The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1917-05-04
WORK The FARM
President Wilson Issues an Appeal that
Means Much.

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the shipyards, in the mines, in the
factories, must be made more prolific
and more efficient than ever and that
they must be more economically man.
aged and better adapted to the par
ticular requirements of our task than
they have been; and what l want to
say is that the men and 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
battlef1elds or in the trenches. The
industrial forces of the country, men
and women alike, will be a great ma
tional, a 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 thou
sands, of men otherwise liable to
military service will of right and of
necessity be excused from that ser.
vice 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 pa
triotic forces of the nation as the
men under fire.
1 take the liberty, therefore, of adj
dressing this word to the farmers of
the country and to all who work on
the farms: The supreme need of
our own nation and of the nations
with which we are cooperating is an
abundance of supplies, and especially
of food stuffs. The importance of an
adequate food supply, especially for
the present year, is superlative.
Without abundant food, alike for the
armies and the peoples now at war,
the whole great enterprise upon
which we have embarked will break
down and fail. The worlds food re-
serves are low. Not only during the
present emergency but for some time
after peace shall have come both our
own people and large proportion of
the people of Europe must rely upon
the harvests in America. Upon the
farmers of this country, therefore, in
large measure, rests the fate of the
war and the fate of the nations. May
the nation not count upon them to
omit no step that will increase the
production of their land or that will
bring about the most effectual coop
Grafton in the sale and distribution of
their products? The time is short
1t is of the most imperative impor.
lance that everything possible be
done and done Immediately to make
sure of large harvests. l call upon
young men and old alike and upon
the able-bodied boys of the land to
accept and act upon this duty,-to
turn I'M hosts to the farms and make
certain that no pains and no labor
is lacking in this great matter.
l particularly appeal to the far,
mers of the South to plant abundant
food stuffs as we'll as cotton. They
can show their patriotism in no bet,
ter or more convincing way than by
resisting the great temptation of the
present price of cotton and helping,
upon great scale, to feed
the nation and the peoples every
where who are fighting for their lib,
critics and for our own. The variety
of their crops will be the visible
measure of their comprehension of
their national duty.
The Government of the United
States and the government of the
several States stand ready to cooper
ate. They will do everything possible