Page:The North Carolina Historical Review - Volume 1, Number 1.pdf/35

Rh was a people's rather than a Government's or an Administration's war. They were made to see that they, themselves, were warriors the same as their boys in khaki were. For the first time the people realized their partnership with the Government. What else could have created 750,000 Government bondholders in a State in which not over 8,000 people had even so much as seen a Government bond before the war.

Not only did the people come to have a new interest in and a more active loyalty to their country, but they came to have a new vision of the world and their part in it. When the soldiers returned with a new interest in world problems—as they most certainly did—they found a people who knew infinitely more about and were infinitely more interested in the world at large than they were before the War enlarged their horizon.

The War Savings Campaign helped to create a finer community spirit. It brought town and country together. It put politicians, business men, and preachers on the same platform to speak, or on the same team to solicit pledges. It made yokefellows of Democrats, Republicans and Socialists. It stimulated local pride. There was a desire for North Carolina to secure its allotment; and a greater desire for the county to secure its share; but the greatest desire of all was for the township or ward to do its part. Consequently, men and women of every class and calling worked together in a common cause and hereafter it has been easier for any worthy cause to command a united community support. In one of the towns of North Carolina, for instance, it had been conceded that the people would not work together. A new man in the community—a preacher—saw in the War Savings Campaign his opportunity to start community team work. One of the first daytime mass meetings in the history of the town was a War Savings Meeting. The people rallied to that heartily. It was regarded as really the beginning of a community spirit in that town that would thereafter make possible all kinds of worthy community efforts.

The War Savings Campaign did much to improve the relations between the white and colored raced in North Carolina. In the War Savings Campaign, the Negro had upon his shoulder the responsibility of doing a full citizen's part. That is, he was expected to invest $20 per capita the same as anybody else. The best men of his race—business men and professional—de-