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  subscriptions ­
  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  encourage ­
  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.