Buy More Liberty Bonds!

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This scary ad was part of Hobart's third Liberty Loan drive.

Late in March 1918 word came down from Washington that the third Liberty Loan issue would be in the amount of $3,000,000,000. Lake County's allocation was $3,000,000 in Liberty Bonds, with Hobart's quota being $80,000.

The people of Hobart were determined to meet their quota.

The townspeople gathered in the High School Auditorium on March 26 to get the ball rolling. They elected town board president James Carpenter as permanent chairman of the Liberty Loan committee. Several prominent citizens volunteered their services to help organize and direct the selling of bonds. An executive committee consisting of H.W. Paxton, John Gruel and William J. Killigrew devised a pseudo-military sales organization: Hobart and Ross Townships were divided up into "districts"; each district was managed by a "captain," who then appointed "lieutenants," who would go out and solicit Liberty Loan subscriptions, reporting back to the captain on their results.

By the following week, the 11 captaincies had been filled by John Dorman, Sam Woods, William Lennertz, Silvester Gross, John Lutz, John Larson, Jr., William Earle, Carl Olander, Hugo Zobjeck, John J. Wood and Emil Scharbach.

The drive began on Monday, April 8, with 100 men and women making a house-to-house canvass for subscriptions. By the evening they had sold about $30,000 in Liberty Bonds. Tuesday's work added another $10,000 in subscriptions. By the end of the week, District No. 1, captained by John Dorman, was far in the lead, with $15,000 in sales (lieutenant W.H. Wood alone having sold $7,600 worth); its next closest competitor was Emil Scharbach's District No. 11, with $3,500. The Gazette mixed reportage with exhortation: "Every citizen is now expected not only to do his 'bit,' but his 'most.' Open your purse strings and give till it hurts."

On the evening of Monday, April 15, Hobart's streets were packed with marchers and spectators as the Liberty Loan parade, directed by Calvin C. Shearer and Marshal Fred Rose, moved in a slow circle around the heart of the town. In the lead were four aging Civil War veterans (N.P. Banks, Conrad Bender, Matt Franzen and Charles Niksch). They marched to music played by Hobart's militia company. Following behind them were representatives of "every society and organization in Hobart," including the Boy Scouts, the Campfire Girls, and fraternal organizations such as the Masons, Royal Neighbors, Eastern Stars and North American Union. Hundreds of children and young adults, ranging in age from four years to the late teens, joined in the march.

The procession moved from the high school onto Main Street, then north through downtown to Second Street, then to Center Street and back to the high school, where the whole crowd squeezed into the auditorium. Dr. E.M. Linton of Indiana University took to the stage; after giving some rough treatment to an effigy of the Kaiser, he lectured on the war and its causes. Next, attorney Roscoe R. Peddicord announced that Hobart had already subscribed for $50,000 of its $80,000 allotment, and that the aim of this meeting was to make up the deficit. Canvassers spread out among the audience to collect subscriptions. Acting as secretary, attorney Alta Halstead spent an hour scribbling down names and amounts — which, by the evening's end, added up to another $10,000.

On April 18, the News reported that Hobart was still $15,000 short of its quota, and added a veiled threat: "The committee and captains will hold another meeting next Tuesday evening at the town hall, after which a list of every individual subscriber in this territory will be compiled. IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY SUBSCRIBED FOR A LIBERTY BOND, DO SO AT ONCE."

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From La Porte, Indiana, came a report that a non-naturalized German resident had been thrown in jail "for disloyalty." The allegations against him were that he had said he wanted Germany to win the war, and that he refused to buy a Liberty Bond.


Sources:
♦ "Everything Ready for Liberty Loan Drive." Hobart Gazette 5 Apr. 1918.
♦ "Hobart Has Big Patriotic Meeting." Hobart Gazette 19 Apr. 1918.
♦ "Hobart Has Subscribed $65,000 of Liberty Loan Quota." Hobart News 18 Apr. 1918.
♦ "Hobart's Liberty Loan Parade Proves a Big Success." Hobart News 18 Apr. 1918.
♦ "Jailed for Disloyalty." Hobart Gazette 26 Apr. 1918.
♦ "The Drive Is On." Hobart Gazette 12 Apr. 1918.
♦ "Third Liberty Loan Drive, For $3,000,000,000, on Next Week." Hobart News 28 Mar. 1918.