78

WAR  BORROWING

By  this  time,  however,  the  Treasury’s  plans  for
successive  issues  of  certificates  had  definitely  matured. ­
  At  fortnightly  intervals  —  May  10,  May
25,  June  8  —  issues  of  $200,000,000  each  were  allotted. ­
  Of  the  $600,000,000  thus  realized,  no  less
than  $560,000,000  was  advanced  to  the  Allies  to
June  29,  1917,  leaving  as  the  Treasury  balance  on
that  date  $299,830,457,  with  $417,748,467  (June
9)  and  $149,682,891  (May  21)  as  the  high  and
low  points  intervening.  The  funds  derived  from
certificate  borrowing  were  carried  as  a  government
deposit  with  the  Federal  Reserve  Banks  up  to  May
25,  after  which  time  the  proceeds  of  certificate  issues ­
  were  redeposited  with  subscribing  banks  qualified ­
  as  special  depositaries  and  were  remitted  to  the
Federal  Reserve  Banks  for  disbursement  as  required
for  public  expenditure.
Subscription  lists  to  the  First  Liberty  Loan  closed
on  June  16,  with  an  aggregate  subscription  of  $3,-035,226,850
  and  an  actual  allotment  of  $2,000,000,-000.
  In  the  light  of  the  Treasury’s  prospective  requirements ­
  and  the  clear  alternative  of  early  resort
to  further  certificate  borrowing,  it  is  incomprehensible ­
  that  no  part  of  the  oversubscription  should
have  been  accepted.  A  preliminary  payment  of  two
per  cent,  was  due  on  June  15  and  a  further  installment ­
  of  18  per  cent,  on  June  28,  making  the  amount
certainly  available  on  that  date  $400,000,000.  As
a  matter  of  fact  there  was  heavy  over-payment  of
the  installment,  the  receipts  on  account  of  the  Loan
up  to  June  30  totalling  $1,458,400,000  or  73  per  cent,
of  the  principal.  The  over-payment  was  not  limited
to  any  particular  section.  In  the  New  York  dis ­