It had been said that the first campaign in its directive agencies was largely hit and miss. When it was over the strikes were recorded and the misses eliminated for the preliminary work of the Second Loan which was to follow in October. Out of the mass was evolved a system of methods that served as the groundwork of the real organization. The results afforded a working basis that would have carried a dozen loans through, granting that the people remained faithful to their patriotism.
THE APPEAL
Let it be admitted that in the first loan there was no defined appeal. We were in the war and in to win, that was sufficient. It was foreseen that the psychology of the public must have a central theme for the next loan to which it must respond. The Second campaign began on October 1, 1917, after the embarkation of the nucleus of the vast army that eventually was to overwhelm the foe. None of them yet had been called into action. The keynote of this drive was the education of the people on the meaning of a German victory. We had before us the ghastly stories of what the Germans had done in Belgium and in France; we had to throw ourselves into the conflict to keep our own homes safe.
The eyes of all Europe, our Allies and our enemies, were upon us. It was clear that by the results at home we would be judged, as we had not yet had the opportunity to show ourselves in the field. For four weeks and a day the campaign went on, this time for $3,000,000,000. The appeal which touched the heartstrings of all persons served a double purpose. Not only did it carry the message of the Loan, but it knit closer the sentiment of the whole American people to the purposes of the war. Through its constant reiteration it had the effect of a prayer and like a prayer gained added meaning with deeper thought.
Thought was compelled through its manifold repetitions. All the functions of life were linked with it, all the recreations, all the relaxations embodied it in part. It formed the backbone of conversation, it became a part of every daily activity. It assailed the eye at every turn, it smote the ear constantly, it crashed into consciousnesses in every conceivable form. Through a strange paradox it linked a fear and a hope. It embraced the whole gamut of emotions.
GROWING RESPONSE
Again there was a resounding response. In the First Loan the subscriptions were limited to the actual amount of the issue, but in the Second all subscriptions were accepted. The number of those who took bonds was increased more than 100 percent.—it reached 9,500,000, to be exact, and the $3,000,000,000 issue went to $3,808,766,150.
So it was in the Third, which was put before the public on the anniversary of our entrance into the war. At this time our men had gone into the trenches which in itself made the war our own in its most serious meaning. This was intensified throughout the land by the operation of the Selective Service Act. The draft had entered almost every home; many of those who had qualified in the first call were at that time in France. Casualty lists were beginning to appear in the newspapers.
It needed only this fact—the fact in itself was its own appeal—to bring out the finest in our people. All previous sentiment faded ito into insignificance compared with the solemnity of the actual participation. The resources that we had been led to believe had been plumbed to their depths were now revealed to us as inexhaustible. Giving seemed to be the poorest means of showing how the country was touched; the people gave as if in despair because this was all they might do.
The campaign had been for $3,000,000,000 and it brought in returns of $4,170,069,650 from 17,000,000 men, women and children in the United States; men, who regretted that this was all they might give to their country's need; women, who offered with each dollar a passionate prayer that it might help the men now matching themselves against the foe, and children, who realized with joy that they were becoming part of the world's greatest war.