Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE BANK DURING THE WAR 371public, so that Canadians generally were scarcely aware ofthe facts.The prospectus of the Fifth Canadian War Loan, theSecond Victory Loan, as it was called, was issued earlyin October. The rate of interest was five and a hah* per cent.By an arrangement between the Minister of Finance and theCanadian Bankers' Association a committee of five bankofficers, comprising a representative of The Canadian Bank ofCommerce, was appointed to confer with the Department ofFinance as to the methods of handling subscriptions to theloan, especially in so far as the banks were concerned. Thiscommittee went into the matter with great care and draftedinstructions for the guidance of the banks in performing theirshare of the work on the loan.In addition, they drew up forthe Department of Finance the circular of instructions sent bythe Department to every branch of a bank in Canada. Althoughon this occasion the banks undertook a large amount ofwork which had previously been performed by the Departmentof Finance, and although there was a large increase inthe number of subscribers, the procedure was greatly simplifiedas a result of the committee's labours, and the work of thebanks was performed with even greater expedition andefficiency than in the past. As in the previous year the bankannounced its willingness to assist subscribers to take up theirsubscriptions within certain limits; loans must not exceedninety per cent, of the amount of bonds subscribed for andmust be paid within ten months, the rate of interest to befive and a half per cent., the same as that yielded by thebonds. Cards were adopted for the record of loans to smallsubscribers.The prosperity of the country at this time was clearly shownby the fact that, in spite of the enormous sums subscribedto the Victory Loan of the previous year, the savings depositsof the banks were higher hi the autumn of 1918 than they hadbeen twelve months previously. In the outcome, the SecondVictory Loan was a prodigious success, the subscriptions