The Story of the Liberty Loans: Being a Record of the Volunteer Liberty Loan Army, Its Personnel, Mobilization and Methods
An illustrated record of the five American war bond drives of 1917 to 1919, written by the assistant director of publicity of the Treasury's War Loan Organization and published in Washington in 1919.
What it is
An illustrated record of the five American war bond drives of 1917 to 1919, written by the assistant director of publicity of the Treasury's War Loan Organization and published in Washington in 1919. It gives the totals (about $21.5 billion accepted from some 66 million subscriptions) and walks through each loan: the First's three posters and cinema trailers, the Second's street stunts, the Third's honor flags for towns that met their quota and the "match the President" appeal, the Fourth run through the influenza epidemic, and the Victory Loan. Further chapters cover the women's committee of one million workers, War Savings Stamps, the Four-Minute Men speakers, the Boy Scouts, war exhibit trains, street car cards, and short films made by movie stars. It reproduces dozens of posters from the United States and allied countries and closes with the terms of every loan.
Why read it now
The author ran part of the campaign, so read this as a case file on mass persuasion, not as neutral history. Several of its methods hold and have modern support. Honor flags for towns that met their quota made the goal public and the progress visible, the social-comparison effect that later trials with energy bills and tax letters confirmed. "Match the President" gave people one small, specific action and a known figure to copy. War exhibit trains took the campaign to rural buyers the press had not reached. Splitting the work into sales, publicity and speaking branches, each with local committees, is still how large drives are organised. What has dated or should be refused: the hate language about Germans, and local committees putting people who would not buy on show in wire pens, which the book calls rare and frowned on by the Treasury yet reports some committeemen found helpful. To use it: for a national or seasonal campaign, set public targets by city or branch, publish progress against them, and give each audience one small action it can copy from a known figure.
Passages worth keeping
Competition among communities in every part of the United States to be either the first in the country, or in certain sections of the country, to earn the right to fly an honor flag aroused the keenest competition.
حين صار لكل مدينة علم شرف تفوز به إن بلغت حصتها، تحوّل الاكتتاب إلى سباق علني بين المدن.
President Wilson announced that although he had bought Liberty Bonds to his financial limit, he would buy another $50 bond on the installment plan and he invited all patriotic Americans to "match" his purchase.
اشترى الرئيس نفسه سندًا صغيرًا بالتقسيط ودعا الناس إلى فعل الشيء نفسه، فجاءت اكتتابات قُدّرت بنحو 100 مليون دولار.
Local committees sometimes resorted to such stringent methods as placing German sympathizers who refused to buy bonds on exhibition in wire corrals in public places until the recalcitrants were prepared to show their loyalty to the country by investing in bonds.
لجأت بعض اللجان المحلية إلى التشهير العلني بمن رفض الشراء، وهذا إكراه لا إقناع، ويُذكر هنا للتحذير منه لا للاقتداء به.
It has been said that publicity made the public eye see, its ear hear and its mind know the war.
الدعاية هي التي جعلت الحرب البعيدة حاضرة في عين المواطن وأذنه وفهمه، وبعدها جاء دور فريق المبيعات ليحصد النتيجة.
Most of these were rural residents, who had been hard to reach with the enthusiasm of the war.
وصلت قطارات المعارض إلى سكان القرى الذين لم تبلغهم الحملة من قبل، فكان الوصول المادي إلى الجمهور جزءًا من الرسالة.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
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