USA > Indiana > The war purse of Indiana; the five liberty loans and war savings and thrift campaigns in Indiana during the world war > Part 16
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23. Indianapolis News, April 12, 1919.
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THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
first in the state to subscribe its full quota ($356,000) for the Loan-a full week before the drive actually opened. The bonds were all taken by the nine banks of the county.24
On April 16th a news dispatch from Valparaiso, Porter County, said that Dr. D. D. Rose, seventy-eight years old, who offered his services to the Government in the war with Ger- many and was assigned to the commissary department at Port Hudson, La., was the first Porter County resident to sub- scribe to the Loan. He had sent a check for $1,000 of the bonds to Leslie Loomis, city chairman of the drive, according to the dispatch.25
In a speech at Muncie on April 16th, Mr. Wade voiced the sentiment that was guiding the final Loan campaign when he said :
"Anyone-I don't care who he is-who says he is not going to turn a hand for the Victory Liberty Loan and gives ex- travagance on the part of the government as his excuse for not helping, is yellow to the core-whether he is a democrat or a republican. You will hear some of them say that the war is over, but it is not over for all of us. It is not over for the wounded boys, who are back with us, with the victory won at the cost of their own bodies; it is not over for the wife who is called on to lead her blind husband about; it is not over for the boys who are still over there, nor for their fathers, mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts.
"We hear much about extravagance in the conduct of the war, and it comes from members of both political parties. But we won the war, didn't we? And won it in a hurry, didn't we? If there has been extravagance, it has been the fault of the American people, which means you and me, and it is not for us to quit on that account, with the job unfinished.
"It was the American people that demanded through the press of the nation that the war be speeded to the limit, and it cost a great deal of money to put on that speed, but it brought the war to an early close. As a matter of fact, if you figure it out, you will find that the government saved from
24. The final records of the Victory Loan show that Steuben County was given credit in state Loan headquarters for being the first "under the wire" in the state and it is highly probable that it also was the first county in the Seventh Federal Reserve District, if not in the entire country, to subscribe its quota. Records are not available to show whether the county actually had its application for the full quota in the Federal Reserve Bank at Chicago ahead of other counties, but the final report shows that at the close of the Loan It had subscribed for 104 per cent. of its quota.
25. Indianapolis News, April 16, 1919.
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INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS
twenty-five billion to fifty billion by its immense and speedy production of war necessities. The government should not be penalized for winning the war in a hurry."26
On April 17, dispatches from several Indiana counties told of subscriptions already in prospect for the coming Loan of substantial amounts. It was apparent that in many counties, regardless of the oft-repeated warnings of the Federal Re- serve Banks against bank underwriting, there was a disposi- tion on the part of banks and other financial interests to guarantee the county quotas. The theory was that the bonds would be absorbed later by individual investors. Undoubt- edly also the feeling had developed at that time that the Victory notes represented investments of unusual attractive- ness.
A statement issued from Loan headquarters said that infor- mation received indicated "that in many counties more than enough subscriptions to take care of their quotas have been pledged. This condition is attributed by Mr. Wade to the attractive investment offered by the liberal terms of the Loan from a purely business standpoint." 27
A dispatch of the same day from Huntington, said the banks of Huntington County, saturated to more than the total Victory loan quota by purchases of anticipatory certificates of indebtedness, had taken over the county's quota in Victory loan bonds. The banks announced that they would offer the bonds for sale, but that they were not anxious enough to sell them to make any wide campaign, either of personal solicita- tion or extensive advertising. Those that were not sold were to be held for future investments.
A news item from Hammond, Indiana, published in Indian- apolis newspapers of April 18, told a graphic story of the sentiment in some communities of the state as follows:
"Hammond, Ind., April 18 .- Hurry and send us our pub- licity supplies and cards," telegraphed A. W. Stommell, a Dyer banker, to the federal Loan organization, early this week.
26. For fear the reader may be led to believe that the speech quoted may have emanated from a partisan source, it is desired to call attention to the fact that Mr. Wade's normal political tendencies were with the Republicans, while the national ad- ministration-to which he refers in the speech-was of Democratic complexion from top to bottom. This note is not made to attract attention to any partisan aspect of the war, but is made for the paramount purpose of showing how partisanship often was lost entirely in the struggles to keep Indiana and America at top war speed.
