The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1917-05-26

are no armies in this struggle. There
are entire nations armed.
Thus the men who remain to
till the soil and man the factories
are no less a part of the army than
is France, than the men beneath
the battle flags. 1t must be so with
us. 1t is not an army that we must
shape and train for war; it is a
nation. To this end Our people
mus: draw close in one compact
front against a common foe. But
this cannot be if each man pursues
a private purpose. All must pur-
sue one purpose.
The nation needs all men; but
it needs each man, not in the field
that will most pleasure him. but
in the endeavor hat will best serve
the common good. Thus, though a
sharpshooter pleases to operate a
trip hammer for the forging of
great guns, and an expert ma
chinist desires to march with the
flag, the nation is being served only
when the sharpshooter marches and
the machinist remains at his lever.
"The whole nation must be a
team in which each man shall play
the part for which he is best fitted.
To this end, congress has provided
that the nation shall be organized
for war by selection and that each
man shall be classified for service
in the place to which it shall best
serve the general good to call him.
THE significance of this cannot
be o~verstated. 1t is a new thing in
our history and a landmark in u
progress. 1t is a new manne of &C
complishing and vitaliZing our duty
to give ourselves with thoughtful
devotion to the common purpose of
us all. 1t is in no sense a conscrip-
tion of the unwilling, it is rather
selection from a nation which has
volunteered in mass. 1t is no nor
a choosing of those who shall
march with the colors, than it is a
selection of those who shall serve
an equally necessary and devoted
principle in the industries hat lie
behind the battle line.
"The day here named is the time
Upon which all shall present them
selves for assignment to their tasks.
1t is for hat reason destined to be
remembered as one of the most
conspicuous moments in our history.
1t is nothing less than the day up
on which the manhood of the coun-
try shall step forward in one solid
rank in defense of the ideals to
which this nation is consecrated. 1t
is important to those ideals no less
than to the pride of this generation
in manifesting it's devotion to them,
that there be no gaps in the ranks.
at is essential that the day be
hension of it's significance and hat
we accord to it the honor and mean
ing that it deserves. Our industrial
need prescribes that it be not made
a technical holiday, but the stern
sacrifice that is before us urges
lUdU IL Do carried Ill dIl our uedIlS
as a great day of patriotic devO-
ton and obligation when the duty
shall lie upon every man, whether
he is himself to be registered or
not. to see to it that the name of
every male person of the designat-
ed ages is written on these lists of
honor.
"In witness, whereof, l have here
unto set my hand and caused the
seal of the United States to be
affixed.
Done at the City of Washington,
this 18th day of May, in the year
of Our Lord One Thousand Nine
Hundred and Seventeen and of the
independence of the United States
of America the one hundred and
forty-first.
by the president, Robert Lam
sing, secretary of state"