..~r-..l'ood
LIBERT\' ALTAR
C ha ste in des ign, painstaking in x cuti on a nd beautifu l in it broad expa n'se, th e Libert y Alta r a t l\Iadiso n
qua re, New York , wa impress ive to eve n th e 111 0 t cas ua l. Th ousa nd s of pcopl , re prese ntin g scores of
different na tio na lities, here pledged th eir upport to th e Libe rt y Loa n a nd th ir loya lt y to meri ca.
[82]
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country ha\(' been .111,\\crl'<i in all history, I 10111 tlH' rirh1:,t tn thL p<>,1n·st, from th,- humh\,·,t to the
most l''-i!Led riti~en c,1111,- tlH' r('spon,e, " \ "ill" I \en· th<: ~r('at \111 ·ri, 111 tinan, 1,•r, J. l'il'rponl \lor~.111,
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Few cities ha d so spl endid a pa ra de ground for Libert y Loa n demo nstra tio ns as ha d Chicago. fl ere is a v iew of o ne o f th e a lm ost d a il y pa ra des. Thi s
was hea ded by J ohn Phillip Sousa 's renown ed ba nd a nd was ove r live mil es lon g. Th e Seve nth F .:!d cral Distri ct, of whi ch Chicago is th e head, ma de a
most c nv ia bk reco rd . Its quota was seco nd to heavies t , its t erritory tre mendously la rge, ye t it ne,·er fa ltered but ma rched stra ight t o vi ctory .
'-1
TIIE OR IC !:-1.\ L I10:-:0R FL,\ C
The raising of the original I lonor I· lag o,·cr the U. S. Treasury " ·as an historic cYent. Thou"ancls of persons wc·n· -gathered around the Treasury
and as the flag took the I,rc1·zc they burst into prolonged applause~and cheers. l,cwis 13. Franklin, former Director of the \Var Loan Org-anization,
holds the top of the flag and his ,\ ssistant, Clarkson Potter, the bottom. To i\ l r. Franklin's immediate left stands R. \V .. Eml'rson, Chief of Puhli eations, Burea u of [>ublicity.
THAT LIBERTY SHALL NOT
PERISH FROM THE EARTH
BUY LIBERTY BONDS
F O U RTH
LIBERTY
LOAN
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
PAGE
EIGHTY-NINE
Some men tell me it will be impossible again to appeal to the patriotism of the
American people. Frankly, gentlemen, I should despair of my country if
these things were exactly true. I should doubt our abili ty to cope with the
problems of peace if we so quickly should forge t the obligations of war. I
wonder if those who talk in this fa hion speak considerately? They tell about
the 'sacrifices' the American people have mad e, and in their voices there is a
metallic tone and in their mien uncon cious austerity. * * * *
''\,\ e are not going to approach the last Liberty Loan strictly in a commercial
spirit. \\ e are not going to float it strictly on a commercial ba is. It is
impos ible to do it. A little thought will teach the wisest among the financiers
of th is country that it is impossible now to flo a t purely for investment purposes a loan of five or six billions of dollars. \,\ e have got to appeal to the
patriotism of the American people, and it will not be done in ain . There are
yet two million American boys in France and Germany who must be maintained in comfort and brought home in safety, and provided with employment
on their return. \,Vhile ongre s is writing off the books $15,000,000,000 of
authorization , for which public fund s would have been expended had not
the war suddenly terminated, the Government is till expending $2,000,000,000
per month to meet the honorable commitments of the country. The honor of
the Government is involved. Being your Government, it i your honor that is
involved; and I know that the appeal of the American Government to the American~people will meet a_response of which the ation will be proud."
Having sounded his battlecry in this speech, the Secretary stood by it
until the day, several months later, when he saw the banners of democracy
again carried forward to glorious victory in a great popular drive, at a n in terest
rate of 4¼ per cent. He did not achieve this result, however, without difficulty.
On one occasion when he was making a set speech he was interru pted by
cries of "Five per cent interest" from the audience. Casting aside his
manuscript, he took up the challenge of the interrupter and aid in certain
tones that five per cent would not be nece ary, in his opinion, and that the
patriotism of America would carry th e loan at a smaller rate.
The campaign opened in a quiet, determined manner. I t was obviou
from the outset that in most districts there no longer wa great intere t in
the so-called "circus stunts." Patrioti m was being expr ed in the expenditure of dollar rather than in a chorus of cries a nd applau . The country went at finishing th job in a thorough, workmanlike manner, and arried
on the campai gn in an ven tenor to the end.
Michigan and Iowa, two states that always h ad attained their quotas
early in the campaign, were the first to go over the top. They r ported on
the third day of the campaign that they had obtain d their quotas. It never
was officially determined which state obtained its qu ta first.
The most seriou early handicaps encounter <l in the ampaign were in
the 1inneapolis and 1 v land Di tri t . Bad w ath r and inten ive farm
rtain farming and
work kept sales slow in the Minn apolis District, and
tak their share of
to
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ere
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District
leveland
the
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DO YOUR BIT!
\\' I T II A l~OLOG I E, TO TI I E II OR, E
l'oo r Dobbin no doub t had lived a bl a rn cle s life a nd did not de cn ·e thi s indi gnit y nor rta inl y th e
ad ded ins ult o f bein g ca ll ed th e "Crown Prince." Yet uch a re th e fo rtun e of \ Va r, a nd wh en hi s energet ic d ri ve r sold a \ "ictory :--: ot c, h wo uld gra vely bow hi s head in mee k humilit y o f a noth er wa llo p for
hi s na mesa ke th e "Crown i'rince. "
-
/311 ?J ~- --..
%
1
8JN T IT A GRAND AN D GLORlOOS
-· '
fffllNG
PAGE
N INETY-FOUR
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
bonds. Time and intensive work, however, straightened out both of these
situations.
On May 10, two days before the close of the campaign, the St. Louis District for the third consecutive time achieved the honor of being the first district in the entire country to attain its quota.
The following were the subscriptions by districts and tates: Boston $425,159,950; New York $1,762,684,900; Philadelphia $422,756,100; Cleveland
$496,750,650; Richmond $2 25,146,850; Atlanta $143,062,050; Chicago $772,046,550; St. Louis $2 10,431,950; Minneapolis $176,114,850; Kansas City
$197,989, 100; Dallas $87,504,250; San Francisco $31 9,120,800; United States
Treasury $11,140,300. Total $5,249 .908,300.
By States-Alabama $2 1,742,150; Arizona $6,679,900; Arkansas $20,488,600; California $203,025,300; Colorado $30,051,250; Connecticut $95,466,250; Delaware $13,807,650; District of Columbia $28,362,250; Florida
$18,884,150; Georgia $39,443,100; Idaho $11,669,900; Illinois $371,873,002;
Indiana $105,102,950; Iowa $11 1,787,450; Kansas $51,657,200; Kentucky
$49,075,350; Louisiana $34,333,350; Maine $19,027,700; Maryland $62,688,750; Massachusetts $252,767,450; Michigan $155,787,450; Minnesota$96,677,250; Mississippi $18,95 1,750 ; Missouri $73,578,050; Montana $12,527,100;
Nebraska $44,019,150; Nevada $3,666,700; New Hampshire $16,937,050;
ew Jersey $178,645 ,050; New Mexico $1,130,850; New York $1,607,199,250; North Carolina $27, 164,250; North Dakota $18,690,700;Ohio $281,988,250;
Oklahoma $33,331,300; Oregon $28,409,350; Pennsylvania $564,173 ,200;
Rhode Island $45,446,050; South Carolina, $22,994,300; South Dakota
$24,589,400; Tennessee $44,343,800; Texas $75,254,400; Utah $13,720,400;
Vermont $11,648,300; Virginia $60,016,250; Washington $47,975,350; West
Virginia $39,866,150, Wisconsin $94, 296,100, Wyoming $7,198,450, Alaska
$1,428,850; Hawaii $5,005 ,650; U. S. Treasury $11,140,300.
,
~J
'1 /j
I< '. )1'
/,7
°'
~
AU IJ I EN CE
y Bo nd s.
LI N '~ CR EA TE ST
's pl ea lo bu y Lib ert
CI I AR L I E CI I AP
g lo Ch a rlie Ch a plin I le wo rke d un cea s in gly a ll
nin
e
list
rc
a
e
her
act a for m perha ps tiv e co me dia n' s eff ect ive me tho ds. n Vo lun t eer.
inu
togeth er in so rn 111p
so ns eve r ga the red nd s o f do lla rs , mo st ly du e to t he dim dese rve s fir st ra nk as a l.ib crl y Loa
per
f
o
er
mb
nu
t
Th e grea tes
nd rec b o f tho usa
rge ly him se lf. ~le
hu
la
e
ht
th
ug
o
bo
int
ed
nd
t
a
un
ns,
Th e sa les mo
for th e l.oa
ove r the rn un try
C 11c/f r -.l'ood
(£) l 11dc r1..:·or- d .,r:,-
197]
© U ndcrwo Ml
,,:,, l "11de ,-wnnrl
DOC'CIIBOY
X TI IE K .-\I S ER 'S T II ROXE
Sergea nt Dri,·er, o f Al a ba ma, a nd co mpa nion , see m perfectl y a t case o n th e throne of th e I lohcnz ll erns.