27. Indianapolis News, April 18, 1919.
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THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
"Mr. Stommell is chairman of the Dyer organization. There are 300 people in the town. Last night he sent another tele- gram as follows:
"'You needn't send those supplies. Dyer went over the top with its allotment of $50,000 tonight. Keep your old sup- plies.'"
From Anderson, Ind., on the same day, came dispatches that volunteer subscriptions, totaling $335,000, from business men and business concerns, already had been listed there, and that one-half million dollars in such pledges was expected be- fore the opening of the drive April 21st. The next day Ander- son reported the total had climbed to $600,000.
Governor Goodrich, on April 18, issued a statement in which he urged the people of Indiana to subscribe to the Victory loan in full measure.
"Our boys in khaki finished the German army in France, but the job is not quite complete so far as the nation is con- cerned. There remains one more task for the folk back home, the task of putting over the Fifth and Victory loan to a suc- cessful conclusion."28
The women were no less active than the men in creating an interest on the part of all to make short work of the final financial drive. One of the special features adopted by the state woman's organization, under the direction of Mrs. Mc- Culloch, was that of organizing a foreign language division, of which Mrs. Isaac Born of Indianapolis was chairman. Many of the women county chairmen throughout the state appointed special chairmen to direct this phase of the propa- ganda work among the foreign population in Indiana coun- ties.
On April 19th, Mrs. McCulloch called upon the women of the state once more to do their bit.
"Women of Indiana, it is now your proud privilege to take up the burdens which your fighting sons, brothers, husbands and sweethearts may now honorably lay down. If the war had continued, young men would still be fighting. They would not stop until the job was finished. But on you-and not on them-falls the responsibility of the last great drive-the Vic- tory Liberty Loan-and you will see it through, as they fought to the end in the Argonne, at Chateau Thierry, at the Marne and St. Mihiel."29
28. Ibid.
29. Indianapolis Star, April 20, 1919.
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INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS
A great mass meeting was held in Indianapolis on the night of April 19th addressed by Major General Leonard Wood. In urging the importance of an early oversubscription of the last Loan General Wood said:
"This is the last of the big loans. It is a debt of honor. It is the money that has been spent-most of it-to win the war, and some of it will be spent to get the men home."30
The Sunday edition of several Indiana newspapers on April 20th31 announced that five of the sixty-eight northern counties had reported oversubscriptions of their quotas twenty-four hours in advance of the opening of the campaign. These counties were : Steuben, Morgan, Union, Ripley,32 and Wells. Such a start was unprecedented in the Loan campaigns. It was reported in the same article that "without the aid of a single subscription from a banking institution, the farmers and residents of Green Township, in Wayne County, have oversubscribed their quota by 10 per cent."33
On Monday morning, April 21st, Indiana's final Loan drive started in earnest. Numerous reports were received from different sections of the state, indicating that oversubscrip- tion would be the result of the first day's work. Special stor- ies announcing acts of personal sacrifice on the part of numer- ous persons were capitalized by Liberty Loan leaders in urg- ing a state-wide response to the numerous appeals that were being made. One story which was used to good advantage was that of an ex-service man from Jackson County, Clyde Foster, who had returned from the battle front in France, wounded. He limped into a local bank and made application for $200 of Victory bonds. Foster had been wounded in the head by flying shrapnel and a machine gun bullet had struck his foot. His brother was then in a French hospital, recover- ing from wounds received in the fighting in the Argonne for- est.34
Success In First Day's Drive
The result of the first day's drive was the cause of more genuine satisfaction on the part of the Liberty Loan workers
30. Ibid. April 20, 1919.
31. Indianapolis Star, Muncie Star, Terre Haute Star, Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, and South Bend News-Times.
32. Ripley County was credited with being the eleventh county "over" in the final reports submitted to state headquarters.
