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The Third Liberty Loan Act was a liberty bond sold during World War I that helped cover the war expenses of the United States. These bonds were loans taken by the US Government in which they would pay the money the citizens spent on the loan back in the future. There were two previous loan acts The Liberty Loan Act and The Second Liberty Loan Act, each giving more and more money to the US Government to fund the war. The Third Liberty Loan Act was enacted on April 5, 1918. The third act specifically allowed the US government to issue $3 billion worth of war bonds at a rate of 4.5% interest for up to 10 years with an individual aggregate limit of $45,000. The bonds produced by the Third Liberty Loan Act were not redeemable until September 15, 1928.
The Third Liberty Loan Act was an amendment to the previous two Liberty Loan acts. The first Liberty Loan have been enacted on April 24, 1917 and issued $5 billion in bonds at a 3.5 percent interest rate. However, this loan was not sufficient to support the United States presence in the war. The second act was put into place on October 1, 1917 only a few months after the first. This time the loan allowed for an additional $3 billion in bonds at a 4 percent interest rate. The third loan was still insufficient and a fourth act was created on September 28, 1918 which allowed for an even higher amount - $6 billion at 4.25 percent interest rate.
These bonds were primarily sold by the boy and girl scouts. The most famous of bonds poster depicted a boy scout handing a sword the lady liberty that is suited for battle. The scouts ended up selling 2,328,308 liberty bonds between 1917 and 1918. This totaled $354,859,262 that the government owed to the people of the United States. This totaled $43,043,698 toward the Allied forces.
The expenses covered by these loans included weaponry such as rifles, mustard gas and grenades, medical and surgical supplies, as well as vehicles. Firearms purchased by this war bond included the M1903 Springfield rifle as well as the Maxim machine gun.
Though the liberty loans were to be used only to fund the war they are still used to this day to fund matters of extreme cost. The most recent use was in 2001 to offset the cost of rebuilding the areas affected by the terrorist attacks.