New-York tribune., 1919-07-22
FHE wayfarer, stepping westward this

week from temple Bar, will not be
entirely unaware that the government
is engaged in the somewhat arduous task OF
faising a national loan. Although not violent
or sensational, the reminders are there.
Quite number of posters catch the eye.
Most of them bear, in e-red letters on
pleasing ground of navy blue, brief in
junction to Buy Victory Loan" Other pos
ters inform you that bonds may be bought
through any banker, stockbroker or post
office. They are affixed to the pillar boxes,
some hoardings, on a few buildings. As
you pass the Eagle Hut of the American
Y. Nj. c. A. you remark that perhaps by
mere coincidence the boarding carries a
long line of the blue and red appeals. On
and around Nelson's Column there seems to
be something doing Perhaps it is that the
coocaton of Victory and Trafalgar was
too simple and effective to be missed.
Not Like the Strand
Now suppose, one wayfarer reflected, the
Strand were Fifth Avenue, and the public
business in hand should happen to be the
raising of loan equal to a thousand million
sterling, which in America would be called
S5,000,000 900. What would the great verte-
bre thoroughfare of New York be like?
1t would certainly be as little like the quiet
and homely Strand as the Strand is like the
High Street of Stratford -on-Avon. The
moment you came into it you would be made
aware that single idea dominated Fifth
Avenue, from the Washington Arch down.
town to the upper reaches beyond Central
Park. New York, you would realize, had a
job to do. 1t was doing that job, was think
ing about it, and would on no account, so
far as it had any say in the matter allow
you to think of anything else until it. was
through.
The American publicity expert is student
of what he calls psychology, 'and in that
realm his mind works on very straight lines
Thus: What is it that you, an ordinary
citizen, asked to do when Liberty or
Victory Loan is being raised? You are
asked or tod to lend your money to your
country. Uncle Sam, so the simple argument
runs, does pretty nearly everything for you
1t is your religious duty to do something in
return. Therefore a myriad voices unite in
saying "Lend"! In every window, on every
available space, every object that moves
or is at rest appears the word LEND" Wher-
ever the eyes look-forward, left, right; on
the level up, down-they meet the incxorable
command: Lend, Lend, Lend, LEND'
Our O,cr Fifth Arenue
Venetian masts line the pavement on either
side of the great street Broad sheets are
stretched across. Flags and streams fly or
droop from every frontage. Every shop
warehouse and office, every churcn and public
building, carries its own device If a store
can rig up the largest national flag on the
continent, so much the better Every open
space has its own group Of attractions, in
cludlng q platform from which all day long
the stream of exhortation ana persuasion
flows. Everybody is brought in: Senators
and Congressman, bankers, big business men.
preachers soldiers, sailors, special CORE
spondents, novelists, actors, movie stars:
with, in the luncheon hour, the most spec
tacular orator available-f possible, an ex-
President
Up and down the avenue the women guards
and sharpshooters are posted, not only at
focal points, such as Madison Square and
the Public Library. but at intervals of a few
yards along the whole length They carry
blank forms and pencils and call upon every
passerby to buy bond or show cause why
he should be exempt They invade every
public building and all the large business
houses. No one can enter or leave without
being importuned. They permit no one to
lunch or dine unmolested. 1t seems as
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