33. Indianapolis Star, April 20, 1919.
34. Indianapolis News, April 21, 1919.
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THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
than the initial day's work of any of the preceding drives of the war period. Telegrams and letters continued to arrive throughout the entire day of Monday, April 21st, confirming the success of the first day's work.35
The Indianapolis Star of April 22, summed up the results of the first day's campaign throughout the state. It reported that eleven of the sixty-eight northern counties, and two of the twenty-four southern counties had reported oversubscrip- tions the first day. Switzerland and Jackson counties in the southern tier, and Bartholomew, Brown, Clinton, Fayette, Henry, Huntington, Morgan, Ripley, Steuben, Union and Wells counties in the northern tier were "over." The eleven northern counties just mentioned had subscribed more than six and one-half millions of the total state quota.
Bartholomew County and Switzerland County were vying for the honor of being the first counties in the country to take their quotas without the aid of the banks.36 Mr. Wade wired War Loan Director Franklin that "under a voluntary campaign the citizens of Bartholomew County and Columbus, Indiana, subscribed their quota, $675,000 without soliciting a single subscription and without the banks underwriting a single bond," and that "Indiana claims the first county actu- ally over in the nation." He concluded the telegram by say- ing that "many other Hoosier counties are over the top."37
35.
Columbus, Indiana, April 21, 1919.
"Yesterday was conscience day in Bartholomew County for the Victory loan with the polling places open all over the county. The people went there and to the banks and voluntarily subscribed Bartholomew County's quota in one day. The quota was sub- scribed without the solicitation of a dollar and without the banks underwriting a single bond. How's that ?
William G. Irwin, County Chairman."
Connersville, Ind., April 21, 1919.
"Under the slogan 'Over the Top Before Sunrise' Fayette County completed its Victory loan quota before sunrise this morning. At an enthusiastic meeting over $300,000 was subscribed by individuals and corporations, when banks of the county stepped in and demanded the balance to hold for customers, who had previously asked for allotments. Large oversubscription sure.
Arthur Dixon, Fayette County Chairman."
Newcastle, Ind., April 21, 1919.
"Henry County had sold her quota of $862,000 of Victory Bonds before the flag fell this morning. Every dollar's worth was bought voluntarily and not a single solicitation was made in the county. The largest single subscription yet reported in any Loan was made by Mrs. Ella Smith, of Franklin Township, who subscribed for $27,000 of Victory Bonds. We are going back to our regular jobs.
George A. Elliott, Henry County Chairman."
36. Steuben County also claimed first honor.
37. Fifth Liberty Loan Files. Telegram dated April 21, 1919.
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INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS
In reply Mr. Franklin wired congratulations to Mr. Wade and especially for the record made by Bartholomew County. He did not say, however, whether he recognized the claim of this or any other Indiana county as being the first in the country to oversubscribe its quota. In this connection men- tion should be made of a similar claim on the part of Jackson County, voiced by L. C. Griffitts, chairman of the Jackson County Victory loan committee. He claimed the distinction of piloting the first county "over" in Indiana, and perhaps the nation. He reported that 1,800 subscribers had taken the county's quota without any bank underwriting, and that the entire amount had been subscribed by eight o'clock Monday morning, April 21st.38
The outstanding features of the first day of the Victory loan campaign in Indiana, were summed up, in the Star's article, as follows :
"1. More counties went over the top than was the case on the first day in any of the four preceding drives.
"2. While the banks in nearly every locality showed a strong disposition to take the quotas. . . people are making stronger demands for the Victory bonds than for any of the prior issues.
"3. Reports showed that the farmers regard the Victory bonds as a high grade investment and are buying more heavily than was anticipated.
"4. To the surprise of many, laborers in nearly all lines of industry are showing that merely because the war is over they do not feel that their obligations to buy bonds has ceased. The general indications are that the factory subscriptions will be more than satisfactory.
"5. In practically every community the Victory loan organ- izations are working with splendid effect, showing as much or more eagerness than they did in the preceding drives.
"6. More than half of the counties are expected to show their quotas subscribed tonight, or early Wednesday.
"7. While banks are said to be 'underwriting' the bonds, they are merely taking them for their customers and are dis- tributing them rapidly, the Victory loan and United States Treasury officials insisting on that course.
