The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-05-12

SoNtSty as truly ana FatTiottcaIy IN
Factory Workshop and Mine as Their
Brothers In Arms.
President Wilson In his proclamation
calls on labor to do its part in the
fight. He says:
There is not a single selfish element,
so far as can see, in the cause we are
fighting for We are fighting for what
we believe and wish to be the rights
Of mankind and for the future peace
and security of the world. To do this
great thing worthily and successfully
we must devote ourselves to the serv-
Ice without regard to profit or material
advantage and with an energy and in
telligence that will rise to the level of
the enterprise itself. We must realize
to the full how great the task is and
how many things. how many kinds
and elements of. capacity and service
and self sacrifice it involves.
These, then, are the things we must
do, and do well, besides fighting-the
things without which mere fighting
would be fruitless:
We must supply abundant food for
ourselves and for our armies and our
seamen and also for large part of
the nations with whom we have now
made common cause.
We must supply ships by the hum
dreds out of our sbipyards to carry to
the other side of the sea, submarines
or no submarines, what will every day
be needed there, and abundant mate
rails out of our fields and our mines
and our factories with which not only
to clothe and equip our own forces on
land and sea-, but also to clothe and
support our people, for whom the gal
liant fellows under arms can no longer
work; to help clothe and equip the
armies with which we are cooperating
in Europe and to keep the looms and
manufactures there in raw material;
coal to keep the fires going in ships at
sea and In the furnaces of hundreds of
factories across the sea; steel out Of
which to make arms and ammunition,
both here ana there; rails for wornout
railways back of the fighting fronts;
locomotives and rolling stock to take
THE pl.lce on tiiust every utty gturifg -rs-
pieces; mules, horses, cattle for labor
and for military service everything
with which the people of England and
France and Italy and Russia have
usually supplied themselves, but can
not now afford the men, the materials
or the machinery to make.
1t is evident to every thinking man
that our industries, on the farms, in
the shipyards, in the mines, in the fac
tories, must be made more prolific and
more efficient than ever and that they
must be more economically managed
and better adapted to the particular
requirements of our task than they
have been. And what I want to say
Is that the men and the women who
devote their thought and their energy
to these things will be serving the
country and conducting the fight for
peace and freedom just as truly and
just as effectively as the men on the
battlefield or in the trenches. The in
dustrial forces Of the country, men and
women alike, will be great national,
great international, service army--a
notable and honored host engaged In
the service Of the nation and the world,
the efficient friends and saviors Of free
men everywhere. Thousands nay,
hundreds of thousands-of men other
wise liable to military service will of
right and of necessity be excused from
that service and assigned to the funda-
mental, sustaining work Of the fields
and factories and mines, and they will
be as much part of the great patriotic
forces Of the nation as the men under
fire. -
To the men who run the railways of
the country, whether they be mana
gers or operative employees, let me
say that the railways are the arteries
Of the nations life and that upon them
rests the immense responsibility Of see
ing to 1t that those arteries suffer no
obstruction of any kind, no inefficiency
or slackened power. To the merchant
let me suggest the motto "Small profits
and quick service and to the ship
builder the thought that the life of the
war depends upon him. The food and
the war supplies must be carried across
the seas, no matter how many ships
are sent to the bottom. The places of
those that go down must be supplied,
and supplied at once. To the miner
let me say that he stands where the
farmer does; the work Of the world
waits on him. If he slackens or fails
armies and statesmen are helpless. He
also Is enlisted in the great service
army. The manufacturer does not need
to be told, hope, that the nation looks
to him to speed and perfect every proc
ess, and want only to remind his en-
ployees that their service is absolutely
indispensable and is counted on by ev-
cry man who loves the country and its
liberties. = = .
This is the time for America to cor
rect her objectionable fault of waste
fulness and extravaganza. Let every
man and every woman assume the
duty of careful, provident use and ex-
pandif1Ira a q q pIthlio d.1tv &c dinfa 70