Tha t th e Am erica n I oy a re thu s ja until y ta kin g th e e liberti es with none to d eny th e m, urn s up in a
co n ummatc pi cture the full glory o f th e Arm y th a t did th deed, th ;'\a vy th a t too k th em ac ross, and
th Li bert y Loa n \ 'olunte r Arm y th a t hac k,·d th em to th glo rio us fini sh.
[ IOO]
\ \ IUUC \ '\
\IU
H R<l....,._, 1111•, Rll l '\ I
\ m ·r1<.111
:\ l,111, mil,·, l1C'\·onrl tht· lio.1,1,·d I l indt·nlicn: 1011·, till'"' dC1ughhm, .in -:kdulh ,·,hiluttn-:
....,,~nifi,ant .tll' th, 1111l·, ol thl',l' p.>stl'r, till' rnn• ,tlio\l " \m criLllh
art o'r pl'ntli,11 ml'rit ,tnd p1111ch
llw \m i, hou-:ht liond, ,t- ti lou,:ht
..\II," and tlw om· litlo\\ " \ 11,I thl'\ thou-:ht \\l n>ttlcln't ft-:ht "
II
I]
.
Good Bye.Dad.I'm Off
To Fight For Old Glory.
You Buy U.S.GO
o os~·
, ,-,.,A'"~
',' !.:~
• ,
Third Liberty L?~~
Buy a
YO
bu
LIBER
lfST
WHAT THE WOMEN DID
L\ MERI CA'S debt to its women in the war never
can be fully determined
the Russian" Batprompted
that
essness
fearl
fl_ nor paid. With the same
Jeeping Bear's
great
the
when
battle
into
talion of Death" to go forward
to give
France
of
Arc
of
Joans
modern-day
m n had failed her; that caused
to
countries
allied
other
and
England
of
women
the
and
their all for v ictory
they
tear,
a
of
semblance
the
without
itself
life
than
relinquish that dearer
sacrificed to their uttermost for human liberties.
Especially patriotic were the American women in aiding with the various
Liberty Loan campaigns. Not only did they buy generously of the bonds themselves, but they lent invaluable aid in sales and educational campaigns
both as indi idual workers and members of the National Woman's Liberty
Loan Committee. Organization started in May, 1917, practically coincident
with the formation of the other national Liberty Loan organization. By the
close of the war the personnel included one million workers.
Mrs. W. G. McAdoo, wife of the Secretary of the Treasury, wa made
chairman of the committee. Other members of the committee were: 1rs.
Antoinette Funk, Chicago, Vice-Chairman; Mrs. George Bass, hicago,
cretary; 1\1rs. Frank A. Vanderlip, Treasurer, Scarborough-on-Hudson, . Y.;
Mrs. Kellogg Fairban k, Chicago; Mrs. Guilford Dudley, Nashville, Tenn.;
Mrs. J. 0. Miller, Pittsbu rgh; Mrs. F. L. Higginson, Bo ton; 1rs. George T.
Guernsey, Washington; Miss Mary Synon, \Vilmette, Ill.; Mrs. Ella Flagg
Young, Chicago, and Mrs. A. S. Baldwin, San Francisco.
ary
During the summer of 1917, Mrs. McAdoo, Mrs. Funk, and 1i s
ynon, who eventually succeeded Mrs. Vanderlip as Treasurer and to whom
the author is indebted for much information in this chapter, remained in
Washington on organization work, while Mrs. George Bass, the Secretary, went
out on field work, speaking twice a day for ten weeks on Chautauqua circuits.
Mrs. Kellogg Fairbank undertook general supervision of work in the 1iddle
West, while l\Irs. Guilford Dudley supervised the South. Mrs. F. L. Higginson
of Boston had the ew England district, Mrs. J. 0. Miller of Pittsburgh became the P ennsylvania state chairman, and Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip started
the ew York work of the organization. Mrs. Ella Flagg Young direct <l
educational propaganda work out of Washington and Mrs. George Thacher
Guernsey supervised the bond-selling activities of the Daughters of the m rican R evolution, of which she had been pr sident. Later Mrs. Fairbank took
charge of the Advisory Council, composed of the heads of those organization
of women with nation-wide membership, and Mrs. A. . Baldwin, of an
Francisco, had the general organization work of women in the Pacific oa t
states.
s an ducator and
During the Fourth Liberty Loan Mrs. Young died.
patriotic citizen, she fought tirelessly in defen e of the right, and thou nd of
persons, ranging from little children, who had received the rudiments of
103
PAGE
O NE HUN DRED FOUR
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
their education under her direction, to leading officials of the United States
and foreign governments, who held her in the highest esteem, mourned her
departure.
In the First Liberty Loan the work of the committee was limited to general
publicity of war finance among women. In the Second Loan the committee began
work on the adjustment of established organizations of women throughout
the country to the established machinery for the raising of the loans. Where
organi.z ation existed, the women of the United States were organized by states,
while the Treasury war-loan organization was based on the twelve fisca1 divisions
of the United States. The National Woman's Liberty Loan Committee had
the job of correlating the two schemes of organization. They solved it by
the appointment of state and Federal Reserve chairmen, the former responsible
for actual organization of women in their states, the latter serving as representatives to the Liberty Loan committees of the respective Federal Reserve
Districts. These Liberty Loan committees elected the women Federal Reserve
chairmen members of their own executive committees. By this method the
women's organization became an integral part of the district sales plan while
retaining its national inspiration.
vVith the organization plan once established, the enrollment of women
followed with amazing rapidity. After the Third Loan there was a woman
chairman for almost every county in the United States, and for practically
every township and precinct. Every large city had a noble organization
of women for the sale of government securities, and every village was represented.
In the Second Loan the woman's organization was officially credited with
having raised $1,000,000,000. They raised practically the same amount in
the Third Loan, with the added distinction of having sold the amount in
bonds of small rather than of large denominations. The women of Delaware
raised 128 per cent of the state's quota in that loan. The women of Alabama,
Missouri, Wyoming, Kentucky, and West Virginia raised approximately
half the state quotas. In West Virginia, especially, they were of great
help in organizing both men and women. In the Fourth Loan the women of
Pennsylvania raised one-third of the entire quota of the state, or over $226,000,000. In the city of Pittsburgh the women took no corporation subscriptions,
so that their raising of over $66,000,000 in Alleghany County represented
the scrapings of subscriptions ; yet this was 41 per cent of the county's quota,
37 per cent of the total subscriptions, and a showing of 65 dollars per capita.
So successful was the woman's work in ew England that the Federal
Reserve Bank of that district turned over the War Savings campaign to the
women of the National Woman's Liberty Loan Committee organization.
" Their spirit was only waiting the torch of a national need for its lighting,"
Mrs. McAdoo has said of women's work in the loans. "Then it became a
beacon. Not only the actual work which they did , but the work which they
inspired others to do must be the measurement of the service which the women
of the United States accomplished in war finance."
.\ LIHl::RTY 1.0.\ .\ '-,()1_ 1)11 ,R
,\ \\'est crn regi111(·11t ,otl'd to \li ss ,\ I,1ry l'i ('kford thl' title ol "Colnnd" . ll acl the \ ·o luntl'cr Lilieny
Loan .\r my had titl \'s Lo confer, s lw would ha,c \\Oil ,t high co,nmi~sion and en·r) insignia of nH"ni
r\nwricans, dcspil\' obl igations a lread)· assumed, co uld not rC'sist tlw ;tppt•a l of'• .\ merica's '-,wet'lhe.1rt"
a nd bou g ht from her mall) milli ons of I ih(' rt) !fonds.
[ r S]
MWORK
U ITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD
EMERGENCY FLEET CORPORATION
WAR SAVINGS MOVEMENT
T
HE War Savings movement was started in the United States in the
fall of 1917, under the leadership and direction of Frank A. Vanderlip,
former President of the National City Bank of New York, who then was
serving the Treasury Department in connection with the work involved in
finan cing the Government's war expenses.
As originally planned and at first carried out, this campaign was not
primarily for the sake of raising revenue for the Government, but was rather
based on the Goods and Service doctrine, thus following the pl a n of the English War Savings movement. The Goods and Service doctrine was briefly
as follows:
There was a limited amount of labor and a limited supply of raw ma terial
of all kinds in the country. The vigorous prosecution of the war created a
very heavy drain on the labor supply of the country, by both the selec ti ve
service law, which was calling millions of men from their industrial pursuits to
join the active army, and also by reason of the fact that the necessity of manufacturing the almost endless quantities of equipment and munitions required
to equip such an army caused the establishment of many new and varied industries. There was thus, at a very early stage of the war, crea ted a shortage
of labor which was very seriously interfering with the production of the equipmentnecessarytomaintain our army and aid our allies. At the same time it was
apparent that many of the non-essential industries, instead of curta iling their
production, were rather increasing it owing to the fact that, on account of the
war, wages had risen in some places to unheard of extent and much of the surplus wages was being spent in luxuries.
