USA > Indiana > The war purse of Indiana; the five liberty loans and war savings and thrift campaigns in Indiana during the world war > Part 3
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During the First loan many large business institutions pur- chased bonds in the names of their employes allowing the em- ployes to pay for the bonds out of their weekly or monthly earnings. This method of distribution eventually resulted in selling many millions of dollars' worth of bonds in Indiana. The various methods of buying bonds on a partial payment plan that developed during the First campaign in Indiana, continued throughout the entire period of the war, and later became an established feature of security-selling programs.
A large manufacturing organization in Indianapolis paid all employes who subscribed to the Loan, an additional 11/2 per cent. interest on the First loan bonds, bringing the total in- terest up to five per cent. Other companies throughout the state for a time followed this example and many planned par- tial payment schemes, free of interest, for their employes. It is known that large numbers of bonds were sold in the state through the stimulation given by such plans.16
One of the most encouraging features of the First liberty loan drive was the support given in counties in Indiana that were peopled largely by Germans. Dispatches received at State Headquarters during the first two weeks of the cam- paign, showed that German communities almost everywhere were taking bonds in large amounts. From Dubois County in the Eighth Federal Reserve District,-a county in which the German element largely dominates, a report was received on May 26, announcing that $150,000 worth of bonds had already been sold. John Hillenbrand of Batesville, Chairman of Ripley County, inhabited largely by Germans, reported on the same date that his county would greatly exceed its allot- ment.17
15. Leaflet, Miscellaneous Papers, Files, First Liberty Loan.
16. It is impossible to ascertain the extent to which this plan was followed through- out Indiana during the First loan, but an examination of the files of the daily papers covering the period from May 22 to June 15, 1917, shows that scores, even hundreds of manufacturing organizations and business houses adopted such plans.
17. These predictions did not hold; neither Dubois nor Ripley Counties subscribed their quotas.
1
30
INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS
"Liberty Loan Week" was set for the week of Monday, May 28, to Saturday, June 2, inclusive. Extreme efforts to push the sales of bonds during those six days were made in most of the Indiana counties. William H. O'Brien, president of the Peoples National Bank of Lawrenceburg, and Chair- man of the Dearborn County committee, reported at the out- set of the Liberty Loan Week drive, that his county's sub- scription totalled $220,000. He announced that two addi- tional pledges, one of $50,000 from the Peoples National Bank, and one of $20,650 from the Dearborn National Bank of Lawrenceburg, had been received. "Dearborn County will do her full duty by responding with 8 per cent. quota", said Mr. O'Brien in his message.18 This report from Dearborn County was the forerunner of one of the most wonderful total records for a county made in the United States. Heavy percentages of oversubscriptions of the subsequent quotas assigned that county always drew the attention of loan offi- cials throughout the country to Dearborn County.
On May 28, a telegram was received from Laporte stating that Laporte County had subscribed for $734,000 of the loan bonds, with the Advance-Rumely Company taking $500,000 of this amount through its New York office, the total amount to be credited to Indiana sales. These two reports, one coming from the extreme northwestern part of the state, and the other from the extreme southeastern section, indicate the spirit in which the Liberty Loan workers were spending "Lib- erty Loan Week."
Rivalry Develops Among the Different Counties
The files of the First liberty loan material, both the cor- respondence of state and county workers and reports that appeared in the daily newspapers, show that considerable rivalry existed as to which of the Indiana counties actually went "over the top" first. A report given out from the state loan headquarters on May 31, 1917, listed the ten leading counties of the state at the close of that day.19 According to this list Decatur County, with Walter W. Bonner of Greens- burg acting as Chairman, had subscribed 100.74 per cent. of its quota, at least unofficially on that date.
18. Indianapolis Star, May 27, 1917. This report gave Dearborn County credit for being first in the sixty-eight northern counties to subscribe its quota.
19. Indianapolis News, May 31, 1917.
31
THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
The following day there appeared another list of the 'lead- ing ten' and in this list Morgan County had forged ahead of the other northern counties with a total subscription repre- senting 105 per cent. of the quota. Decatur County was sec- ond on this date, and Dearborn, Grant, Laporte, Elkhart, Johnson, Clay, Tippecanoe and Monroe followed in the order named. The following day Morgan County was credited with a total subscription of $270,000, or 166 per cent. of her quota.20
At the close of the day June 1st, Wayne County had sub- scribed 60 per cent. of its quota, and had joined the leading ten counties by being assigned to seventh place. On the same date Marion County had subscribed approximately 40 per cent. of her quota or a total of $4,688,150.21 A dispatch from Evansville dated June 1st announced that Vanderburgh Coun- ty had subscribed for $1,200,000 of bonds, leaving but $300,- 000 to be subscribed for by June 15th, the close of the drive.
