davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06

OF Liege would receive the shock and
sacrifice itself for the common cause
But General Leman was going TO
sho" that "a martial soul is always
master OF the crmy which 1T inspires. :"
lie knew how 70 communicate to his
soldiers his cold determination, his
moral force and his physical energy
tor this man Of siXty-thrce wears still
retained his muscles of steel and his
torceful countenance. The aquiline
nose and strong jaw indicate his vieor
and strength Of character.
1t seemed altogether probable that
the enemy expected to find before him
a commander ready to negotiate and
troops resigned to make only the SEM
blancc of resistance. Germany held in
such contempt all small nations: this
Might had such great disdain for
"N eakness"; duty and honor were so
confused with interest in the mind Of
Germany that it seemed to her impos-
sible that Belgium should seriously at
tempt to measure strength with her
The Germans had greatly deceived
themselves. The professor, the math-
ematician, the encyclopaedia, in the
person OF General Leman, was to show
himself great fighting commander in
chief
From his headquarters were sent ont
every minute precise and rigorous or
ders, thanks to which. with his five slim
brlgades, he was to arrest the onset of
seven or eight strong German divisions
under Won Emmich.
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06

General Leman had in the morning
walked out on the glacis to get a bet
ter view of the position of the enemy
batteries. He had then gone to the
firing commanding post The situation
soon became critical. Tons Of iron and
explosives, falling vertically, pierced.
crumpled and demolished The fort, as
storm wrecks ship. Its concrete
works broken, cuDclas smashed, guns
disabled, the fort was only a RUIN.
However, the soldiers, with half
blinded eyes ard with parchcd throats.
prayed as children pray when the
thunder rolls, and they cried from time
TO time with hoarse voices: Long live
Belgium! Long live the King,"
Lying on stretcher, General Leman.
always stole and calm, summoned his
soldiers about him. He expected death
AS the shells ceaselessly roared. he
SAID in tone of indescribable ironv.
An, this German music! 1t alwavs
plays the same tune"
AS he said these words the fort was
blown up. was
General Leman was taken from the
ruins in an unconscious condition.
Some days later he made his report
TO the King in the following words:
"Sire: After several battles had been
fought with great bravery on the 4th,
5th and 9Th of August, by the Third
DIVISION of the army, reinforced from
the Fifth. by the 18th Brigade, I
considered that the forts Of Liege
could no longer serve as more than
temporary obstacle to the advance
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06
Based on Voluntary
investment Of Savings

The promoters Of our present great
Liberty Loan distributions had Cookies
foundation to work on. Both Cooke
and Chase knew that the whole fabric
OF national credit and OF the Union de-
pended upon the voluntary investment
of savings in national bonds. These
lessons had only been half learned bv
the American people. however. 1t re-
quired the World War to teach it to
them thoroughly.
Never was man in more desperate
straits than was Secretary Chase when
the war broke. Southern financiers
Southern sympathizers, were plentiful
IN banking circles. After rather abject
pleading Chase and his friend, jaw
Cooke, the Philadelphia banker. in
duced an association OF bankers formed
Tor the purpose TO advance the gov
ernment S50,0o0000 on Treasury war
rants, the loan to be met by seven or
thirty year bonds, the first 7-3os, as
they were called. The president of the
New York Bank of Commerce solemnlv
addressed the Secretary of the Treas.
ury in. these words:
"Mr. Chase, you have now received
from the associated banks the vast
sum of S5O,000c00 We all earnestly
hope this sum Will be sufficient to
end the war Should it not prove
enough we wish to notify you that
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06

trsted By the explosion at Loncin. In
Germany, where [ am about to be
taken, NY thoughts will be, as they
have ever been, OF Belgium and her
King, ] would willingly have given
my life IN their service but death has
passed me by.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL.
(Sd.) &c. LEMAN.'
General Leman was sent d prisoner
TO Germany, where on several occasions
ne was offered his liberty if he would
give his parole. lie Indignantly re
fused, and il IS only now, after his
health has suffered severely from con
hnement, that the Germans have per-
mltted him to go 10 hos pitabie Switzer-
land, where he can rejoin his daugh..
ter, who the Germans had refused
TO permit to visit him during his cap
tivity.
General Leman, together with the
Alng, Cardinal MERCER and the Burgo
master OF Brussels, Monsieur Max, Will
remain one Of the most glorious figures
IN the history Of this terrible war. be
typlhes the resistance of Belgium
which has risen, as one man, to face
the Herman Eagle and to give an eneI-
getlc no IN response to the infamous
proposals of Germany. He symboli,es
the spirit Of sacrifice of people who
prefer death to dishonor He STANDS
out IN striking contrast 10 the siniste,,
nsure of u treacherous and per)urea
Kaiser.
tcos.nShted. 1917. OTIS =. Weodk ----l
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06
By Major Leon Osterrieth
elgiam Military Attoche, Chief of
the Belgian Military Mission
a CABLE has just been received