Hence, the movement was meant primarily to combat this excessive dema nd
for Iuxuries, thus releasing labor for both the actual military service and for work
in supplying munitions for the army. The idea of the campaign was to impress
upon the American people that if their money, even in small amounts, was
lent to the Government it would be possible to use that mon ey in the hiring
of labor and the purchase of raw material for purposes that would have a
direct bearing upon the winning of the war, and that if, as a result of t his
loaning of small amounts to the Government, consumption of non-essentials
was largely decreased, this would release labor and raw materia l from noaessential purposes to the production of material absolutely nee s ary to win the
war. The appeal primarily was, "Do not spend your money for unn ce a ry
luxuries, as this will take labor and material from the essential industrie~."
The sale of the 25-cent Thrift Stamp and the $5 W a r aving ta mp was
carried out primarily as the most convenient m ans of diverting the idle qu a rt rs
and dollars from ~he non-essentials and diverting them to e sential wa r purposes. The actual securities were very similiar to those used by the B ritish.
The small st denomination was the 25- ent Thrift tamp. These tamp ,
as purchased, were plac d on Thrift ards and when sixteen tamp were
107
TR.-\:\~l ..\TIO\ FRO~ ! THE FRE:\CI I
Ct1rd i11al !11ercier Stands
for the
Protection of Belgium
[1101
........
~
l\l
@ t · 11dr rwo od & U nderwood
INC INNA TI COES OVER THE TOP
coveted hono r.
a ru sh on the pa rt or eve r y cit y , town a nd county to first win the
' Th e I lo nor Fl ag wa s fir st offered for th e Third Loa n a nd th ere was
I larn ilto n Co unt y have
nd
a
y
it
c
the
both
that
show
ey
Th
ti.
ncinna
Ci
in
Square
in
1lerc Old Clary and th e two I lonor Fl ags a re ll oating over Founta
go ne over th e top a nd won th e right to Ay t he Honor Flags.
:i ::::·
r.r. -:::
~ 5
~ ,_,
::: ~
~:::;
-= : .,
--
..c .,,.,
~~
_·7:
:.,
;;:
[ 113]
~
'
ICTO~ -.
HARE ·
·
YE FOR YOVR CO
TRY · , ~~!!
'
SAVE FOR YOVRSELF
W.S.S. WOMEN OF AMER ICA
w~1;1~::Iit SAVE YOUR COUNTRY
Buy WAR SAVINGS STAMPS
UNITED STATES TREASURY DEPARTMEN T
-
~
°'
~
T I JI_:: F O R E IC .\I L EC l ON
hu t o ne co mo ur shores but here we have no t o nl y a leg ion rrorn ro reign shores, heroes rro rn
vaded
in
d
ha
n
legio
n
roreig
a
cc
in
,
i\ lo re tl11 n a ce nt ur y had passed
is a ttes ted by th eir ma ny decora tio ns. Th ese
as
r,
wa
of
rts
a
the
in
led
kil
s
rc
a
ey
th
n
o
dditi
a
In
ies.
untr
co
l
posed o r ve t era ns rro rn severa
ey a re s ho wn here a rri v in g at C hi cago.
t he ba ttl efro nt were ,·ery e ffect ive in th e Fo urth Loa n ca mpa ign. Th
'-1
T ill ~ ST,\ RS ,\ :\ll STR I PES CO 13\'
'llw I ilil'rt ,- Loan ,ir1111· gloriouslv al'romplished thrt·l' most important tasks. The one, thl'y providl'd the funds. The Sl'concl, t hl'I 01·c·r,-.1mc poisonr111s propaganda.
Thi' third, thl'\ a11okl· .\ mcri,-a to genuilll' patriotism and lovC' of rountry. ,\ 11d tlw greatcst of thcsl' 11as tlw last for with it
a,-c-omplishcrl Cl'(;r,thing t·lsc., followed. ll ere '-,l•, rl'lar1 \lc ,\ don, with i\ l rs. i\lr:\ cloo lo his right, and lo the extreme right Osear J\. l'rin•, l'uhlici(y
I> irC'l'tor of the '->el'ond l.oan, salutt· the llag passing in a Lilit·rl} l.oa n I'ararlc.
,
S LA TRAN CH EE
E
EC
LE SOLDAT
I RE,
.
CTOI RE ET A SON FOYER.
,
E
p
SE ASSURER L'UNE
, ER L'AUTRE,
,
I EZ
F
E TIO A E
I
I In \ '-,I, \ I IO'\ I IW \ I 1111
I
I{
I '\ ( I I
E r ect i11 tl1e tu11ch rts the dm__r:,1 11 brea ks
th e soldier dreams of ··v ictory r111d of his /iu sidc.
In or dcr th{lt he 11u1y rtllrllll the 011c r111d 1·cff1ti11 the ot/1t'I'
to t h , Third Loa n
ror
the .:-,. ; at ional Ddcn :-.c
I 1191
THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
PAGE
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE
attached a card had the value of $4 if used in the purchase of a War Savings
Stamp. The War Savings Stamp was what is technically known as a discounted security. It was a promise of the Government to pay to the holder
$5 on the first of January, 1923. In as much as it was to pay 4 per cent interest,
compounded quarterly, the amount of the interest was deducted from the purchase price, which was thus set at from $4.12 to $4.23. For the purpose of making
the handling and sale of these Stamps as simple as possible, it was provided
that the cost in January, 1918, would be $4.12, and that it would increase one
cent each month throughout the year, and that at the close of the year that
series of Stamps, payable in 1923, would no longer be sold.
Mr. Vanderlip personally conducted a speaking and publicity campaign
throughout the entire country on the Goods and Service doctrine, urging upon
the American people to cut down in every way possible in consumption of nonessentials, and release labor for necessary war purposes, and urging upon them
the purchase of the Thrift Stamps and Savings Stamps as an easy method of
diverting their money from non-essential uses.
Local committees were formed in all the states, and the states in turn were
organized by counties and towns, so that throughout the entire country there
were active, energetic committees engaged in the sale of these small securities.
The effort was to make them accessible to everybody, and they were placed on
sale in stores, theaters, hotels, and were very of ten sold on the streets.
In the middle of 1918 the war expenses became so heavy and the demands
on the Treasury were so great that it was felt necessary to devote increased
efforts to rai ing money for the Government between the Liberty Loan campaigns, and beginning with June, 1918, an intensive campaign was started to
effect large sales of Stamps for the direct purpose of helping to finance the
Government. With this primary purpose of raising large amounts of money the
Goods and Service doctrine was of necessity relegated to a secondary place and
the \i\far Savings Campaign was used as a money-raising means to fill in the
gaps between the Liberty Loans which were then being launched every three or
four months. By means of these intensive drives the sale of War avings
Stamps and Thrift Stamps netted to the Treasury Department over a billion
dollars.
ew series of Stamps, maturing in 1924, were issued in 1919.
A Savings Committee, consisting of Mr. Pierre Jay, Chairman of the
Federal Reserve Bank of ew York City; Mr. Arthur H. Ham, Vice-President
of the Provident Loan Society and the leading authority in the country on
remedial loans, and Mr. E. G. Routzahn, of the Russell age Foundation,
was formed late in 1918 to supervi e the avings Campaign. Mr. anderlip, and Mr. H. E. Benedict, who had been his Executive ecretary, were
called back to New York to resume their private banking connection , and
Mr. Harold Braddock was appointed Savings Director. Later he was succeeded by William Mather Lewis.
The conduct of the campaign in the field was taken from the old state
organizations and placed in the hands of the Go ernors for the twelve
Federal Reserve Districts. Each Governor appoint d a a ings Director, ho
was to carry on the campaign within his District under the supervision of the
PAGE
O N E HUND RED T WEN TY-TWO
THE STORy
of ilie
LIBERTY LOANS
Washington office. The Savings Division was made a part of the War Loan
Organization, and a Government Savings Director in every District was under
t he direction of the War Loan Director of the District. It was desirable that
all of the security-selling activities of the Government should be under one
head, so that they might all work in harmony.
In carrying out the 1919 campaign the Government aimed to secure
t he cooperation of large and representative bodies of its citizens who wf're
already organized.
The schools of the country were enthusiastically behind the Savings movement from the start, and there were few school-rooms which let the ending
of the war make any difference in their systematic savings habits. The
National Education Association, at its annual convention, put itself heartily
on record as favoring the Thrift and Savings movement.
The women's dubs of the country have been another body to give this
movement their unqualified and enthusiastic support. Many of the women's
organizations made arrangements for studying thrift, particularly thrift
in relation to home matters, at the regular meetings of their clubs, as well
·
as t o aid in t he sale of Savings and Thrift Stamps.
vings Ca mSa
and
Thrift
the
Another group which gave solid backing to
GomSamuel
of
indorsement
personal
the
With
paign was organized labor.
taken
was
Campaign
Thrift
he
t
labor,
American
of
pers and other leaders
up vigorously by la bor units throughout t he country. At the June, 1919,
convention of the American Federation of Labor at Atlantic City, a resolution
was adopted calling upon t he Government to make permanent the sale of small
denomination Government securities as an economic bettermen't.
The Savings Division also had the hearty support and cooperation of the
Home Demonstration and County Agents of the Department of Agriculture
throughout the country. They introduced the study of thrift and saving
among their organizations and aided in providing for the sale of Government
securities. This was part icularl y true in the case of boy's and girl's canning,
corn, and pig cl ubs, and other similar clubs, where they not only taught
the value of thrift, but made it doubly attractive by linking it with the
idea of saving for a definite purpose, as securing education in an agricultural
college, saving to buy a farm , or to buy thoroughbred live stock.
