Harper's Pictorial Library of the World War, Volume XII : $b The Great Results of the War
History
Harper's Pictorial Library of the World War, Volume XII : $b The Great Results of the War
League of Nations; Treaty of Versailles (1919 June 28); World War, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Economic aspects; World War, 1914-1918 -- Finance
Some curious facts were brought out in the effort of the Liberty
Campaign propaganda to reach the individual investor. In the large
cities the organization was remarkably successful. In the smaller
communities it was a greater difficulty. In a suburb or a small town
everybody knows everybody else and the Liberty Loan Committee had hard
work in getting subscribers. Mr. A. W. Atwood of Princeton thinks that
the occupational and vocational classification of possible investors was
not tried. Widows and maiden ladies who had inherited $50,000 or $75,000
were not reached. Some of them who were patriotic came forward of their
own accord. The little town of Kircunkson in New York State exceeded its
quota many times and there was an item in the papers about it. The
success of the Liberty Loan in that town was due to the fact that it
contained a large sanitarium patronized by millionaires. Yet there were
no banks in the town and if their banking resources were used as a basis
their quota would have been very small indeed.
As to the assignment of quotas Mr. Atwood makes the point that it was
sometimes based on population, sometimes based on the amount of bank
resources. He thought that in small places it would be better to post up
a list of those who had subscribed and he even thought that if the
country made the effort it could ultimately raise a loan of
$100,000,000,000, his reason being the following:
"This country is approaching, as England has long ago, the
position of being a possessor of great accumulated wealth. One
broker after another is really nothing but a family investment
agent. That is what it amounts to. There are railroad magnates,
bankers, steel kings, copper kings and so on indefinitely.
Hundreds of firms in the New York Stock Exchange are nothing
but channels for the investment of accumulated wealth and I do
not think we realize how much there is of that in this
country."
LIBERTY LOANS AND THRIFT
One of the best methods of testing the influence of Liberty Loan
activities on the thrift of the country is used by _Bradstreet's_ in its
examination of the annual report of the United States League of Building
and Loan Associations. These Associations, be it remembered, are not
patronized by capitalists but almost wholly by wage earners. During the
past fifteen years the membership of building and loan associations has
increased 150 percent. and since the war broke in 1914, the number of
members has extended 52 percent. The latest report shows a gain in
assets of 30 percent. over the amount indicated in 1914. The following
tables taken from _Bradstreet's_ give detailed items of the financial
situation of these important organizations:
The following table gives membership and total assets of building and
loan associations for a fifteen-year period:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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