A Thrift Stamp A Day/Army Shoes
Artist
Designer Unknown
Datec. 1918
Dimensions28 3/4 x 21 in. (73 x 53.3 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.8
DescriptionLike the Liberty Loan drives encouraging U.S. citizens to buy war bonds after the country's entry into World War I in 1917, the War Savings Stamp (W.S.S.) program was developed to promote individual investment in the Allied war effort. In addition to its $5-dollar series of War Savings Stamps (much more affordable than Liberty Bonds, which started at $50), the Treasury introduced the 25-cent Thrift Stamps promoted in posters like this one from a series issued by Schulte Cigar Stores. A completed book of these could be exchanged for a War Savings Stamp. The W.S.S. campaign ultimately raised around $9 million for the war effort. This poster, like the others issued by Schulte, is hardly subtle in its message; by purchasing a modest stamp at a cigar store, an ordinary citizen could contribute directly to victory, to a moment in which the sturdy military shoes at the bottom of the soldiers' legs, each clad in standard-issue olive-drab pants and canvas leggings, would take the U.S. Infantry all the way to the Rhine to defeat the enemy. On View
Not on view