In many other ways t he Saving movement appealed to various organized
group , as lodge , chu rches, and business organizations throughout the country.
Many of the largest indu t rial corporations and railroads cooperated to the
extent of enclosing with their dividend checks a statement over the signature of Secretary of the Treasury Glass urging the purchase of Savings
Stam ps as a prime investment security.
T RA NS LATI ON FRO M T H E FRE~ I I
Th e Fr ench R epublic
Third Loa n for th e N a t iona l D efe n e
F R E TCH POST ER
TRA N LATIO N:
Th e L oan f or Liber ation
[ 124J
FRA C
SE
LEMPR_UNT DE LA LIBERATION
CAR CARD ADVERTISING
);
I
a ll th e Liberty L oa n campa ig ns throu g h
trce t car advert ising more th a n 50,000,000
pe rso n ,Ye re reac hed e, ·cr y 24 ho ur
in th e -tOOO c ities, " ·ith o u t co t to th e g0Ye rn 111 e nt , la rgely throu g h th patriot i co-operation of l\Ir. B a rro n G. Coll ie r , o f Tew \ 'ork .
H e ga, ·c r rccly o f s pace, hi s time a nd that f
hi o rga ni zatio n , a n I indu ced oth r a dve rti ing
orga ni za ti o ns to co ntribut e s pace. :\ I r .
\\'a lt r '. Brooke, head of 1\ I r. Co llie r' s rt
D epa rtm e nt, a nd ;.Jr . L e te r J. uddih y, aL ~>
a id ed m ate rially.
On the page o ppo i te are s hown in g r at1y redu ced s ize but in orig ina l -o lors a num ber or t h ca r card that we re used . •
111 a jo rity o f t he ri g ina l paintin gs fro 111 \\'hi c h
th ese card ~ \\' Cr m e le \\' re produ ced in th e
.-\r t D cpart111 c nt o r :\ Ir . Co lli er' s Co111pany .
[I
26]
YO
blly a
D
TO-DAY
d
do tht!> rt?>sf I
'~YOU
Help My Boy
Win the War"
SURE
we'll
Fin1sh
the
Job/
y
TY
N
N
(X)
BY AER I AL PARCE L POST
tion, ha d as ked Do uglas Fai rbanks to ass ist in a pa rtic ula r d ri ve for th
Fra nk R. Wilson, the :r.;:at iona l Directo r of Publicity o f the Wa r Loa n Orga ni za
dec id ed to ma il him b y ae ri a l post. \Vith cancell ed sta mp on his forehead
sa le of Li be rty Bonds in New York. i\ l r. Fairbank's train was late, so it was good tim e a nd so ld ap prox imate ly five million do lla rs o f bonds.
he is here being deli,·ered to the carrier by Mr. Wil so n. He a rri ved in
::
H ELP ou• IOWN
WIN~ THIS Fl.AG
__8_1
I
I,.
-··
_._,
I,
~:I,.
I"
I
r,,
I ..
I,
I
1:-:D L.STR I.\I , 11 0:'\0R l'E:s;,. \ :\'T
for Lilien; Loan honor emblem · 11agl'U
\ot orl; hy Lo11ns, hut also b; industria l units 11 ·re b.1ttks ..:;e cities. On tlw opp site page is ,ho11n
lar
Thu s thlst' l'n11Jlt>ms did th ·ir pot ent part in both snull ,ind
the :'\c11 York m.:rrhan t 11ho concei,e d
th C' honor ffag, and abon, is a lik eness of J oh n ll owc-s Burt on
the hon or plan, holdin g an industria l pennant .
I 1311
MPRU T
'3eE
0
xDEFENSE
JIONALE
TR .\ '.\'°lL:\ T f o:,.; FRO.\ ! T l IE FRl"' :S- C I I
Third Loa n fo r t he X at io na l D ef ens '
Sub scribe
! 11 order to H asten
P eace
by
J ,.ictory
I 1331
·
THEY KEPT THE
SEA LANES
OPEN
INVEST
IN THE
VICTORY LIBERTY LOAN
THE FOUR,MINUTE MEN
f..,_ N A
DIE CE aggregating 400,000,000 persons heard patriotic speeches
fl. during the war by members of an organization of most potent influence
for sterling devotion to our country-the Four-Minute Men.
Conceived by a group of young business men at a meeting in Chicago in
March, 191 7, just before we entered the war, this idea of ha ing vol u n t er
speakers address audiences for four minutes at a time soon grew until it
embraced the largest speaking body ever marshalled together since the beginning of time.
At its height, this organization had 15,000 or more speakers under its
control who spoke a lmost nightly throughout the war on some pha e of the
great subject.
o job was too small or large for them. When the help of
speakers was needed in any direction to put certain pha es of the Government's
needs more clearly before the people, a summons was all that was required to
swing the mighty organization into the heat of battle. Liberty Loan, Red
Cross-a hundred and one worthy war-time causes were helped immea urably
by this indefatigable civilian platform army.
Its voice was heard around the world. In churches, theat rs, hall , army
camps, on street corners-in fact, any place where the lifting of a voice might
help the war, there the voice of a Four-Minute Man was raised. How well the e
speakers did their work you know best, for, it is safe to assert, there is not today
a man or woman in the nited States who did not hear at some time during
the war the plea of at least one Four-Minute Man.
When war seemed inevitable a small group of men, headed by Donald l\l.
Ryerson, following a suggestion by Senator Medill kCormick, acted on the
idea of forming a patriotic committee for the purpo e of sending speakers into
th e motion-picture theaters of Chicago to lay before the people the ur nt
reasons for military service requirements as proposed, at the time, in the
Chamberlain bill to provide for military training of men of nineteen or tw nty.
Young men were selected as speakers because the first calls to the national
defense wou ld naturally fall upon them, and it was thought that they were the
proper ones to send out to speak in favor of such service. The President
of the original organization was Mr. Ryerson. The title of Four-Minute en
was giving with dual reference to the "Minute Men" of the R volutionary
war and to the time limit necessarily imposed upon speakers , ho wer to
appear during brief intermissions in the establish d program. This organization
was incorporated under a state charter as the Four-Minute Men of Illinois,
on April 28, 1917 . Other members were Stephen Gardner, Treasurer; eorge
R. Jones, ecretary; Arthur S. Gable, Waldo P. Warren, and Keith J.
ans,
Assistant ecretaries.
These men and other volunteers made arrangements , ith the lo al
theaters to speak for a period of four minutes in the intermi ion betw en
films. They were introduced by slides giving the name of the individual who
135
WELL?
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WHERE TIIE !\ ! ONEY \VENT
So meone has sa id tha t there were more dolla rs s ubsc ribed to th e Loa ns tha n th ere ha ve bee n minutes sin ce Ada m a nd Eve-a lso th a t a dolla r for every
minu te sin ce th e beginnin g of the Chri sti a n Era wo uld ha rdl y pay th e interest ta ken a t 6 ~. Be thi s as it may , it is simple a rithmeti c to see wh ere th e
money went if yo u ta ke as your common divisor severa l million doughboys a nd th eir needs.
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Christ mas
Roll Cal
Dec.16 -23°
'TheGREATEST MOTHER
in tlie W ORLD
Red Cross Christmas Roll Call fJec.16 -23
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A CONS IGN MENT OF GUN CA RR IAGES
in a good sized war. Th e fact of th e matter
T o the layma n this picture would seem lo s how a reasonable a mo unt of gun ca rri ages for eve ryda y use even
used "over th ere," because it was considis, however, that thi s picture was selected from a very large number show in g tremendous masses of material money to finance this war.
ered worthy o f no specia l comme nt . I n a word, this is only another illustratio n th at it too k rea l
+-
en
LIBERTY BONDS A:-JD TANKS
\\'lwn the I lun succeeclcrl in capturing the o,casional doughboy he was always brought up for severe questioning-in fact put lhroltgh Lhc "third
dl'gn-c." T,ni questions \\'Crc invariably asked: "\\'ill the Americans buy any more government bonds?" and" How many tanks han, you ,llHI how
many arc being built?" The Ccrman had lc•arned great respect for many things American and high ;imong them, thC' irresist;ihlc t;ink ,111d thl' ,•wrincreasing Liberty Bond.
.\ '-,T I RR I \<, \l ' l'l'\I
\\"h IL is i1,, du.• an I" hy ,hould it he pun h \Sl'd h, cn-ry
offert'd'
iL
is
hy
\\'
\\'hat is a l. ibcrty Hond '
bet\\TIT Jll'rhaps al no tillll' during 1hc <-.1111p,1igns
question,
ese
Th
color'
.\ merica n of e,pry creed and
hdore a ,·ast
addrl'ss
this
during
ropi,1.
philc111th
jl·\\ish
t
gn:a
e
th
~chiff,
II.
ter answered th a n hy J acoli
crowd in front of tht· \ e" \'ork suh 1n•,1,un.
1-7 I
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UP CIVILIANS !
