Marin Knows How

by Laurie Thompson

After the United States officially entered World War I on April 6, 1917, communities across the country did their patriotic duty by purchasing Liberty Bonds to support the allied cause.

Marin County was no exception. A November 1, 1917 Marin Journal article proudly boasts:

This county can now borrow for a few days the slogan of San Francisco and shout from the hill tops, ‘Marin knows how.’

For Marin has subscribed for $701, 500. worth of Liberty Bonds, $1,500. more than the maximum allowed to her.

So Marin can take to herself a share of the honor due the people of the nation which has sent the five billion dollar message of cheer to the boys of France, which, by the way, is a five billion dollar message of another nature to the Kaiser.

From the number of subscribers to the second loan, it appears that the people have begun to realize that it is the safest investment in the world and should there be a third call, there is no doubt that Marin will again eclipse the most sanguine expectations of the Liberty Loan Committee.

There is not a town in the county that feels ashamed of its response, although some municipalities are proud, even to the degree of boasting of the record made by their patriots.

Among these justly proud ones are Sausalito, San Anselmo, Mill Valley and San Rafael.

To Wallace H. Foster belongs a huge amount of credit for the success…[not only] because he sells bonds, but because he know how to select and organize his sales force….

EDITOR’S NOTE: Wallace H. Foster -who organized the 2nd Liberty Loan Campagin- was the manager of the Marin branch of P. G. & E. and president of the Central Marin Chamber of Commerce. In early 1918, Foster organized the third Liberty Bond campaign in Marin which included a huge liberty bond rally in front of the Marin County Courthouse. In June of that same year, he took a leave of absence from P.G. & E. so he could go to New York to help with the war effort. He had been recruited by the marine transportation division of the Federal Food Administration. His many Marin County friends gave him a farewell banquet where they presented him with a portable typewriter. After the war, he settled in the Pacific Northwest where he became a prominent wheat dealer and president of the Waterside Milling Company of Tacoma, Washington. He died in Tacoma in 1940.

Originally published at https://annetkent.kontribune.com.