New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
women Of New York are but
just emerging from the effects

of a powerful educational move
ment Of farreaching significance. The
principles it embodied were motivated
by duty and expediency, taught by ex-
perience and learned by self-activity.
It's medium was the third Liberty Loan
campaign.
More than a drive for dollars this
campaign has been thrust for the
spread Of Americanism. Pulpits and
street corners resounded with the
ideals of the free. Hearts beat to the
proud refrain. The air was filled with
the message of liberty. 1t broke
through the intrenchments of the
ehettos and spoke to the foreign-born
in their own tongues. The appeal was
universal. 1t has gripped the magma
tions Of our women and precipitated
them into active participation in the
world conflict.
Rudely shaken out Of their COM
placency by the shocking reality Of
the war, the women seized upon the
campaign as an opportunity to work
directly for the shortening Of the
struggle and the return Of their own.
The driving force Of common purpose
swept aside for moment the barriers
between classes, creeds and nationali-
ties, admitting the spirit Of democracy
into the women's ranks. Americans.
Italians, Bohemians, Chinese, Polish,
Catholics, Jews, rich and poor - all
met on the same plane of human under
standing and dedicated themselves to
the success Of the loan.
The exisencies of the campaign drew
many into untrodden paths. It led them
triumphant into the field of economics.
Hosts of unframed women who had
volunteered their services as bond
sellers have emerged from the drive
not only with knowledge Of the art
OF salesmanship, but with certain we'll
defined ideas in the art of finance. To
the financial expert their knowledge
may seem crude enough, but it is q
revelation to the great majority Of
women. to whom Wall Street and the
financial section of the daily newspaper
were, therefore, an undeciphered code.
The newly acquired financial training
is not confined to the bond sellers. It
is shared by the bond buyers-that
great army of women to whom all in
vestments in securities have been either
taboo and an unholy occupation or a
fearful, though alluring, quagmire to
be crossed by husbands and brokers.
All these women have now boldly Joined
| the lists of the initiated and become
investors on their own account And
though the knowledge thus acquired
may not suffice to guide them through
the shoals of future investments, it
will serve as a start in that direction.
East Side Folk
Now Bondholders
The bond buying habit is not only
creating an intelligent investing class;
it is encouraging the exercise of thrift.
a people are its most potent and ire
sistible insurance against defeat has
been shouted from public platforms and
spread broadcast on reams of paper
ever since the war began. But it re-
mained an idea until the magic touch
of the Liberty Loan campaign trans
muted it into an ideal. Women on
every rung of the economic ladder are
now saving for Liberty bonds-from
the East Side grandmother who emptied
her trusty stocking Of its years of Ia
borious boarding to buy bonds, to the
high salaried business woman who is
forced into the saving habit to pay her
dollar instalment.
To the women of leisure the campaign
has been treasure trove of experience.
Exalted by the seriousness Of their pur-
pose and the righteousness of their
cause, they threw themselves into the
work with a joyous enthusiasm that
recognized no obstacles. In it many
of them found an outlet for latent en-
ergies and dorment abilities. They
made some surprising discoveries. A
good many found that mere business
detail had it's attractions-that it was
not as distasteful as they had sup
posed; others developed q vital in
terest in public measures or brought to
light an unsuspected genius for or
ganization. All these discoveries are
bound to leave their mark on the status
of women after the war.
That the great educational posi-
bilities lodged In the campaign have
been fully realized is due in no small
measure to the work of the Women 8
Liberty loan organization-the Women's
Liberty Loan Committee Of the Second
Federal Reserve District. 1t is this
committee that modified the woman
power Of the district and utilized it to
impel the machinery of the drive. No
potential powers for bond selling-or
bond buying-had been overlooked in
building up the personnel of the COM
mittee. The committee was represent
ative Of the professions and the arts,
Of suffragists and antis, of the shin
ing lights in society and in business.