ENGLAND EXPECTS -
Send your money into the Fight
BUY
BUY NATIONAL
WARBONDS
OR
WAR SAVINGS
CERTIFICATES.
National War Bonds
War SavingsRCertificates
• t..,
,
•
..
NOW.
PR0fl\OllON' FOR ANY ONE ENLISTING
APPLY MY RECRUITING STAllON
OR PO STMJ\SlER
u-,
0
CAPTURED GERi\I AN H ELMETS
On Victo ry \\"ay in i\ew York City, this grea t pyramid o f ca ptured Germa n helmets was placed on beha lf of th e Vi ctory Loa n. Thousa nds of t hese
showy but hi ghly impractical helm ets were taken in th e stores cap tured by our bo ys a ft er th ey broke through the H ind e nburg line. Th e futi le ,·a nit y
f th e Pruss ia n is well illustrated b y th ese ga ud y head pieces.
u,
\ .I CTOR\" ,\ RCH
Thi, one, a t Twl·nty \ t ,anou, 1·iti!', t ht•s<' \ ·icton ,\ rr ht•, \\ l'rt' built h) th C' proud folks a t ho me as testimo ny of welco me to o ur returnin g so ld ie r, .
ch ca utiL'cl th C'
thtrd and Broad \\ a) in '\ c\\ York ( it), i, wry ha nd so me a nd of gi ga nti c size. It was flood -li ght ed a t night by multi -colored li ght, whi
__
hu ndn:d s o f pr is m-c ut jC'wels o f glass to spa rkle' with _most bea utiful effcn . J
"
THE ST ORY of the LIBERTY LOA S
PAGE
OXE HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE
"will speak fo r four minute on a ubj ect of national importance-indorsed by
Dr. Frank Gun a ulu s, Bishop amuel F allows, Mis H arriett \ ittum , l\ Ir .
J o eph P . Bowen, Otto C. Butz, Charles A. Comiskey and J. Ogd n Armour."
Th e first fou r-minute peech wa made by l\Ir. Ryerson him elf at the
Grand Theatre, Chicago, April 1 or 2, 191 7.
\,\ ith gov rnmenta l sanction, \\ ash ington headqua rter \Yere opened with
Ir. R yerson in charge. La ro-ely due to the efforts of \Vil liam . Brady,
entrance fo r peakers to mot ion-picture theaters o-enerally was obtained.
Earl y in June Ir. Ryerson, who had previou sly received a ommi ion
from the nited States Navy a nd had secured two months' furlou gh in ord r to
establi h the organization , resigned from the Four-1\Iinu te l\ Ien in ord r to
enter the training school in Annapolis. \,Villiam McCormick Blair of hicago
became national direct or, June 16, 1917.
By th e end of June, 1917, the organization included 5,-1-05 local branches,
while the work was also organized in 42 lodges, making a tota l of 5,447 centers
of activity.
Early in A ugust the scope of the work was extended to reach other audiences.
A ch urch department of the Four-Minute Ien was organized in many of the
local branches to present four-minute speeches in synagogues and unday
Schools.
ational arra ngements had already been made to have the speaker
appear at th e meetings of lodges, fraterna l organizations and labor unions.
Fou r-minute m essages based upon the official bulletins were given a l o at all
meetings of the granges in many states. The work was next extended to reach
the lumber camps, some 500 organizatio n being formed in uch communiti s.
Even India n reservations were inclu ded. vVomen' divi ions were oro-anized to bring the messages of the Government to audience at matinee performances in the motion-picture theater , and to mem bers of women' clubs
a nd other imilia r organizations. A junior Four-l\Iinute i\Ien organization
for boys and girls, a l o was created.
In eptember, col lege F our-1\ Iinute l\Ien were organized, under instructors
acting as chairmen, to study the regu lar Four-1\Iinute ::'den bu lletin and
practice speaking upon the subjects thereof, ach tudent being req uired to
d iiver at least one four-minute speech to the student body during the eme t r,
in orde r to qu a lify as a Four-1\Iinute Man By the end of 1918 there w re
217 colleges represented.
Th work of the organization extended as far as the Philippine Island~,
anal Zone, H awaii and the I land of Guam.
The total num b r of report d speeche given was 755,190 to a total aud ience
of 314,454,5 14. A rea onable allowan e for the con iderable numb r f
commun ili e from w hich in ompl te or no r port are rec i,·ed ju tifi
a
final estim ate of a mi llion spe che heard by audien e aggregating 400 000,000
individ ua ls during the eighteen month ' life of th organization.
WAR COSTS TO BELLIGERENTS
XCLUSIVE of losses in property and material, which never can be
exactly computed, the great war cost the world in money or its equivalent
approximately $200,000,000,000. This is only $50,000,000,000 less than
the estimated wealth of the United States,or$14,000,000,000more than the total
property value of all North America. The correctness of the foregoing figures
may be estimated from the fact that estimates of the cost of the war made by
Secretary of War Baker and Congressman Cordell Hull of the Ways and Means
Committee variedonly$3,000,000,000, Secretary of War Baker's estimates being
$197,000,000,000 and Congressman Hull's $200,000,000,000, with the post-war
cost still mounting and logically likely to exceed the estimates made by
either of them.
Deaths from wounds in battle numbered 7,300,000, according to Secretary
Baker, and total deaths in all the armies reached approximately 9,000,000.
So far as the United States itself is concerned the total cost of the war to
this country, from April 6, 1917, to June 30, 1919, was $30,177,000,000,
based on total expenditures of $32,427,000,000, of which amount $2,250,000,000 were normal expenditures. Included in these totals are loans of over
$9,000,000,000 to the Allies.
In a summary of war costs made by Representative Hull, in the spring of
1919, it appeared that the war cost of the Allies from August 1, 1914. to March
18, 1919, compared with those of the United States from the date of its
entrance into the war, show that the expenditure of the United States for the
war was three-fourths the size of England's total war expenditure of $40,640,000,000; one-fourth larger that the debt of France, approximately $23,400,000,000; twice as large, almost, as the debt of Italy, $16,000,000,000, and
fifteen times the war debt of Canada, $2,000,000,000.
In comparison with the cost estimated at the close of the Civil War, $2,713,568,000, the war just ended cost the United States eleven times as much.
In comparison with an estimate for the full Civil War period, fixed in 1879 at
$6,190,000,000, the war just closed cost almost four times more.
The interest items on the whole indemnity to the Allies will amount to
$10,000,000,000 a year.
To the French debt of $23,400,000,000 must be added $13,000,000,000
physical losses as estimated by the French High Commission and $8,000,000,000
for pensions, making a total cost to France in money or its equivalent of $44,400,000,000.
The enormous multiplication of expenditures brought about by the war is
graphically shown by the fact that the aggregate of expenditures annually for
the countries engaged in the war jumped from $10,000,000,000 in 1914 to
$70,000,000,000 in 1918, and of the latter figures the United States in 1918
expended $19,000,000,000-more than one-fourth.
Before the war, the national debt of the 1 ading belligerent states was
something less than $26,000,000,000. At the close of the war it was approximately $170,000,000,000.
E
154
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@U 11dcrwo od & U 11dc rn1ood
"P l 1-;:Es PEAK OR BUST"
Th e \ ' ictory Loan ta nk on its trip up Pikes Pea k broke three world's reco rd s : fir st, for continuous travel; second , for altitude at ta in ed ( 11,200 feet above
s<.>a leve l) ; a nd third, it penetrated throu gh greater depths of snow than a ny oth er vehi cle has don e. This sensationa l de monstrati o n of th e effi cie ncy.
plu c k a nd ro urage of th e Am erica n so ldi er furnish ed exce ll ent '. ' co py" for pub licit y of th e Vi ctory Loa n. "Pikes Pea k or Bust " wa s adopted as th e
Loa n \Va r Cry in man y co mmuniti es.
..::: = ...:
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ON THE J OB FOR VICTORY
· U N I T E O
J' TA T I~ J'
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TOGETHER WE WIN
AN D TH EY
THOUGHT WE
CO UL ON T
41
FI GH 7:
TI I E I: m .: RTll'S F I RST 100 PE R CE:-ST
T he first business rgani1,.1tion to reac h IOO <'c, ubscr ipti o n of its e mpl oyee~ in the Fourth Li b rt y Loa n
ampaign, ll"a the \ \'illiam ~- 11 rt l'rod uctio ns, Inc. , of Los ,\ ngc lcs. Hefor th e fir t ho ur of th e a mhad pur has cl a t lea t one bond . 1lart, sa ns hi s usual ma keu p, i
pai gn had pass(•cl, ever) mploy
se ll ing a bond to a mov ie co 11· pun cher.
11 621
HELP OUR DISTRICT
WIN THIS FLAG
AWARDED
ar
Stamp
BY
ss
ws.s.
