﻿THE PRESENT	49

ment of the April issue, with adjustment of accrued
interest.

The results of the Treasury’s efforts to secure
more general absorption of the certificates had been
summed up after the offering of the issue of March
20 as follows:

“ An especially interesting aspect of the operation has
been the success attained in securing a wider distribution
of the certificates among the banks of the interior, which
during the period preceding the Second Liberty Loan had
hardly sustained their full share of the burden, leaving the
bulk of the load to be carried by institutions on the eastern
seaboard. The banks and trust companies throughout the
country are now definitely enlisted in the task of carrying
through the financial operations of the Government, and
a correspondingly greater degree of strength is thereby
imparted to the financial machinery.” 28

This estimate was reasonably justified by the
results of the remaining issues; even though the
number of participating banks may not have shown
the same progressive increase. The number of sub-
scriptions for the last three issues of the series have
not been made public, but it is unlikely that it was
much in excess of that for the issue of February
27. The relative distribution of the six issues of

28 Federal Reserve Bulletin, April, 1918, p. 251. To en-
courage proportionate subscriptions from all banks, certain of
the Federal Reserve Banks published in brochure form, after
each certificate issue of the Third and Fourth Liberty Loans,
“ Lists of Subscribers,” with the respective quotas and amounts
subscribed, for the confidential use of the banks. Of the
“Lists” which the writer has been permitted to examine —
New York, Boston, Cleveland and San Francisco — that of
Cleveland, with its accompanying “ quota book ” is especially
notable for the fullness and value — practical and scientific —
of its statistical material.