Buy Bonds — Support Your Country!

USA, 1917; Canada, 1917–1918. Charles R. Macauley; an unknown artist.

On the American poster the one pointing is Liberty herself — majestic, even menacing, torch in hand and alarm in her eyes: “You buy a Liberty Bond lest I perish.” On the Canadian one, a soldier in a British helmet with a maple leaf on his collar stares straight at the viewer: “Buy your Victory Bonds.”

The United States entered the war in April 1917 and financed it above all with bonds sold directly to the public. Buyers received “Get behind the Government” buttons — they are drawn on Macauley’s poster too. Canada did the same with its Victory Loans. The Canadian War Museum says outright that the poster was based on the American Uncle Sam, who himself descends from Kitchener.

The technique is a finger that presents the bill. Macauley makes everyone a debtor: if Liberty perishes, it will be because of the bond you did not buy. The Canadian soldier does not ask, he demands: he is at the front, and you can at least pay. Money stops being a private matter and becomes a contribution to the common victory.

Context

1) USA, 1917. Charles R. Macauley. An advertisement for Liberty Bonds; the poster shows the “Get behind the Government” buttons given to buyers. 2) Canada, c. 1917–1918. Issued by the Victory Bond Committee, Ottawa; artist unknown. An advertisement for Victory Bonds; according to the Canadian War Museum, it was based on the American Uncle Sam.