New Mexico 3,545 1,469,276 72,660 Vermont 749 287,791 52,079 Other States 341,875 157,319,172 10,975,756 --------- -------------- ------------ Total 3,838,612 $1,769,142,175 $170,514,039 [3] Reports issued biennially; figures of 1916 used. [4] Decrease. [Illustration: A Poster Used During the Fourth Liberty Loan Campaign] THE THRIFT HABIT Such was the success of the Liberty Loan campaign in appealing to all classes of private investors, that it became an interesting speculation whether the popular thrift habit would survive war conditions. It was the general belief in financial centers that the habit of saving had been promoted. Perhaps no better illustration of the thrift habit could be presented than returns made by the savings banks of Boston in October, 1918. At that date these banks had $321,000,000 against $319,000,000 at the same date in 1917, the previous banner total for the end of a banking year. It was estimated by Mr. Ingalls Kimball, the New York _Times_ annalist, that twenty million separate individuals were saving by the method of subscribing to the Liberty Loans, and, as more than $800,000,000 worth of War Saving stamps had been sold, it was probable that nearly half the population of the country was saving money in one of these new ways. As to the method of continuing to encourage thrift, Mr. Kimball pointed out the value of the experience derived from the Liberty Bond Campaign: "The thrift machine set up by the Treasury was as follows: 1. small unit government bonds; 2. non-interest-bearing Thrift Stamps; 3. War Savings Stamps--a short-term obligation paying interest at maturity. "This was the mechanism. What was the power that actuated the machine to such wonderful effect? 1. salesmanship, including every modern device of advertising; 2. distribution: (a) through retail stores; (b) through employers, by partial payments (usually pay-roll deduction). "From these simple elements was built up a campaign that induced the people to save in a new and unaccustomed way at least twenty times as much as they had ever before saved in the same time. None of the elements was unimportant, but salesmanship, probably, contributed most. The selling campaigns of the Liberty Loans and War Savings Stamps were carried on by the largest and most effective selling organization ever put together, under the direction of the ablest men in the United States, and with an energy and devotion that were unimaginable. This selling force was irresistible. Everybody bought because everybody was asked, or begged, or told, to buy. Under the same stimulus almost anything would have sold. "SAVING AT THE SOURCE"