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HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL or CANADA
TO DISTRICTS EXCEEDING THEIR QUOTA
WP9
ONE OF THE
THOUSAND
Y.M..C.A.G I RLS
IN FRANCE
United
War Work
Campaign
Nov. ll 1~tol8 ~
i:::~n·
THE EXD OF .\ PERFE T D.\\'
\\"ho old the most bone! > :\'one ca n say. ;\ Ir. C ha rl es i\l. ~clrn·a b a l hi s fa mo u dinn er old ma ny
th o usa nds to th minute. Fred eri c k J. Ha kin , in his ma lch-th e-Pre ide nt id ea old millions, \\hil e
Do ugla Fairba nks so ld in o:1 e da y five million , a nd these are bul a f w insta nce . Anyway Do ug
has ha d a good day a nd s ho ws it.
l 164 l
'' I won't com(' ha, k," ,aid \ i11n•nt ..\,tor upon ,·nlvnng 1h, st·n·in:, "u111il I t:t·l ., l ' hoat." \\ hl'n this
rap tun·d L. boat .,rri, cl lo lake part in the \ 'irlor) Loan, I 1eutenant \slur 11as a hoard. \\ lw1her he
"go t " his t · boat or not it is impossibl(' to say. I lo11Tn·r, ii h<: marlv .ts good a sailor as he did soldier
in the Libert y Loan .\ nn,, ll would look th,,t "")
[ 165]
ANOTHER SHIP ·.....
ANOTHER VICTORY
U.. HTED STATES
HIPPI v
DO. P-.D "~is
EMI- RGLNCY FLEET CORPORATION
BOY SCOUTS OF AMER ICA
DER the leadership of Pre id ent Colin H. Living ton, hief cout
Executive J a mes E. West, a nd the executive board of the organizatio n,
the Boy couts of America served valiantly throu ghout a ll of the
Liberty Loan and \Va r Savings campaigns.
In the first campaign, their participati on was ina ugurated by Pre id nt
Wilson and ecretary McAdoo in letters inviting the organization to as i t
in the sale of Liberty Bonds. The result w re so gratifying that in the succeeding campaigns , similiar invitations were received by the couts from the
President and from the Secretary of the Treasury. These official appeals
unfailingly met with magnificen t, purposeful and enthusiast ic response.
In each campaign, awards of medals of honor, and suitable bars, simil a r
to service bars used in the United States Army, were awarded by the Treasury
Departme nt to Boy Scouts for Liberty Loan service. In each of the first
three Liberty Loan campaigns , in order to be eligible for an award, a cout
had to report ten or more subscriptio ns.
In the First Liberty Loan the Boy Scouts reported 139,660 subscriptio ns
aggregatin g $23,239,000. In the Second Liberty Loan the Scouts reported
533,843 subscriptio ns totaling $102,085,850. In the Third Liberty Loa n the
couts reported 670,291 subscriptio ns aggregatin g $81,604,650, or a total of
$206,929,500 in bond sales for the first three Liberty Loans.
Incomplet e returns for the Fourth Liberty Loan show that the Scouts had
secured 513,112 subscriptio ns totaling $69,965,950 with approxima tely onequarter of the fields still to be heard from. Inclusion of this amount in the
aggregate for the first three drives made the final available figures for the
first four Liberty Loan campaigns 1,856,906 subscriptio ns totaling $276,895,450.
Exact figures for the Victory Liberty Loan are not available at the time f
publicatio n of this book, but a gla nce at the foregoing figures will indicate the
conservati on of an estimate that the total record for the Boy cout for the
five Liberty Loans will be well in exces of 2,000,000 sub criptions aggregalincr
a fi gure w 11 over the $300,000,000 mark.
In th Fourth Liberty Loan campaign and in the ictory Liberty L n
a mpaign the coutswork ed under two plan . Plan umber One wa known a
the "GI aner After the Reapers" plan, m aning that the cout w re fre l
olicit subscriptio ns during the la t seven days of th ampaign. Ten r more
ub criptions had to be ecured to qualify for an award. Plan rumb r Two,
nd r plan
used in som comm unities, cov red th entir campaign peri d.
n in
cripli
ub
nty-fiv
tw
rt
p
tor
out
a
for
umber Two it was n e sary
f
h
wi
th
n
UJ
ed
nd
dep
plan
of
choice
The
rder to r ive recognition .
trucin
er
und
acting
ut
c
of
p
tr
each
,
the local Liberty Loan ommitte
tion to follow the wi hes of the Liberty L an ommitl , in order to av id
confliction or embarra ment.
U
167
P .\ (; J,
O:\'E HU . DRED SIXTY -EIGHT
TH E STORY o/ the LIBERTY LOANS
In the \Var avings tamp campaigns the Scouts cooperated as efficiently as
in th e Liberty Loan campaigns. Special red post-cards were prepared by the
Trea ury Department for di tribution by the Scouts. These cards were order
blank for War avings Stamps. By the spring of 1919 the couts reported
2,179,235 red post-card orders for War avings tamps on file averagin g
19.65 per order, and totaling $42,725,467.75.
Under the direction of Chief Scout Executive West, an exact record was
k pt in the headquarters of the Boy Scouts in the Fifth Avenue Bu ilding,
~ ew York, where an office taff of three hundred people governing 376,000
couts is operated with the precision of clockwork.
Sales of bonds and War avings Stamps constitute the specific record of
Boy cout achievements in connection with the epoch-making vVar Loans, but
in addition to the actual solicitation of subscriptions, the Scouts gave the vVar
Loan Organization an enormous service by cooperating with the Liberty Loan
committees throughout the
nited tates in the following activities: Distributing literature, posting; taking part in Victory Loan parades, in Scout
bands and Scout floats; serving as mes engers, ushers at public patriotic
meetings, etc.; making Victory Loan speeches at theaters, schools and other
public places; giving cout demonstrations, playing bugles, etc., at Victory
Loan booths to attract the attention of the public; making house-to -house
canvasses with Victory Loan placards; helpin g banks as messengers or clerks
in connection with the Loan; spreading Liberty Loan propaganda; circu lating
Liberty Loan slogans; establishing Liberty Loan booths and tents in prominent
places; scouring rural di tricts for pas ible bond buyers; serving in any capacity
in which the cout uniform and what it stand for would be impre ive to the
occa ion; making them elves generall y u eful.
Extreme care was taken by the Boy cout Organization to make each Boy
cout sale a real sale resulting from the Boy cout's personal efforts. For
example, there was a provision in the Boy cout l\Ianual i sued by the Trea ury
Department, providin g that a Scout selling bond to a corporation could not
qualify for an emblem under Plan One, unle s he appeared personally before
the Board of Directors of the corporation, and this board certified that the
' out's arguments were respon ible for the purchase.
V.. ithout counting the Victory Liberty Loan or the more recent sales of
'Nar avings Stamp , the combined results for Liberty Loan and \\ ar av ing
campaign for which exact fi ure are avai lable show a total of 4,036,141 sales
aggregatin S319,620,917.75 to the credit of Organized Boyhood a exemplified
by the Boy couts of America in helping to win the Great War.
FOUR YEARS IN THE FIGHT
• • The Wolllen of France ZZ
UNITED WAR WORK CAMPAIGN
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1918
WEALTH OF THE UNITED STATES
T
HE nited tates is the riche t nation in the world. A re ume of our
national resources is calcu lated to make u proud of our national achie ements and co nfid ent of the future, particularly a it relate to the Go ernment's ability to pay its obligations to bond hold r .
Including it outlying possessions and surfaces of inl and waterways
and lakes, the area of the United States cover 3,743,306 quare miles. The
known area of th e world is e timated to be 57 ,25 5,000 squ a re mile . Th erefore,
in area, the nited tates represents only 6.4 per cent of the area of the world.
Nearly 30 per cent of the wealth of the entire world is in the United tates.
This country produces more than 50 per cent of the orn supply of the world.
It produces 25 per cent of the wheat crop of the world. It produces 66.1 per
cent of the world's cotton crop. It pas e e 51.9 per cent of the world's
coal, 39.9 per cent of the world's petroleum, 55 per cent of the world's copper,
and 20 per cent of the world's iron. vVe pas ess 37 .1 per cent of the world's
railways, and produce 30 per cent of the world's manufacture .
Immediately following the war, the wealth of the country was e timated
at $250,000,000,000. In comparison, the wealth of the nited Kingdom, as
estimated at $93,000,000,000; France $67,000,000,000; Germ a ny $80,400,000,000; Italy $29,480,000,000; J apan $25,460,000,000; Rus ia $60,300,000,000;
Austria-Hungary $55,000,000,000.
Approximately 30 per cent of the world' s manufactures, it is e timated,
are produced in the United States. In 1914, when the last cen u of manufactures was taken in this country, the value of the ma nufactured products that
year was given as $24, 246,000,000.
During the year of the war, the United States wa called upon to feed and
clothe a large part of the world and it responded with the production of
food tuffs that was enormous.
The office of the Comptroller of the Currency places th e tota l re ource
of the banks of the nited States at $40,726,438,514.47, in it mos t recently
available report.
The Comptroller's report shows that the estim ated banking pow r of the
United tate , ince June, 1914, has increased from $24,340,000,000 to $39,082,800,000, a gain of $14,742,800,000, or more than 60 per c nt , in the four-year
period.
The pre ding four- y a r period from June, 1910, t Jun , 1914, sh w a gain
of only 15 .63 p r cent , or from $2 1,049,000,000 to $24,340,000,000.
nit d tate in th world' w a lth con t iThe tupendo u shar f th
nit d tat s i th mo t f av r d ountry
tutes a satisfy in g r a on why th
in the wo rld in whi h t !iv , a nd why n I am, wh n con id r d in hi r laf th world, i o frequ ntl r f rr d to a "Th
tion to the oth r ou ntri
Rich r ncle." H \\·ill h v paid hi war d bt whi l many other belliger nts
till a re trugglin g with th ir int re t char e .
