FISCAL: Thrice Over

Shaken less by verbal criticism than by the uncertain market behavior of Government bonds, the Administration last week was very careful in taking its stance for its Dec. 15 financing. What it wanted was not just $950,000,000 in new money, but, more important, a vote of confidence in the Government's credit. Acting Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau turned to his new Wall Street-trained assistant Earle Bailie and they adopted a simple device. Wall Street expected the Government to offer one year Treasury Certificates bearing 2% interest. Instead the Treasury made the rate 2¼%. Result: the subscription books were able to close on the evening of the day they opened, and the subscriptions totaled $2,714,000,000, nearly three times the amount of the offering. Overjoyed, the President himself announced the success of the issue instead of leaving that routine to the Treasury.