A CABLE has just been received
~ by the Belgian Legation an
nouncing that General Leman.
the gallant defender Of Liege, has ar
rived at Zurich, Switzerland.
He was great leader-a trained
officer, who had passed through the
Military School, the Engineering and
Artillery School and the War Collece
Leman soon became professor in these
different establishments for military
training, where during many years he
taught mathematics and the art of
war.
He was named governor Of the forti-
lied position Of Liege only a few
months before the shameful violation
of Belgian territory by the German
army. He soon knew every sector of
the glacis and every cupola OF the
forts. He was confronted by the most
formidable administrative difficulties
which would have made the most brave
hesitate. He soon solved these prob
lens. The garrison under his com
mand was constantly in training, and,
on certain day when he was gallop-
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06
We May Reach
Japanese Standard

Jay Cooke gave US primary lesson
IN national thrift. Mr.. McAdoo. with
his Liberty Loans and his War Saving
stamp loans, Is giving US an interme-
dlate lesson. Presently we will have
q senior lesson. Japan could give it.
Her people are very poor. But H.
92s,Ooo of them have savings accounts,
a larger proportion than we can boast
OF. Her own people are investing n
her government securities. In one
year 100000 new accounts have been
opened up. In 1914 there were 2,942-
600 students with savings accounts in
Japan.
These challenging comparisons are
being used in the nationwide thrift
campaign now being promoted by the
American Bankers Association. the
figures quoted being supplied by A. D.
Welton and NJ. ". Harrison. of that
organization.
In 1851 the Civil War hnanciers
found the rank and file of the people
ignorant of what national bonds were
Neilandigham, the arch seditionist.
used to catch the masses by exhibiting
a So Treasury gold bill as democratic
party money" a Civil War government
bond VS.. "Republican money" and
"shlnplaster" as the money I'VE are
coming to-
But before Jay Cooke got through
his spectacular and invaluable thrift
campaigns he had already nailed to
the dead walls, the bulletin boards, the
posts and the trees the very principles
of the present day thrift drive en-
bodied In the programme underlying
the War Savings Stamp propaganda,
thus:
Discourage savings bank Withdrawals.
Eliminate waste.
Stimulate production.
Encourage saving.
Jay Cooke we'll displayed his grasp
OF the fundamentals of war finance in
this sentences:
The credit OF the government is ex.
pressed by the enthusiasm with which
the people meet the calls Of the Treas
ury."
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06
Pressed On to
National Bank s Goal

Congress was reluctant to levy direct
or indirect taxes, lest the political party
which imposed the heavy taxes MIGHT
suffer The issues Of fiat money went
on.
Secretary Chase. however, met these
supreme emergencies in spite Of criti-
clsm, and pressed on toward his ma
tlonal banking ideal. OF his legal
tender issues he said:
"Ihe issuance of interest-bearing
paper currency and notes through
banking associations is the germ of y
national banking law"
lnterest-bearing paper issues were
succeeded by non-ntercst bearing
issues. Smashing down the opposition
to ,greenback money, Representative
Kellogg, of Illinois, said to Congress:
"Members will vote 100000 of the
flower Of American youth to be sacri-
feed without q blush, but the great
interest OF capital, of money, must not
be touched. We have summoned the
youth and they have come. I would
summon the capital, and if it does not
come voluntarily, ] would take every
cent from the treasury Of individuals
and press it into the use Of the govern
ment."
The government legal tender bill,
PASSED February 25, 1862. The Ma,
tlonal Banking act passed in January
Of 1864.
"ln this way" said New York edi-
tor, the government was saved the
humlllation Of shining through the
barber shops.' ~
"Shinning through the barber
shops' IS precisely what the nation
again did and what in reality discov-
cred to the nation its own fundamental
resources.
Loans that could have been made at
direct discount were made at large
discounts. Indeed, the banks urged this
method in preference. Chase had been
Obliged to pay as high as II per cent
for loans in the market.
In 1862 the government was snond-
ing 81 100000 a day. The soldiers had
not been paid for long time. Huge
sums were due the munitions contrac
tors. Appleton's Annual Cyclopcdia of
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06
Cooke Had Tapped
True Source of Wealth