173
THE LIBERTY BOND ITSELF
T
H E engraving and printing of the Liberty and Victory Loan bonds by
the Government Bureau of Engraving and Printing was the most stupendous task of its kind ever accomplished in the history of the world.
More than 100,000,000 bonds, or an average of one for every man,
woman and ch ild in the United States, were turned out by the Bureau from
shortly before the opening of the First Liberty Loan in 1917 to the close of the
Victory Liberty Loan in the spring of 1919.
For the first issue 6,060,500 bonds were printed; for the second, 17,363,000;
for the third, in excess of 25,000,000; for the fou rth, 38,427,000, and the printing
on the Victory Liberty Loan brought the t otal to more than 100,000,000.
Of course, many persons bought more than one bond, so this number must
not be confused with t he total number of subscribers.
Each of the bonds was from 9 to 9 ¾ inches long, accord ing to the issue,
and if they were formed into a great Liberty chain they would reach half
way around the world.
1\1 uch of the credit for the success of the prompt issuance of the Liberty
Bonds i due to J ames L. ·Wilmeth, Director of the Bureau. During the First
and Second Liberty Loan campaigns, due to the Bureau's unfamiliarity with
the tremendous assignments they had, there was delay in delivery. Many
persons did not receive their bonds for weeks or months after they bought them.
Shortly prior t o the opening of the Third Liberty Loan, however, Mr. Wilmeth
took charge of the Bureau and immediately insta lled new methods which
m ade possible delivery of bonds coincident with sales.
From the time the paper from which bonds were made was manufactured in
New E ngland until the finished bonds were turned in to the Treasury, a careful check was kept on every sheet of it. After the bonds were printed, each
individual bond was examined for a ny possible tiny flaw which might have
escaped notice on previous occasions. When this was done, the bonds
were packed in stacks of 1,000, numbered consecutively and delivery made
to the Treasury vaul ts.
The name of the form er Register, H ouston B. T eehee, ap pears on every
Liberty Bond and Victory note, a nd thereby hangs a tale. There never was
a more interesting man in the government serv ice than Mr. T eehee. He is
an India n, his fathe r having been seven-eighths Cherokee and his mother onehalf Cherokee. U ntil 1910 he was a ward of the Government, despite the fact
that he had held municipal and state office. He was made a citizen with
full rights that year, however, by the Secretary of the Interior. Mr. T eehee,
whose correct name, by the way, is "Di-hi-hi," was successively a farm hand,
clerk, merchant, alderman and mayor of T ahlequah, Okla., state legislator,
county attorney, nited States Probate Attorney, and R egister. H e inherited
his name of "Teehee" from his fath er, who had been so christened by
his Union Army comrades in the Civil War, who found difficulty in pronouncing "Di-hi-hi ."
174
PUBLICITY CAMPAIGNS
P
BLICITY in all of its phases reached it zenith in the GoYernm ent's
various fin a ncia l campa igns. And , of grea ter int re t to th e taxpaye r, it
reached this great height a t a minimum of co t.
Talent such a never before had been as em bled in a ny ad ver tising campa ign
was drawn together from th e far corners of the eart h to ma ke these res ul ts
possible, a nd th e wo rk of this talent echoed and re choed from pole to pole
until today v irtu a lly no part of the civ ilized wo rld is no t cognizant of the
wonders it wro ught.
It has been said that publicity mad e the public eye see, ils a r hear a nd
its mind know the war. There i much truth in th sta tem nt. And when,
throu gh publicity, the fin e, unselfish, pa trio tic spirit of America had bee n
aroused, the seed of determination to win the wa r pl a nted a nd st a rted growing,
the sales force stepped in and with m as ter ha nds, guided by the grea tes t
bu iness mind s of the country, reaped a n unparalleled ha rves t of golden co in.
Th e succe s of th e publi city wa du e in great pa rt to the splendid spiri t
of co-operation whi h perm eated the entire publi ity organization. T he d ire tor of each of lhe twelv di lrict worked enthu sias lically a nd ha rmonio u -ly
wilh the na tiona l headq ua rlers a nd with o ne a nother. \Vhenever a good
id ea was de ·eloped, whether in \Va hingto n or elsewh er ' , it was fl ashed aero s
th e coun t ry for lh e benefit of a lI.
Some of th e spec tacl es whi ch accompanied the great Lib rty Loan campaign in the la rger cities were both gorgeous and in piring.
N ola ble among these displays was the " Avenu e of th e Alli " in ew York
City during the F ourth Liberty Loa n, and th e "Victory \Vays " in ew York,
Chicago, Boston and Phi ladelphia during the Victory Loan campaio-n.
In all of the great spec tacul a r demons tration in beha lf of the loans,
captured German wa r ma teri el pl ayed a n importa nt pa rt.
hi pload a fte r
shipl oad of Germ a n g uns were imported as rapid ly a lh
a l ro u Am ri a n
oldi er captur d th m a nd durin g th e last two loan ca mpaig n special t rain ,
a ll heav ily load d with captured wa r m a teri el a nd samples of merican
ma leri I of warfare were opera ted, so th a t the wa r . piri t wa a rri d to t h
mo l r mo te secti ons of the country. E ach of the \\ a r Exhi bit Trains onsis l d of a b ut f ur fla t cars loaded down with wa r xhi bit a nd a Pullm a n
a r fill d with Liberty Loan orators. Soldiers in unif rm , r pres nling a ll of
the principal Iii , accompa ni d th e tra ins, and th t ta l mil age O\' r d by
th e e tra ins in lh F ourth Loa n approached 100,000.
J t is slima t d lh a t m re tha n 8,000,000 people a ll nd d t h rallie a nd insp l d lh e war xhibils.
1o t of the e w re ru ral r ide nt , who had bee n
hard to r ac h with Lh nthusia m of lh wa r. Ea h l r in mad four stop a
day in v illages, a nd in m a ny a. lh iz of the rowd - alt nd ing l h
rall i s
a pproxima l d Len tim
lh popul a tion of lhe ilia ,
A ul mobi le d rove
fo rty and fifty mil to a ll nd lh se xhibilion .
th r na ti na l pu bli ily f a lur . , ma ny of whi h rigin a tcd wit h Frank
R. v ilso n, the director of pub licity, included th se : ' endin g of a "flying
175
PAGE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-SIX
THE STORy
of the
LIBERTY LOANS
circus" of about sixty aeroplanes to over eighty cities to exhibitions of daring flying. The awarding of 85,000 German helmets to Liberty Bond salesmen and saleswomen for good selling records. Casting, from captured German cannon, of several hundred thousand medals which were awarded to Liberty Loa n workers. Bringing of a contingent of the French "Blue Devils,"
the F rench Foreign Legion, a Belgian detachment with dog teams, Italian Alpini and Bersaglieri and other military rep resentatives of allied countries to
t he United States for exh ibition purposes. Awarding of captured German
cannon to cities making the best records in Victory Liberty Loan campaign.
Bringin g of captured Germa n submarines to this country. Obtaining of
forei gn and domestic tanks to tour the country. Giving of band concerts by
Sousa's Great Lakes Naval Training Station and foreign band . Allow ing
300 cities winning special honors in loan campaigns to name and sponsor 300
hulls built by the nited States Emergency Fleet Corporation. Delivering
on set dates Liberty Loan sermons by 140,000 preachers.
The motion-picture activities of the Government during the campaigns
will a hvays rema in one of the origin al and unique advertising campaigns
of his tory. Early in the war, even before the Committee on Public Info rmation had been organ ized, a committee of th e motion-picture men was appointed to conduct relations with the Treasury Department. It consisted
of Adolph Zukor, Chairman; Marcus Loew, Walter W. Irwin, J. E. Brulatour and George K . Spoor.
General policies of Treasury Department cooperation were outlined by
this general committee. The great bulk of the work representing the motio npicture industry fell upon J ohn C. Flinn, Advertising Manager of the
F amous Players-Lasky Corporation. Mr. Flinn's keen knowledge of the entire motion-picture wo rld , together with his geniu s for accomplishment, made
him a m ost valued co llaborator in the great work of the Treasury Department
propagandists.
One of the extremely uniqu e id eas developed was that of getting the motionpicture stars to produce short films devoted to stimul ating the sale of bonds.
This idea ·was executed by th e big motion-picture committee of producers.
It requ ired nearly 5,000 prints of these 35 subj ects to meet the dema nd of
the exh ibitor . Th e stars who participated in this program included
\Villi am S. Hart, Mae Murray, Harold Lockwood, Emily Stevens, Mary
Pickford, Dou glas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Ed ith Storey, M me.
