HSwMS Sverige

9th November 2022

Link reblogged from Kontextmaschine with 76 notes

HSwMS Sverige →

youzicha:
There’s a talking point that “if you want higher taxes, why don’t you just write a check to the government, huh?”. In 1912 Sweden, they actually did.
In 1911 the government decided to defer the planned construction of a coastal battleship for budget reasons, and in January 1912, a group of individuals responded by founding the “Swedish Coastal Battleship Association” to raise money for it by “voluntary taxation”. Members pledged to donate, over three years, the same amount they paid in taxes in 1911. By May 1912, there were enough pledges to cover the planned budget for the ship, which was indeed ordered in November. The association raised enough money to cover the entire cost of the ship, with a little bit left over which was spent on other military improvements. There were 112,792 individual donors (2% of the Swedish population).
This reminds me of a section in James Sparrow’s Warfare State (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011):
The Treasury accordingly worked the theme of equipment into as many promotions as possible. Bond drives and special promotions featured an ingenious array of equipment “sales” in which bond buyers could attach their purchases to a specific piece of matériel. Indeed, promotions featuring equipment were such a regular feature of the War Savings Staff’s activities that it maintained an accurate price list of munitions, vehicles, vessels, and other matériel as a reference for the Special Events Division and the state committees. Large items, such as a bomber, could serve as a tangible quota that a war plant or community could try to “buy” over the course of a drive. The small town of Windsor Locks, Connecticut, population 4,300, “bought” its own bomber during a forty-seven-day drive in early 1943 that netted more than $175,000. It was unusual for such a small town to make such a large “purchase,” which was a more plausible goal for cities the size of El Paso, Texas, or Napa, California. Students at Union Endicott High School were electrified in December 1943 when school officials received an official press service wire describing how the “Endicott Special,” an Airacobra fighter they had sponsored through bond purchases in the Schools at War program, had “bagged three bombers and a fighter on its maiden combat flight in the South Pacific.” After praising the “grand little ship” the students had paid for, the captain proceeded to describe in satisfying detail the fighting that had downed the four “Jap planes.” The news inspired the students to buy yet another fighter—their fourth—during a special holiday bond drive.
The Treasury’s strategy of tying bond sales to particular items needed for combat allowed bondholders to “buy” military equipment in place of the consumer durables on which they spent their disposable income in peacetime. (Courtesy of the National Archives Still Picture Records Section, ARC #513992)
This approach to setting drive quotas became quite popular, stoking competition between rival towns, local organizations, and even different shifts working in war plants. In May 1942, the Treasury found itself in the difficult position of having to explain an unfortunate navy policy to state sales organizations wanting to have their names affixed to large ships they had “bought” with bonds. Even if they could raise the bond sales commensurate with a $6.5 million submarine or a $65 million aircraft carrier, the navy would not release the name of a vessel until twenty-four hours prior to its launch. The Treasury devised a solution that allowed organizations to hang a plaque on the bow. Army policy likewise allowed “decalcomanias” to be affixed to mobile equipment such as tanks and jeeps that schools, towns, and organizations had “bought” with bonds. Treasury research found that stoking competition through such concrete goals was an extremely effective sales technique employed in the war plants attaining the highest quotas.
Individual bond buyers enjoyed an abundance of opportunities to “buy” equipment in a more personal fashion. Students could “adopt” a soldier by saving stamps toward bonds in amounts that would pay for his food, clothing, ammunition, or rifle, each of which could be displayed along with its price on a wall chart that fit nicely on a bulletin board. For those adults who wanted their bonds literally to outfit a friend or relative in the service, the V-mail Christmas bond letter was a perfect opportunity. It proved so popular during the 1944 holiday season that Morgenthau ordered it to be made available year-round as a “V-mail gift certificate.”
President Roosevelt, once again showing his finely tuned understanding of popular sensibilities, forwarded to Morgenthau a promotional idea to help civilians identify more directly with the machinery of war in April 1943. Why not follow the example of the British, the letter asked, and allow citizens to paste their war savings stamps directly onto bombs that would be dropped over Germany?

Tagged: rerun