100 years ago in The Saratogian
Thursday, Oct. 25, 1917
Saratoga Springs is inching closer to its Second Liberty Loan goal of nearly $1,400,000, The Saratogian reports.
The Spa City still hasn’t reached the halfway point, however, and the drive ends Saturday night. Today’s front page reports the latest total as $606,000 after more than $136,000 in Liberty Bond sales during yesterday’s Liberty Day holiday.
The federal government is raising money for the war against Germany in part through the sale of Liberty Bonds that can be redeemed with interest after the war is over. They’re a way to raise money immediately and an alternative to higher taxes that could cripple the U.S. economy.
Most Liberty Bond sales are made at local banks. Today’s paper reports that Adirondack Trust and Saratoga National Bank will stay open until 9 p.m. tonight, tomorrow and Saturday to give people returning from work more time to buy bonds.
Saratoga Springs High School “attained a noteworthy record today” by announcing that every teacher on the faculty has bought a Liberty Bond, either in one payment or on installment. “Not a teacher in any department failed to respond,” a reporter notes.
Elsewhere in the county, two bond rallies take place this afternoon at the International Paper Company plant in Corinth. Saratoga County Liberty Loan supervisor J. A. McKeough tells the crowds that “I would rather have a thousand subscriptions for $50 each than to have one subscription for a million dollars.”
What’s the difference? “We expect to show the Kaiser [i.e. the German monarch] that we have fifteen millions of people behind the government in the present Liberty Loan.”
Angel of Chinatown
Rose Livingston, the anti-white slavery crusader known as the Angel of Chinatown,” returns to Saratoga County to speak at the Majestic theater in Schuylerville tonight.
“The speaker covered three fields, white slaver, saloons and votes for women – all in one breath,” The Saratogian reports, “She was advertised as a whirlwind; she succeeded admirably in bearing out her reputation.”
Livingston supports the women’s suffrage referendum on next month’s New York election ballot. She’s “interested in women voting on account of two great evils, the white slave traffic and the saloon.” Women’s votes, she believes, will speed the end of both evils.
It’s up to the men of New York to give women the vote, and in one of the night’s lighter moments, Livingston urges the women in her audience to show the men some courtesy.
“If you want the support of the men on Nov. 6, please remove your hats,” she says.
Pamphlets highlighting “women’s interest in the Liberty Loan” are handed out at the door.