Naz imova, Lillian G ish, Dustin Farnum, William Farnum, Cha rles R ay,
Enid Bennett, Dorothy Dalton , Ses ue Hayakawa, \i\Tallace R eid, "Fatty"
Arbuckle, Alice Brady, Elsie Ferguson Enrico Caruso, Billie Burke, ·W illiam
Faversham, Mae Marsh, Pauline Frederick, Mabel ormand, l\ Iadge K ennedy, Dorothy Phillips, Norma Talmad ge, Lillia n \i\ alker, Clara Kimball
You ng, W illiam Duncan, Earle Williams, Alice J oyce, Harry T. forey, Corrine
Griffith , G ladys Leslie, John Barrymore, George Beban, 1r. and l\Irs. Sidney
Drew, 'lary l\IacLaren, l\Ionroe Salisbury, H arry arey, Bessie Lo\'e, J ac k
Sherri ll , Ethel Barrymore, Fred tone, George M. Cohan, Marguerite lark,
Back our Y.W.C.A.
~ · · s over there ~
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2nd LJB[R,JY LOAN
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THE STORY of the LIBERTY LOANS
PAGE
·
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY -FIVE
Pea rl\\ hite, Frank K eenan, Fannie \ ard, Ruth Rola nd , Harold Lloyd, Bebe
Daniels, and Baby 1arie Osborne.
Exceed ing perhaps , ·en the ta r series in originality was the project to
m rican sold iers at the front.
dramatize the be t deeds of the
From General P rsh ing ,ms procured a compi lation of the hundred be t
deeds of American h roism at the front; a gr at quantity of actual war
materiel, enemy a nd All y, wa assembl ed at Camp Dix, . J., and und r the
d ire tion of Ir. Fred H awley there were staged some of the battle scenes
that were la ter hown to the American people. In each one of these stories
some incliYidual rep ated in front of the camera one of the great deeds of
America n heroism.
In the Victory Liberty Loa n campaign alone, the Treasury Department
used more tha n 2,000,000 fee t of film. Th se prints, manufactured at actual
cost , were furni h d fr e of charge to the theatres and were exh ibited as part
of their regular programs.
It fell to R. \\ . Erner n, Chief of the Division of Publication, to purchase
all lithograph ic and printed matter distri buted nationally, and hi purchases of
li t hography neYer have been exceeded in volu me by a ny man.
Mr. R ieg ha ndl ed th e for ign-language press most capably a nd also personally addressed ma ny mee tings of the foreign born. Mr. Iinor su pplied
d itoria l matt r to the country press. F. N. arr had cha rge of the nationa l
di tribution of po L rs a nd o ther ad ve rtisin g m ate ri a l.
The au thor \\'as assistant director throu ghout a ll loans save the fir t,
pay ing particu lar a ttention to th e dail y newspaper publi ity.
DATA ON LOANS
IR T Loa n-Offered $2,000,000,000; subscribed $3 035,226,850; ac pted
$2,000,000,000. Number of subscribers 4,000,000. Denomination , bond
with co upons attached 50, $100, $500 a nd 1,000; r gi t rd b nd -, $100,
500, $1,000, , 5,000, $10,000, $50,000 a nd $100,000. Date f maturity, Ju ne 15,
1947 ; redeemable on or aft r June 15, 1932, on thr month 'publ i ·h d n ti e,
in whole or in part, at par and accrued interest, on a ny int r t day. Int rest,
thr a nd one-half per nt, payable June 15 and D c mb r 15 ; non-taxab l '.
Loan opened offi ia lly l ay 14, losed Jun e 15, 1917.
pted
ond Loa n- Off r d $3,000,000,000; ub crib d $4,6 17,5 32,300; a
urnb r f sub ribers 9,400,000. D nominations, oupon
$3,807,89 1,900.
and r gist r cl bonds $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000 a nd $ 10,0 0. P egisterecl,
$50,000 and $100,000. J at f maturity, N v mb r 15, 19'±-2; re lccmabl n
or after rovemb r 15, 1927, in who! or in part, at par and a - rue I inter ·s t,
n any in teres t day, up n ix m nth ' notic by th e - r Lary of th Trca ur '
in any way h may pr ribe. In t r t, four p r nt; I ayabl To,·ember 15
and l\ Iay 15. Ex mpt u1 t a prin ip 1 f 5,000 , n I auo,· lh <1 Lamount x mpt
both as lo I rin ipa l nd interest from a ll taxali n, I cal, slate an<l national,
F
PAGE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-SIX
THE STORy
of the
LIBERTY LOANS
except esta te or inheritance taxes, surtaxes, excess profits and war profits
taxes. (See note.) Loan opened officially October 1, closed October 28, 1917.
Third Loan-Offered $3,000,000,000; subscribed and accepted $4,176,516,850. Number of subscribers, 18,308,325. Denominations, coupon and registered bonds, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000; registered, $50,000 and
$100,000. Date of maturity, September 15, 1928; redeemable date of maturity.
Interest, four and one-quarter per cent, payable March 15 and September 15.
Exempt same as Second Liberty Loan Bonds. Loan opened officially April 6,
closed May 4, 1918. (See note.)
F ourth Loan-Offered $6,000,000,000; subscribed and accepted $6,992 ,927 ,100. Number of subscribers 22,777,680. Denominations, coupon and
regi tered bonds, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 and registered bonds
$50,000 and 100,000. Date of ma turity, October 15, 1938. R edeemable a t
par and accru ed interest at pleasure of government on and a fter October 15,
1933. Interest, four and one-quarter per cent, payable April 15 a nd October 15 .
Bonds to an aggregate of $5,000 principal are exempt from all taxes, state
and national, except inherita nce taxes. (See note. ) Loa n officially opened
September 2~ and clo ed October 19, 191 8.
Fifth Loan- Offered $4, 500,000,000; subscribed $5,249,908,300; a cepted
$4,500,000,000. Number of subscribers 11 ,803 ,895 . Den minations, bearer
notes $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000, and registered $50, $100,
$500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, $50,000, and $100,000. Date of maturity,
May 20, 1923; redeemable on June 15 or D ecember 15, 1922, on four months'
notice, in whole or in pa rt, at par a nd accrued interes t. Interest, three
and three-quarters per cent a nd four a nd three-qua rters per cent, accordina
to issue. The three and three-q uarters per ce nt notes a re exempt from all
taxation, except estate and inh erita nce taxes ; four and three-quarter p r cent
notes are exempt from all taxes except es tate and inh eritan ce taxes, surtaxes,
excess profit and war profits taxes. Notes of either series may be converted
into notes of the oth r series up to four months and one week prior to r demption of note . Loan officially op ned April 21, 1919, and closed May 10, 1919.
NoTE.-The foregoing totals a re t a ken from the officia l reports o f th e Loans a nd urrency Divisio n of th e
Treasury De partment. In so me insta nces they vary s li ghtl y from figures reported by st a t es a nd dis trict s
to t he war Loan Orga nization at t he close of each loa n.
In addition to the foregoing exe mption s, until t he expiration of two years a fter the d a te of the t ermination of the wa r between the nited Sta tes a nd the Im perial Germa n overnme nt, a s fi xed by procla ma tion
of the President.
( 1) The in terest on a n amo unt of bonds of the r, ur th Libert y Loan the principa l o f whi h does not
exceed $30,000, owned by a ny indivi d ua l, pa rtn er hip, associa tion, o r corpora tion , shJ ll be exempt from
grad ua ted a dditional in come taxes, commo nl y known as s urta xe , a nd excess profits a nd wa r profi ts t a xes,
now or herea fter imposed by th e nited ta t es, upon t he in :ome or profits of individua ls, pa rtn ers hips,
associa tions, or cor pora tions.
(2) The interest received a fter J a nua r y 1, 1918, on a n a mount of bo nds of th e First Li bert y Loa n onverted, d a ted either ove mber 15, 19 17, or May 9, 19 18; the econd Li berty Loa n, con verted, a nd un conve rted, a nd th e Third Libert y Loa n, th e prin ipa l of which does not xceed S.JcS,000 in the a ggrega te, own d
by a n y ind ividu a l, pa rt nership, associa tion, or orpo ra tion, sha ll be exe mpt from s uch ta x s ; pro vid ed ,
how ver, th a t no own er of s uch bo nds sha ll be ntitled to such exem1 lion in respect to t he interest on a n
a ggrega t e prin cipa l mo unt of such bonds exce din g o ne a nd one- ha lf times th e prin cipa l a mount of bo nds
of the Fourth Libert y Loa n origina ll y subsc ribed for by s uch owner a nd st ill own ed b y him at t he <l a t of
his ta x return.
An y of th ese bonds whi ch ha ve bee n own ed b y a ny p rson cont inuously for a t least six mo nth s pr ior to
th da te of h is d ea th, a nd which upon s uch d a t e constitute part of hi s esta te, sha ll, under rules a nd regu l .
iva ble b y th e United Sta t es a t pa r a nd a c ru ed
tion s prescri bed by th e Secret a ry of th e Treasury , be r
interest in payment of a ny est a t e or inherita nce t axes imposed by th e nited Sta tes, under or by v irtue of
any present or futur e law, upon such estate or the inh erita nce thereof.
,.
LE5T \VE fORGEr
,
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
This book is due on ·the date indicated below, or at the
expira tion of a d efini t e period after t he date of borrowing, as
provid ed by th e library rules or by special arrangement wi t h
t he L ibrarian in charge.
D AT E BORROWED
DATE DUE
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DATE BORROWED
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