Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-12-09
WAR BRINGS OUT
BEST IN NATION
United States Resources Never
Appreciated Until Acid
Test Applied.
GREATER AMERICA is COMING
Secretary Lane Predicts Big
Announcements After Kaiser
Has Been Licked.
GREATER AMERICA is COMING

WASHINGTON. Dec. SIN his an
nual report published today, Secretary
Lane, In Enthusiastically striking
phrases portrays the transition OF
peaceful democracy into nation or
ganzed for war. Possession OF re-
sources alone he warns the country
does not win wars and recounting the
normous progress made on every hand
declares the physical stores of the
United states are almost completely at
command OF the worlds needs.
"'What can you do TO serve mel!
quotes the secretary.
ITO that question each individual
and each department OF the govern
ment must give answer. The answer
Of this department Is that It has put
every agency and activity which II has
ut the nc Nice OF those departments
more directly concerned with war
making. Our men of scientific knowl-
edge-metallurgists, chemists, engin-
eers. topographers-have found new
work at their hands. The home
sleaders and the miners on the pub
lie lands have been released from
their obligations II they go INTO the
army or show themselves 10 be of
greater service Off their lands than on
them. The reclamation service on a
million and a quarter acres OF irri-
gated lands and the Indians on a hun
dred reservations Joined in the cam
paign for more meat and more wheat.
The patent office has been searched
for new dvices that could be brought
into u.a TO kill the submarine or limit
its destructivencss, for the plans OF
heretofore unused lethal weapons, and
for the formulae Of improved or Un-
known sources OF power. Before war
actually came this department had
compiled the data which showed the
power OF the nation in mineral and
chemical resources, our possible needs,
and how they could be met at home or
where abroad. Prepared lists of those
men who had special knowledge or
were of skill along the lines of our
own activities enabled us to expand
as the call was made.
Tests Promal Resources.
Under the imperative mandate of
war that all things shall become sub
iect TO a new classification according
10 their usefulness in carrying on the
nations struggle, certain phases of our
work have fallen into the background,
while others have been brought into
the high light of national importance.
But the making OF war today is
far more than test Of primal re-
nation in every resource and capacity
and especially along lines of scientific
knowledge. And here again We find
that the ways Of peace have given
something in the way of preparation
for war. The scientific bureaus Of
the government found themselves
converted over night into adjuncts and
eiifxtliaries . In the great international
contest. Men who had regarded them
ola R.tI n.,lxr In, lA
discovering and revealing Of new re-
sources of material strength found
that their years OF experience in the
mountains and on the desert. in lab
oratories and in mines. called them at
once into the thick of the European
struggle.
War forces n nation to an inten-
sive study of what II can do. Thot and
work-these are the<answers to the
problems of material insufficiency. We
or America have had no little 10
boast Of through the quick century of
our march across continent. And
without doubt our ability to stand
alone, depending on ourselves for the
things that make a modern industrial
nation. is something of which we may
be proud not so much because we
have this land as because we have
found out its worth ana made it ours
ny putting IL 10 use. But we soon
realize when thrown into such a strug-
gle as this war how far removed from
entire independence We are.
"A democracy making war is neber
an agreeable sight. for II is not in its
normal line OF life. And those who
sneerIor jeer because II does not play
the game as well as might be, pay an
unconscious compliment to the merits
OF free institutions. 1t takes time to
accustoin men to the short, hard
words of command, and to the sur
render of personal judgment. It is
not easy. either, for a nation, to turn
rs back upon the conception Of a
work where Justice works out its ends
by quiet processes and in its stand
come to the stern belief that the ul-
innate court is a battlefield. So II
there Is wrenching and side-slipping
and confusion there should be no sur
prise. The surprise to me has been
with what comparative ease the
transition has been made. and how
much unconscious preparation for the
new work had been already made.
All n Worlds Command.
Now, that our problem is to pro-
duce more than ever before. II Is
clearly to be seen that the physical
day almost completely ut the COM
mand Of the worlds needs. II. indeed,
for the past forty years the nation
had been planning to make war upon
Its neighbors, and SO seize the conti-
nent for itself, what more would have
been done to make our resources
available for such an adventure. This
is, perhaps, the hardest test to which
the problem Of our internal develop