Cooke distributed other successful
issues for Secretary Chase. Apple
ton says, however, that during the re-
mainder of the wax mo cmbarrass.
ments attended the administration OF
the finances" The true sources of
national wealth had been discovered
and tapped. Cooke was the Moses who
smote the rock and thereafter it con-
tinued to gush forth.
Chase's receipts from bonds in 1863
ga were as follows:
$50 per cent bonds ..... 1921 100000
2-year 5 per cent notes. l52,000,000
Cookies activities were employed in
the marketing Of the following issues:
$40 loan. .S513, ,o00, 900
1910 loan. n................. 200, 100000
'-oO loall.. ........... ooU,UOU,OUO
Secretary Chase acknowledged
"Cooke's admirable skill and his hearty
services" Cooke was also enthusas-
tic in support of the national banking
system and established the first ma
tional bank in Washington, as we'll as
the first in Philadelphia.
Shortly after the peace, the question
of retiring the greenbacks by resuming
the payment of specie became a prob
lem, solved after the fashion Of Sher-
man, who said that "the way to resume
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06

was to resume" And colo pavms,,.
were promptly made in redemption ~
all Federal obligations, thus liou;ds.
ing honorably the debt of the nation
BY odd coincidence, Salmon p. r...
the issuer of legal tender. now sss, nas.,
Chief Justice of the Supreme Cow.
sat upon the legal tender cascs IN H.;
cation.
Jay Cooke established New yo,,
and London branch and embarked a.
vast railroad promotion enterprs.. s
He was about TO solve his disscult;.,
With the s!umping Northern Paciss
Railroad in 1870, by making loan in
Prussia when Louis Napoleon unss.
his plans By making war on Prussi.
Cookies banking houses closed in II.
crash, and although he lived in stats
to ripe old age in "Cooke s Folly.os
vast estate near Philadelphia, he nev.~
recovered his preemincrt financial
standing.
in this respect his career had
parallel in that o. Robert Morris. the
financier Of the American Revolusion
though Morris raised sums Of s5oooo
where Cooke raised loans OF s5o.o0o.
600. The First Napoleon's Euronss,
operations broke Robert Morris. And
because Of the harsh bankruptcy lsws
of that period Morris went to priso.
for debt. Morris, too, was handiapssd
by his marble palace in Philads!phis
Both Morris and Cooke have been nsS
lected by the Republic, which e.ects i,
monuments to horses with men trvinr
to stay on them rather than TO ps.
triots afoot.
Our present financial labors demand
q lhodcrn Hercules. But the task will
not daunt US il VIC measure the task
successfully performed By Messrs.
Chase and Cooke. A comparative table
even Of this sketchy nature, is sugpes-
tive:
Resources of hanks in 1851 xl6o0, ,ooo. 900
Resources OF banks in 1917. a. 900 900 600
Eaised b. bonds during Civil
War .......... 5000. 900 ,coo
Total cost OF Civil War. 49,. 1000 100000
could now be raised in four
years ......... $4,000. 900 900
Amount voted already, l3l,-. $4,000 100000
Wealth Of American people,
1917 .......... 225. cor, ,ooo. .oon
Income OF people. 1917. ...... $4,000, ,ooo.0oN
II, Industrial turnover. 1917. -. $4,000 ,ooo,ooO
=, industry in 1850. ......... 900. 900 900
Total industrial output. 1850. 100 .0oo,Oob
Excess of deposits over loans,
1917 .-::............ $500, 900 ore
tnteresI on s2:,ooo.ooo, goo. 9.5e0. .ooo.Aoo
Annual absorption OF securi-
ties, 1916. :......-.... $500 600 .ooo
Earnings Of banks. 1917, IS per cent more
than normal.
Our resources are now more than
twenty five times as great. It is doub;.
full If the calls of the World War UPON
US can ever be proportionately as crea.
as those Of the Civil War. But even
should this prove true, we can ind com.
fort in the fact that seven years after
the Civil War three-eighths of the cost
of it had been paid off.
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06
Fought Distrust
With His Own Money

