Their spirit was all the more notable because of the fact that the American people have never been accustomed to purchase government bonds and have never sought, in any considerable number, bond investments of any kind. Each bond sale, with cumulative energy and enthusiasm that found their climax in the fourth, was made the medium of a great informative and patriotic campaign that sought to bring the meaning of the war, the aims and ideals of America and the imperative necessity of the winning of the conflict as soon as possible straight home to the heart of every American. Hundreds of thousands of workers talked and sang to assemblages and to crowds on the streets, carried on house to house canvasses, received contributions at booths in hotels, banks, public places of every sort. Cities and towns were gay with posters, banners and parades and the flags of America and the Allies floated from poles and house-tops and windows. Soldiers returning from the front told the American people in hundreds of addresses why their money was needed for the men on the fighting lines. Trophies of war, captured from the enemy, taken over the country everywhere aroused enthusiasm. Artists gave their talent and skill in the making of posters that had nation-wide display. Men and women of prominence organized meetings and made addresses, and societies, newspapers and press associations aided in many ways. During the third and fourth campaigns it is estimated that not less than 2,000,000 men and women devoted themselves to helping the sale of the bonds.