During the next few days frequent changes occurred in the list showing the 'first ten' counties in the state. Rivalry on the part of the workers in the different counties became more spirited as the campaign drew near its close. In order to give greater impetus to the bond sales hundreds of business houses throughout Indiana by this time were reporting un- usual methods of financing the purchase of the bonds by their employes, and large subscriptions made by the companies themselves. At Muncie, Indiana, a local investment house offered to pay 102 per cent. for all Liberty Bonds exchanged for other securities through it.
Life insurance companies also figured strongly in the final drive for the various quotas throughout the state. Their salesmen worked often as a unit in 'cleaning up' certain bond territory and the companies themselves were heavy pur- chasers. During the first week in June the bankers in many counties in the state had been called together and had pledged themselves to underwrite the respective quotas assigned to their counties. On June 8th definite announcement on the part of bankers in twenty-two of the northern sixty-eight counties was made that they would underwrite the Loan up to 8 per cent. of their banking resources and would attempt
20. Indianapolis News, June 1, 1917. One week later, on June 8th, it was an- nounced from State Loan Headquarters, that a mistake had been made in regard to Morgan County's quota, and that the amount actually subscribed was much less than the figures included in the first announcement. The final report placed Morgan County's percentage at 127.8 instead of 166 per cent.
21. Ibid.
32
INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS
to distribute the bonds to their patrons after the close of the campaign. On the same day Elmer W. Stout, counsel for the Fletcher American National Bank of Indianapolis addressed Group No. 4 of the Indiana Bankers Association, and de- clared that "We shall be called slackers if the Loan is not oversubscribed".22 In referring to the talk heard in some quarters to the effect that the money might go out of the community where the subscription was made Mr. Stout said :
"In my opinion this will not be the effect. Perhaps there may be a temporary displacement, but I venture the predic- tion that within less than three months the bank statements will show a stronger and healthier condition than before the loan was made. The people will easily absorb this Loan out of their earnings, and on this account it will not be felt. Furthermore it is the declared purpose of the government to re-deposit the money obtained under this Loan in the banks of the country. Banks subscribing for $100,000 of the bonds will receive recognition in this respect, and it is stated that after July 1 plans will be arranged so that every bank in the country will share in these deposits."23
On June 5, 1917, the registration of all men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one under the Selective Service Law occurred throughout the nation, and this solemn occa- sion gave added impetus to the close of the Liberty Loan drive everywhere. It was the first nation-wide call upon the man power of America, and its effects served to bring home the seriousness of the immediate crisis that was facing the man- hood and womanhood of the United States.
June 8, 1917, was known as Woman's National Liberty Bond Day, and was the occasion for extensive efforts on the part of practically all women's organizations in Indiana, as elsewhere, to sell bonds. While women's organizations were not as active throughout the state during the First liberty loan drive as they were during the other four campaigns, when they became equally as active as the men, nevertheless it is known that their efforts were in a large part respon- sible for the successful records made during the closing days of the First loan drive. Miss Maybelle Pettigrew of Indian- apolis, secretary of the Women's Executive Committee, Mrs. James P. Goodrich, wife of Governor Goodrich, and Mrs.
22. Indianapolis News, June 8, 1917.
23. See Chapter I, page 18.
33
THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
Joseph B. Kealing, took active part in the sale campaign in Marion County during the closing days of this drive.
During the last week of the campaign the Boy Scouts of America took up the work of distributing circulars and other- wise assisted. During the campaign 30,000 circulars were distributed by the Boy Scouts of Indianapolis alone, and simi- lar activities marked the work of this patriotic youthful or- ganization in other cities throughout the state. In Marion County the Boy Scouts organization sold 982 individual bonds, with a total subscription amounting to $105,500.24
On June 4th a report was received from Rush County stat- ing that "Rush County is lowest in the state in the sale of Liberty Loan Bonds and the bankers' organization of the county today began a campaign to raise the subscription near the allotment. Only $40,000 had been subscribed at the close of business Saturday, and if the county subscribes 8 per cent. of its banking resources the sum will be $337,360."25
Delaware County which had been lagging in the bond sales announced on June 7th that a special committee had been organized to speed up the sales, with Theodore F. Rose as Chairman. Determined efforts on the part of the committee enabled the county two days later to make the gratifying re- port that it had exceeded its allotment with a percentage of 124.3 per cent. On this same day Decatur, Morgan and St. Joseph also reported that their full quotas had been met, while Lake County announced an increase in the sales from $196,850 to $1,188,000.