The day after the disastrous battle
of Bull Run, in 1861, Jay Cooke started
out and secured subscriptions for n
loan to the government. He raised
S1,737O00 personally in four hours. He
fought back financial distrust. He Or
ganized national confidence, resorting
to advertisements paid for out of his
own pocket. He started the first Lib
erty Loan ganda with placards,
speeches, agents, advertisements and
appeals.
Inducing Secretary Chase to appoint
him as the general agent Of the Treas
ury, on basis of onc-eighth of ! per
cent for expenses, Cooke appointed
1000 sub-agents and began, from his
Philadelphia headquarters, a lavish
campaign with the press, which helped
him SO materially to achieve his re-
markable success.
He not only used advertising space
in the newspapers, but he also. per-
suaded the editors to publish lists of
subscribers to the loans, inventng the
effective application Of psychology to
the campaign. which consists in pub
fishing the totals each day, thus urging
the public on to an ever nearing and
challenging goal.
Cooke had by December, 1861, Dor
rowed from the farmers, mechanics,
capitalists and business men $685.
100000, under these issues:
2-year go notes. $4,000, 900
60-day SO notes .. 5000 900
3ycar T 3-10eS bonds. :. $4,000, 900
Repeated in October. -. 50,00o,OOO
2O-year TO bonds. s...... 46,o00,000
Demand notes. ......... 25,000,0OO
But the condition of the Treasury
was still dire. Not little of the funds
had been wasted. The expenses of the
war mounted alarmingly. Disaster
waited on the Union arms. 1t was not
until two years later that Jay Cooke
finally wrested national credit from
national defeat. The history of the
intervening months is picturesque
with military and financial crises. And
all the while there was in CESSATION the
national banking system, born Of dis
aSter.
Secretary Chase called for s214.
100000 to carry on the war until June.
1862. He then estimated that for the
year following June, 1862, there would
be required $500 100000 But in De-
cember, 1862, he was obliged to call
for 1904 100000 for the next year and
half. The ncar-vision of the asso-
Grated banks had not pictured such q
colossal undertaking. And, as will be
seen, none but Jay Cooke could even
then picture the comparative ease with
which the nation could meet those
demands
In 1861 the public SHE'D at Secretary
Chase's first issue of $4,000 900 paper
with which to repay the associated
banks. They would not accept it as
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06
Loan Sacrifices Far Qutdone in Civil Wa,
Nation Would Need to Raise
$4,000, 600, 600 With European
and Nev York Money Markets
Hostile, Half the Country Walled
Out, to Equal the Stupendous
Effort Made From 1861 to 1865

! you cannot depend upon further aid
from the associated banks"
Within four years the government
raised and spent sixty times this $50,
100000, discovering its vast fundamen-
tai resources to lie, not in banks, but
IN production. But cvery one, at the
outset made tho yricvous mistake Of
assuming that the Rebellion would be-
put down within sixty days.
Many vicissitudes were encountered
before banks and producers discovered
themselves, and the genius of Jay
Cooke unqucstionahly helped in dis
closing TO the giant its own strength.
Easy, indeed, is Secretary McAdoo's
task with the bankers cheering him on.
But Secretary Chase resorted t.
threats at first, He vowed that he
would go back to Washington and
issue fiat money. Chase said
THE Rebellion must be put down if
we have TO put out paper and it takes
thousand dollars to buy a breakfast"
AS a matter of fact Chase did ulti-
mately issue paper and lots Of it, and
1T finally cost a good deal to buy
breakfast, and there was much scorn
of the Federal inflated currency in
Europe, where "The London Times"
said our credit wasn't worth cent.
Enter Jay Cooke, in the role of boost
er OF the national credit. This pros
porous Philadelphia banker was born
in Sandusky, Ohio, in 1921. His bank
ing house was already extensive, with
branches in New York and elsewhere.
He brothered the sensitive, ambitious,
puritanical Chase. His close relation.
ship with the Secretary Of the Treas
ury excited much jealousy He was
challenged in Congress for his earn
ings a $ agent for the bond issues. He
was obliged to explain certain bond
and stock buyings on Chase's private
account He earned for himself,
finally, some 100000 out of his extcn,
sive financing operations and lived in
almost Roman grandeur on his Phila-
delphia estate.
But his labors for the nation were
apparently as sincere as they were
successful. His government rewards
were inadequate, considering how he
risked his own fortune, and, if he were
disposed to help Chase financially /
Chase's super-sensitive conscience did |
not admit Of single such inciden.
worthy OF Congressional rebukc after
investigation.
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06
Cooke Inventor
Of Loan Crusades

