"
This advertisement made a good many people sit up because it brought
home for the first time one concrete use of the money absorbed in war
loans.
The National War Savings Committee had two things to sell. One was the
Five Per Cent Exchequer Bond: the other was the new Fifteen and Six War
Savings Certificate. The promoters were quick to see that while the
Exchequer Bond was very desirable, the principal effort must be
concentrated on the War Savings Certificate for which the widest appeal
and the best selling talk could be made.
That it was a good "buy" nobody could deny. It was the obligation of the
British Government: it was free from Income Tax: it could be cashed in
at any time at a profit: and it made the owner part and parcel of the
financing of the war. Every post office and nearly every bank became a
selling agent. In short, it was a simple, cheap and worth-while
investment absolutely within the scope of every one.
At the outset the sale was restricted to those whose income did not
exceed $1,500, the purpose being to keep the investment among the wage
earners. So many munition workers were receiving such large incomes
that this ban was removed. The only limitation imposed was that no
individual could hold more than 500 Certificates. This did not prevent
the various members of a family, for example, from each acquiring the
full limit.
Having decided to make the War Savings Certificate its prize commodity,
the Committee proceeded to launch a spectacular, even sensational
promotion campaign.
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