The twenty-four southern counties were making equally good records. On June 9th Mr. Sonntag, the chairman for these counties, reported that Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Perry, Posey, Spencer and Sullivan counties had subscribed their quotas.26
Two days later the Evansville Courier reported that Orange County had subscribed $92,000 on a quota of $75,000, and Pike County was also reported 'over'. On that same day bells were rung in Evansville to call the Loan to the attention of the public, and on the following day sales booths were opened
24. Marion County War History, page 462. Manuscript report filed with Indiana Historical Commission.
25. Indianapolis News, June 4, 1917.
26. Ibid. June 9, 1917, Evansville dispatch. Final reports, however, show that Greene, Perry and Sullivan did not meet their eight per cent. bank quotas. See table at end of this chapter.
3-21521
34
INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS
on the downtown streets of Evansville, in which special agents were stationed for selling bonds.
On June 11th reports from State Loan Headquarters an- nounced that about one-half of the counties of the state were within striking distance of their goal. Approximately $16,- 000,000 was believed to be subscribed in the sixty-eight north- ern counties. Delaware County had climbed into second place by June 11th with a total subscription of $1,050,000, pushing Morgan County to third place in the percentage table. Marion County was still short $9,000,000.
On the night of June 12th church bells were rung in many cities throughout Indiana to call the attention of citizens everywhere to the closing efforts that must be made to sub- scribe the state's allotment. By the close of that day nine of the southern counties were 'over the top'.27 Vanderburgh County was within nine per cent. of its goal. The twenty- four southern counties required $475,000 to meet their quota.
On June 14th St. Joseph County went to the top of the per- centage column with 204 per cent. subscription, or a total of $4,000,000. The following day St. Joseph County claimed to lead all districts in the United States in proportion to popula- tion, having subscribed a total of $4,250,000 or $2,391,000 more than its quota.28
June 15th was the last day of the drive, and it was an- nounced from State Loan Headquarters that banks all over the state had been kept open late the night before to receive subscriptions. The state was then in striking distance of its complete quota, then announced as $40,000,000. The total sub- scription reported at midnight on June 14th by State Head- quarters was $37,996,100.29
A report from Evansville on June 15th announced that the total amount subscribed in the twenty-four southern counties of the state reached almost $4,000,000. Orange County was reported to be leading the southern counties. 30 The following day it was officially reported that the First liberty loan cam- paign closed with an oversubscription of $424,090 for the twenty-four southern Indiana counties.31 The twenty-four southern counties had subscribed a total of 112 per cent. The
27. Evansville Courier, June 13, 1917.
28. Indianapolis Star, June 15, 1917. South Bend dispatch.
29. Indianapolis Star, June 15, 1917.
30. Evansville Courier, June 15, 1917.
31. Ibid. June 16, 1917.
35
THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
same report stated that Gibson and Lawrence counties were the only two in the district which had failed to meet their quotas.
Close of First Loan Drive 119649
At the close of the First loan no definite figures were avail- able showing the exact amount subscribed in the sixty-eight northern Indiana counties. An examination of the files of the State Loan Headquarters indicated however, that the northern counties exceeded their quotas by approximately $1,500,000.
In conclusion it should be emphasized that during the First liberty loan campaign in Indiana the many millions in bonds that were sold were distributed almost entirely without any real organization. Viewed in light of the extensive ma- chinery that was adopted to 'put over' the later campaigns, the efforts made to sell the bonds during the First loan ap- peared at this time negligible. No state speakers' bureau was in existence. Four Minute speakers' and Fourteen Min- ute speakers' organizations which became sources for enlight- ening the people during the latter campaigns, were in their infancy during the First liberty loan drive. The use of spe- cial war exhibits had not been used. The plan of organizing down to the mile square basis in the country, and even to the city block, in the larger municipalities, had not yet evolved. The bonds for the First loan were sold almost entirely by va- rious banks of the state to their customers. Prior to the First loan drive there probably had never been in excess of one and one-half million dollars' worth of any security absorbed in In- diana.
The Loan closed at noon June 15th. Bankers throughout Indiana generally believed that the state had "gone over". Discrepancies in figures available for the early loans, make impossible a definite statement to the effect that Indiana as a whole oversubscribed the First loan.