How Chase encountered amazing in
difference to his demands in the money
market, how he was forced to resort
to illegal tender" paper issues, the
"grcenhacks, the fiat money Of popu-
lar contempt, how the Civil Var loans
went begging without a taker through
the dark days of 1861, how tho nN>
tional banking system came into being
IN the tragic emergency, how Jay
Cooke invented the Liberty Loan prop
aganda. how he sold the national
bonds to the farmers, the mechanics,
the soldiers and the nurses, and how
by advertising national security and
national thrift this remarkable man
restored the credit of the nation and
forged the bullet that won the war be-
comes to us now not merely narra-
tive of high dramatic values but a
prophecy and an inspiration.
These Civil War financiers did not
merely find the United States's Treas
ul'y depleted "by the treachery of their
successors" they did not merely dis
cover the bankers to be skeptical of
Cnion success: they encountered tho
difficulty OF selling national bonds to a
general public which knew nothing of
TINS KIND of investment and which had
yet to learn the habits Of national
thrift.
The greatest achievement of Chase
and Cooke was winning the war. A
momentous achievement was the ins,,-
tuition OF the national banking system.
But the development Of the agency was
even as important, the great American
experiment by the people in investing
IN their own government Cooke
preached thrift. He put patriotism on
g basis of ownership of the institu.
tlons. He gave hundreds of thousands
of workers, business men and soldier,
a financial stake in the security of the
United States goYerument
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06
Cooke Solicited
All to Buy

From Jay Cookies circular, which he
scattered broadcast among the farmers,
soldiers and business men, under tho
caption, "The Best Way to Put Money
Out at Interest" one gets the follow
ing arguments:
$50 rapidly has the loan been
taken by the public that only $780,
100000 remain unsold In view of
the obstacles that Mr.. Chase had to
contend with at every turn, his
bureau swarmed with traitors, the
Treasury depleted by the treachery
Of his predecessors, the success of
his efforts is almost inconceivable.
"He has preserved our national
credit-he has paid the expenses of
the government, and now he is re-
ceiving aid from the people at the
rate of $2,00000O a day. Mr.. Chas>
has not asked any assistance from
abroad. knowing the loyalty of the
New-York tribune., 1918-01-06
The astonishing success of his mar
keting the great 5000. 600 600 five and

The astonishing success of his mar
koting the great $6OO,000,0O0 five and
twenty-ycar bonds, issued in 1862, re-
captured the confidence Of Europc, gave
courage to the Eastern ey-lenders,
enlisted the hearts of the people in
the war anew, inspired the soldiers in
the field and CORRESPONDENCE daunted
tional Bond campaign was at once a
departure and victory.
At the moment when. after the sec
ond battle of Bull Run, the officials
were moving from Washington in fear
or its immediate occupation by the
enemy, when the department clerks
were organizing to barricade their
buildings, when the streets of the cap-
tai We're crowded with people trucking
their effects in flight, when his own
brother was writing him fevcrishly to
"work off his government securities"
lest he lose his private fortune invested
IN government bonds in the American
deoacle, Jay Cooke started out to ems
list the dollars Of the rank and file for
the defence of the republic.
Secretary Chase had already been
offering this $50O,O0O 900 Of 500 bonds
to the capitalists, and he complained
That ne couldn't sell single one, not
one. From Oberholtzer's excellent
biography Of Cooke one gets vivid pict-
ures or the Cooke campaign, and from
the files OF the daily newspapers of
that year one derives a fair idea of the
l!rst extensive Liberty Loan campaign.
Some critics said of this 100000 600
$40 issue that it was "a conversion.
not a loan" inasmuch as the iearler
legal tender issues were payable in
these bonds. Be that as it NAV. it
drew the money from the people as
volunteers. The Cooke campaign went
over into 1868, gaining impetus week
by week, month by month.
Says "The Philadelphia Inquirer" of
April 9, 1868:
ut would rejoice the heart of
every patriot if he could witness in
person the daily operation at the
agency of the National Loan in this
city. The agents for the loan sit
amid piles Of orders for bonds bv
mail, flights Of orders by telegraph
and incessant orders by word of
mouth. The figures run into tens
and hundreds of thousands and mill
ions. Here is a letter from lady
in Camden, N. j., who orders $500,
and there is one from St. Paul, Mimi.
Tor $l2.6O0. Here is one from Potts
vile, Penn, for $1,000, and another
from Pittsburgh for $4,000. Near
one desk stands a nursery maid who
wants bond for $50, and, just be-
hind her, portly business man who
asks for $4,000.
"Whatever misgiving they may
have had in the dark days of the
war have all passed away, and they
are now laying their treasure on the
altar Of their country with patriotic
cOnfidenccn