100 years ago in The Saratogian
Tuesday, April 2, 1918
The third Liberty Loan of the world war begins this weekend, and Saratogians are relieved to learn that less money is expected from them than for the previous campaigns.
As an alternative to excessive taxes, the federal government is partially funding the war against Germany through the sale of Liberty Bonds. The bonds can be redeemed with interest after the end of the war.
The Saratogian reports that Saratoga Springs’ quota for the third loan is $636,500. That amount is equivalent in buying power to more than $11,000,000 in 2018 money. It represents a sharp drop from the city’s $1,387,000 quota ($23.4 million in 2018) for the second Liberty Loan. Many Spa City residents protested previous quotas that seemed disproportionately high compared to nearby communities. The city fell short of its quota last time, buying $994,000 worth of bonds.
Quotas elsewhere in Saratoga County include $261,000 ($4.576 million) for Mechanicville, $233,900 ($4.101 million) for Ballston Spa and $62,000 ($1.087 million) for Schuylerville.
Saratogians Made Healthier By War
“I don’t recall a winter when I have had so much leisure, and I don’t believe I am alone,” a local doctor tells The Saratogian today, “illness has reached a low mark during the last six months.”
“The war is making of Americans a healthier race,” a reporter claims after surveying local physicians. In particular, wartime food conservation efforts have improved Americans’ diets.
“Meals have become simpler; moderate and not immediate eating has become fashionable,” the anonymous doctor explains, “The result, of course, is perfectly apparent. I have never treated so few cases of stomach trouble in my life. We [had] all been eating too much; now that we are reducing our rations the people benefit but the doctors suffer.”
The same physician speculates that wartime volunteerism has discouraged hypochondriac habits, especially among wealthy women.
“The medical profession has always included among its most desired patients numerous women who have been blessed or cursed with plenty of time with nothing to do,” he elaborates, “Their housework has been done by others, they have taken little exercise, they have become self-centered and almost invariably they have turned their thoughts inward and found something was the matter with them physically.”
Now that many of these women are actively engaged in Red Cross and other relief work, “they haven’t had time to think of their former physical woes. They have been as well and as reasonably happy as any person can be under present conditions.”
Wartime health trends have “cut widely into my practice,” the doctor admits, “and strange as it may seem, I’m glad of it.”