Federal Reserve Bank figures, however, indicate clearly that the total subscription of the northern sixty-eight coun- ties to the First loan was greatly in excess of the total amount of bonds eventually allotted to subscribers. The chronology of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank (reproduced elsewhere in this volume) gave Indiana's northern counties' quota as $36,000,000, the total subscription as $33,366,100, and the
36
INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS
total allotment of bonds to subscribers as $23,344,100.32 This latter figure shows definitely that the Northern Counties sub- scribed more than was eventually allotted by the Treasury to buyers in those counties and this probably also was true of the Southern Counties.
The only available record of the final result of the First loan is that submitted by the Indiana banks to State Loan Head- quarters from each of the sixty-eight northern counties. A copy of this report is reproduced herewith. No attempt has been made to reconcile the totals with Federal Reserve Bank totals. By way of explanation it might be added that through- out the Loan campaigns, it was impossible to reconcile the final reports of sales turned in by the Indiana banks to State Headquarters, with the Indiana reports on file in the Federal Reserve Banks in Chicago and St. Louis. Often the bank totals would shrink appreciably in transit to the Federal Re- serve Bank. And, in the early loans duplication of subscrip- tions resulted from the fact that out-state banks sometimes had their total subscriptions confused with those of their cor- respondent banks in Indianapolis, Evansville or elsewhere. The final record of the First liberty loan campaign, given out from state headquarters for the sixty-eight northern coun- ties is submitted herewith :
32. Errors of a clerical nature are apparent from corrected additions of the very figures themselves given out by the state loan headquarters. The corrected additions of the totals for the sixty-eight northern counties show the quota figure as $40,709,000 and the total subscription figure as $42,024,550. It therefore becomes evident that all the statistics of this First loan for the northern counties of Indiana must be considered as general in the extreme, rather than as specific.
As indicating the constant differences between figures on quotas and subscriptions of the Federal Reserve Bank and the loan state headquarters for the northern counties, it Is only necessary to recall again at this point that the official report of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago gave Indiana's total subscriptions to the First loan (northern counties) as $35,323,100.
In the Indianapolis Star of June 1, 1917, a table of newly determined quotas for the First loan in the northern counties was given, with the explanation that these quotas were "based on the most recent reports of banking resources that are available." The total of these quotas was $50,166,596, and apparently they represented a new esti- mate made by the loan executives of the quotas for the counties, as they should be if they were to be based on eight per cent. of the banking resources of the state as then revised.
37
THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
RESULTS OF FIRST LIBERTY LOAN IN SIXTY-EIGHT NORTHERN COUNTIES
County
Chairman
Quota
Subscription
Adams . C. A. Dugan ..
$309,000
443,500
Allen
Charles H. Worden
2,830,000
(a)1,800,000
Bartholomew
.. Will G. Irwin
294,000
294,050
Benton .
Charles B. McKnight
325,000
166,700
Blackford
A. G. Lupton
242,000
(b)195,850
Boone
W. J. DeVol
310,000
310,000
Brown
William L. Coffey
16,000
4,300
Carroll
James A. Shirk .
344,000
110,400
Cass
John F. Brookmeyer
608,000
384,350
Clay
Hugh Stevenson
286,000
354,300
Clinton
John A. Ross
511,000
615,000
Dearborn
William H. O'Brien
292,000
438,500
Decatu
Walter W. Bonner
268,000
270,000
Dekalb
I. M. Zent
235,000
272,900
Delaware
Theodore F. Rose
723,000
1,474,300
Elkhart
I. O. Wood
700,000
(c)484,500
Fayette
George C. Florea
247,000
303,750
Fountain
W. W. Layton
254,000
243,050
Franklin
John C. Shirk
152,000
184,300
Fulton
O. B. Smith.
219,000
(d)75,000
Grant
J. L. McCulloch
764,000
1,000,000
Hamilton
N. W. Cowgill
370,000
370,000
Hancock
Wm. T. Leamon
203,000
206,600
Hendricks
W. C. Osborne
228,000
228,300
Henry
Thomas B. Millikan
410,000
300,000
Howard
Richard Ruddell
582,000
525,000
Huntington
Charles A. Butler.
616,000
444,150
Jasper
James H. Chapman
140,000
94,950
Jay
Orville R. Easterday
275,000
190,000
Jennings
Joseph D. Cone
111,000
(e)69,750
Johnson
A. A. Alexander
265,000
300,000
Kosciusko
A. O. Catlin
307,000
201,450
Lagrange Leon Rose.
