﻿THE TREASURY

95

war financing, least of all. In the matter of cer-
tificate borrowing the obvious plausibility of the
operation, added to the technical difficulty of trac-
ing its ultimate effects has encouraged popular
acquiescence. Certainly without the remotest ap-
proach to suppression or concealment, the Treasury
has been able to effect its end unhindered by popular
disfavor or resistance.

Not only has it been possible to secure prompt and
easy authorization for certificate borrowing, but its
actual administration has probably involved less
initial effort and smaller preliminary cost on the
part of the Treasury than any alternate procedure
productive of like amount would have entailed.
This is a result of the dual character of the opera-
tion— (a) the placing of the certificate issues and
(b) the flotation of the liquidating loan. It is pos-
sible that the combined cost in trouble and outlay
has been, if anything, more considerable than that of
a direct bond issue. But of this total only a very
minor part has been associated with the first stage
•— certificate borrowing proper. The effective ma-
chinery of the Federal Reserve System has per-
mitted economical allotment and remittance. As
in the case of bank credits or demand notes, the
charges of administration if not constant certainly
have not varied directly with the amount borrowed.
Finally the mechanism of distribution, once estab-
lished and regularized, has been capable of re-use
and larger use with increasing efficiency and dimin-
ishing cost.

Understanding by “ certainty,” the capacity of a
borrowing device to supply the exchequer, without