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Pittsburgh & World War I. |
"Pittsburgh Has High Record in Men and Money Put into War. In Soldiers, Cash, Financial Credit, Munitions and Other Material This District Is Leader among Communities of the Nation" The Gazette Times, 12 November 1918.
In addition to the uproarious street celebrations which in Pittsburgh accompanied the announcement yesterday that Germany had signed the armistice there were many quiet exchanges of congratulations among well-informed people who know the tremendous part which this community has had in the world war. Some believe, and are able to back their beliefs with figures, that without Pittsburgh the war could not have been won, at all events not so promptly.
In due course of time the figures will be compiled with reference to the vast values of steel products which went to supply the fighting armies at the front. These figures are now kept more or less of a secret, this being part of the general government policy with reference to war activities. There is now no reason the truth should not be known, and, like the financial expenditures and the great losses in life and suffering, it will astound the world. There are experts who estimate the quantity of war material, strictly speaking, which was furnished by the Pittsburgh district as high as 40 per cent of the total provided by the entire country.
In the matter of financial credits it is believed Pittsburgh ranks second only to New York. In banking credits, it is known now that she is second only to that city. Her quotas of the four loans were enormously oversubscribed in each instance. The total subscribed was $492,382,000, divided as follows: First loan, $84,258,000; second, $148,030,000; third, $95,094,000; fourth, $177,000,000. The district is also believed to be the second in the country in the amount of income tax levied and paid.
Claims are made that the records of military operations will show Pennsylvania the first state in the Union in the number of her soldier sons who participated in actual fighting. It is said that the completed casualty lists will show the state to have lost in killed and wounded more men than the entire South. In this proud record the Pittsburgh district achieved a high place. The number of sons of Allegheny county who actually entered the service is estimated reliably as being near 60,000. Few, if any, counties in the country exceeded this.
In Red Cross work and similar activities an enormous amount of work has been done. Almost everybody has had some part in this as well as in subscribing for Liberty bonds and buying War Savings Stamps. It is believed that when the statistical evidence of all this work has been compiled, this city, county and district will take a rank second to that of no other community in the country.
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Pittsburgh & World War I. |