214,000
70,350
(a) A letter dated April 7, 1922, from Byron H. Somers of Fort Wayne, Chairman of the Third liberty loan drive, stated that although Allen County did not subscribe its quota for the First and Second loans, in the Third loan the county not only subscribed its quota but more than made up its deficit for the First and Second loans.
(b) A letter dated April 7, 1922, from A. G. Lupton of Hartford City, Chairman of the five Liberty Loan drives, states that "Blackford County subscribed its quota in every campaign." No figures or reports were submitted, however, to support this state- ment.
(c) A letter dated April 19, 1922, received from Benjamin F. Deahl of Elkhart, Chairman of the Third, Fourth and Fifth loan campaigns, stated that Elkhart County oversubscribed its quota in each drive, but no figures or official records were submitted to substantiate this report.
(d) A letter dated April 7, 1922, from F. E. Bryan of Rochester, who acted as chairman of the Second, Third and Fourth loans, stated that there was no quota fixed for Fulton County in the First campaign.
(e) A letter dated April 8th from W. S. Matthew of North Vernon, who acted as chairman of the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth drives, reported that Jennings County's subscription in the First campaign totaled $85,000.
38
INDIANA WORLD WAR RECORDS
County
Chairman
Quota
Subscription
Lake . Harry M. Johnson
2,000,000
2,039,600
Laporte Frank J. Pitner
1,052,000
1,350,000
N. M. Mccullough
Madison
Jesse Vermillion .
731,000
645,000
John F. McClure
Will H. Wade
Chester A. Jewett
Marion
George C. Forrey
10,000,000
11,760,750
G. B. Clippinger
R. E. Wilsey
Marshall
Guy Baker
319,000
156,350
Miami
R. A. Edwards
443,000
(f)170,000
Monroe
Roy O. Pike
210,000
237,000
Montgomery
Charles L. Goodbar
450,000
520,300
Morgan
Karl I. Nutter
226,000
290,000
Newton
Warren T. McCray
162,000
(g)150,450
Noble
A. M. Jacobs
369,000
294,600
Ohio
Hugh S. Espey
57,000
(h)25,000
Owen
J. B. Bryan
64,000
64,000
Parke
A. H. Starke
151,000
162,650
Porter
W. H. Gardiner.
320,000
142,000
Pulaski
William S. Huddleson
173,000
60,000
Putnam
R. L. O'Hair
279,000
280,200
Randolph
Jacob E. Hinshaw
371,000
(i)318,350
Ripley
John A. Hillenbrand
263,000
(j)166,050
Rush
Earl A. Payne
337,000
382,500
Shelby
Harry DePrez
291,000
354,000
Starke
M. D. Falvey
110,000
10,000
Steuben
E. S. Croxton
201,000
61,500
St. Joseph
Rome C. Stephenson
1,959,000
4,669,300
Tippecanoe
W. G. Gude
1,440,000
1,087,500
Tipton
F. E. Davis
225,000
272,000
Union
Charles D. Johnson
82,000
112,000
Vermillion
R. H. Nixon
211,000
192,450
(f) Dudley H. Brattin of Peru, who acted as Chairman of the Third and Fourth loans, stated in a letter dated April 18, 1922, that Miami County's subscription in the First loan drive reached $380,000. No figures or reports were submitted, however, to support this statement.
(g) A report received from Governor Warren T. McCray dated May 12, 1922, stated that the local records for Newton County showed a total subscription of $163,250 in the First liberty loan campaign.
(h) Hugh S. Espey of Rising Sun, Chairman of the five Liberty Loan drives in Ohio County, reported in a letter dated April 18, 1922, that Ohio County's quota in the First campaign was $50,000, and the subscriptions amounted to $70,000.
(i) A letter dated April 8, 1922, from Jacob E. Hinshaw of Winchester, who acted as Chairman of all the Liberty Loan drives in Randolph County except the Fifth, re- ported that in the First drive the banks of Winchester near the close of the First cam- paign got together and subscribed the amount necessary to meet the deficit in the First loan campaign.
(j) A letter dated April 12, 1922, from John A. Hillenbrand of Batesville, Chair- man of the five Liberty Loan drives in Ripley County, reported that Ripley County's subscription in the First drive was $177,050.
J. C. Straw.
39
THE WAR PURSE OF INDIANA
County
Chairman
Quota
Subscription
Vigo
James S. Royse
1,995,000
2,056,000
Wabash
Charles S. Haas
446,000
267,000
Warren
John F. Ritenour
110,000
100,000
Wayne
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