"8. The sale thus far indicates that the rank and file of the people have an abundance of patriotism as well as money
38. Indianapolis Star, April 22, 1919.
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THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
and that they will absorb Indiana's quota of Victory bonds more promptly than the other issues were taken."39
Mr. Wade said, at the close of the first day, that "we may have two or three slow counties."
The second and third days' reports, as had been expected, showed a slackening of the tremendous efforts of the first day of the campaign. On April 23d Rear-Admiral William S. Sims, who had commanded the American Navy in European waters during the war, and Secretary of the Treasury Carter Glass, appeared in Indianapolis in behalf of the Loan cam- paign. Secretary Glass pointed out that the honor of the United States hinged on the success of the Victory loan. He emphasized the fact that debts had been contracted, large ex- penditures of money were inevitable, and that the honor of the country was at stake in meeting and discharging these war time obligations.
In the twenty-four southern counties the same early deter- mination was noted on the part of the workers to make the Victory loan drive the success that had marked the four pre- ceding Liberty Loan campaigns. At the close of the third day the twenty-four southern counties had subscribed sixty-five per cent. of their total quota.4ยบ It was a source of much de- light to Mr. Sonntag and his workers to be able to report on the night of April 25th the success that had marked the first four days of their work. Evansville was reported as the first large city in the state to meet its quota in the Victory loan campaign. Its quota had been subscribed long before other cities of equal size were within sight of their goal.
On April 26th, thirty-one of the ninety-two counties in In- diana had subscribed their quota. Chairman Wade pointed out that outside of Marion County-where approximately one- third of the quota had been subscribed-the northern counties of the state had subscribed practically one-half their quota in the first week of the campaign.
Allen, Boone, and some of the other counties did not start the campaign until the second week of the drive, April 28th. In a report received from Boone County at the close of its first day's work, two-thirds of its entire quota of $697,000 had been subscribed. At the close of its second day's work, Allen County had reported that a total of $2,000,000 had been
39. Ibid.
40. Telegram sent by Mr. Sonntag from St. Louis headquarters to his Evansville workers, April 25, 1919, Fifth Liberty Loan Files.
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INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS
subscribed on that day alone. On the same day, April 29th, Grant and Madison counties reported that they had exceeded their quotas, and a few hours later, Martin County, the twelfth county of the southern group, reported that it had gone "over."
Marion County's campaign was proceeding slowly. Deter- mined efforts on the part of the committee in charge of the drive in the capital city were put forth during the last week of April, with the view of having Marion County in the "white" list before the Welcome Home Day exercises of May 7th.41
The Homecoming of the Indiana unit of the Rainbow Di- vision during the second and third weeks of the drive, proved to be a good advertising medium for the Liberty Loan work- ers. The liner Leviathan landed the Hoosier Rainbow boys on American soil late in the evening of April 25th. This fight- ing unit consisted of approximately 1,800 Indiana soldiers, the only completely Hoosier regiment that fought on foreign soil.
On April 29th Governor Goodrich issued an appeal to the state, just after his return from New York, where he had welcomed the Indiana men of the Rainbow Division, urging the importance of oversubscribing the Victory loan quickly, and of being ready with a clear record when the boys re- turned. "Indiana has not faltered once since the war began," he said, in announcing that he had increased his personal sub- scription to the Loan. "Let us not fail now but face the boys next week with a clear record of things accomplished. If, when the Welcome Home Day comes, Indiana has not com- pleted its quota of the Victory loan, such failure on our part will sound louder than all our cheers. It will rise high above our shouts of welcome to Indiana heroes, who have done so much to maintain the honor of the state and the glory of the nation."42
41. A remarkable record of patriotism on the part of the old soldiers housed in the National Military Home at Marion, Indiana, was reported on April 28th. Some 1,600 veterans of the Civil War were in this institution at that time, and in every Liberty Loan they had subscribed liberally. On April 28, 1919, a message was received in the office of the state headquarters announcing that again the old veterans had oversub- scribed their allotment in the final drive. The dispatch went on to point out that the bonds which many of these veterans had purchased would not mature during their life- time. Indianapolis News, April 28, 1919.
