Market Day

The Secretary of the Treasury went into the public marketplace crying a ware: "For sale, $200,000,000 worth of U. S. promises to pay back in 30 years conjoined with four one hundredths of the total every year in the meanwhile. Buy, good folk! These wares grow rare: five years ago, $25,000,000,000 of U. S. promises to pay with interest were in your hands. Now there are only $21,000,000,000 of them left. Buy!"

But he had no need to finish his call. The attractiveness of the first long-term issue of Treasury bonds since 1922 overcame the purchasing public. They turned to the Federal Reserve Banks; within two days the issue was so heavily oversubscribed that the subscription books were closed.

Some of the same bonds were also offered (exclusive of the cash offering) in exchange for Third Liberty Loan bonds due Sept. 15, 1928, and Treasury 4 3/4% notes and 4% certificates maturing Mar. 15, 1925. These exchanges were not closed as was the cash subscription book, for good reason. By the exchange: 1) The heavy debt maturities in 1928 are lessened, 2) this reduction of maturities is achieved at par although Third 4%'s are selling at a premium, 3) interest on the Third 4 1/4's exchanged is reduced 1/4% for the next three years nine months. One of the biggest buyers of Government Bonds, the First National Bank of New York, nevertheless considered it the better part of profit to exchange $50,000,000 of the Third 4 1/4's (for its own account), in order to be sure of having a large block of government bonds for the next 30 years.

The oversubscription in cash was so extraordinarily heavy that all subscriptions of over $10,000 were declined. Subscriptions up to $1,000 were allotted in full. Subscriptions up to $10,000 but not less than $1,000 were allotted 65%.