Support

War is expensive, consuming vast quantities of cash and other resources. Modern war is especially so, and the US government has sought additional ways to finance the training and outfitting of soldiers, the manufacture of new weapons and ammunition, and more.

Support can take many forms. Every war has encouraged those still on the homefront to send supplies to soldiers: special food, extra clothing, or positive letters.

Frequently, outside organizations have raised money to send to soldiers or buy supplies.

Most often, however, the government itself has organized loan or war bond drives to cover the extra spending necessary in war. Many of these posters encourage citizens to put their personal savings into government loans at a low interest rate so that the treasury could have cash up front to apply to any number of uses.

Urging civilians to support the war effort financially meant equating money with patriotism. Money became, in these messages, simultaneously tangible and intangible: it translates directly to fervent patriotism, but also to bullets, locomotives, and more.

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