42. Indianapolis News, April 29, 1919.
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THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
Lagging Counties Urged to Speed Up
On May 1, Mr. Wade sent the following telegram to coun- ties that had not completed their subscriptions :
"The Rainbow Division and other Indiana soldiers will be welcomed home the first of next week. These men finished their task. Let us finish ours before we celebrate with them. The least your county can do is to take its quota of bonds, otherwise the state war record is not clean."43
There appears to have been something of a slump on May 1st, when it was noticed that the total subscription for the northern sixty-eight counties had exceeded only a little more than fifty millions. Marion County had not yet topped ten millions, and Vigo County, which during the last campaign caused the state committee, as well as the local Liberty Loan committee in that county, considerable worry, continued to lag. Newton and Parke counties, however, did their best to relieve conditions by reporting oversubscriptions on that day, the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth of the northern tier, respect- ively, to reach their goals.
At a meeting of representative business men with the Ma- rion County executive committee on May 2d, it was decided that Marion County's Victory loan campaign should close Tuesday, May 6th, the day before Welcome Home Day, whether the record was good or bad. Fred Hoke, chairman of the executive committee, announced that the banks would not be called on at the last moment to underwrite any lack of sales to fill the county's quota. The northern counties generally started a drive on that day to sell twenty-five mil- lions in bonds before Welcome Home Day.
The task was too big for the northern counties as a whole, although they went to within less than ten million dollars of their total quota before Welcome Home Day, May 7th. Marion County, through a pledge of three-quarters of a million dol- lars, given by the Liberty Loan workers themselves, and after- ward sold, went "white" on the Loan map in time to welcome the One Hundred and Fiftieth Field Artillery Regiment, and the other Hoosier heroes, who made Welcome Home Day the climax of the post-war celebration in Indiana.
Dearborn, Franklin, Jasper and Randolph announced over- subscriptions May 3d to state Loan headquarters, and Lake County, according to newspaper dispatches, also exceeded its
43. Files Fifth Liberty Loan, telegram dated May 1, 1919.
-
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INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS
quota that day. Many other counties neared their goal that same day. Rush County was the next to go over, closely fol- lowed by Boone, the thirty-third in the northern tier. On May 6th, the day preceding the return of Indiana's fighting men, Cass, Dekalb, Hancock, Johnson, Montgomery, Porter, Put- nam and Wayne counties went "white" on the Loan map. Forty-one of the sixty-eight northern counties had thus com- pleted their last Loan task before the hour when Indiana's heroes marched under the Victory Arch in the capital city. The official totals for the close of business May 6th in the northern counties showed practically seventy millions of dol- lars subscribed on a quota of approximately $81,562,500. Ma- rion County actually had raised more than a million dollars a day for the sixteen days of the campaign prior to May 7th. The county officially was listed as the forty-third county in the northern tier to exceed its quota.
Vigo County was more than three million dollars short of its quota of slightly more than four million dollars on May 7th. In fact all of the large population centers of the state still caused the Loan executives considerable worry. Allen, Delaware, St. Joseph, Tippecanoe and Vigo were still "black" at the close of the day on May 7th. The following day, Pike and Washington counties of the southern group met their quo- tas. Mr. Sonntag gave out a statement at Evansville (printed in Indianapolis Star, May 9th) announcing that the twenty- four southern counties were within three per cent. of their goal.
On May 9th, with only two days remaining to complete the drive, the lagging counties of the state began to tumble over each other in an effort to report oversubscriptions to Loan headquarters. Allen, Laporte, St. Joseph and Shelby counties reported the completion of their allotments on the afternoon of that day. By noon of May 9th, the southern counties as a whole had oversubscribed their total quota of $13,891,700 according to a telegram received from Mr. Sonntag, who was in the headquarters office in St. Louis.
Forty-eight of the sixty-eight counties in the northern dis- trict had reached their quotas when the drive opened on the last day, May 10, 1919. Adams, Carroll, Hamilton, Jay, Mar- shall, Miami and Vigo," were still behind.
44. Vigo County was the source of great worry to the state Liberty Loan workers during the Victory loan drive. Loan executives made many trips to the county and at one time held a meeting with the bankers in Terre Haute which was attended by
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THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
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