The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-04-16

| will be of right and o. necessity ex
cused from that service and assigned
| to the fundamental, sustaining worl
| OF the fields, and factories and mines
| and they will be as much a part o
the great patriotic forces of the natioI
as the men under fire.
Il take the liberty, therefore, of ad
dressing this word to the farmers o.
the country and to all who work or
the farms. The supreme need of oul
own nation and of the nations with
which we are cooperating is an abun
dance of supplies, and especially OF
| foodstuffs. The Importance Cs an ade
quate food supply. especially for the
present year, is superlatige. 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 reserves are low. Not
only during the present emergency
but for some time after peace shall
have come both our own people and a
large proportion of the people of Eu-
rope must rely upon the hsryests OF
America. Upon the farmers OF this
country, therefore, in large measure
rests the fate of the war and the fate
Of the nation. 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 cooperation in the sale and
distribution of their prod-cts? The
time is short. 1t is of the most iniper
ative Importance that everything pos.
sible be done and done Immediately
to make sure of large harvests. ! call
upon young men and old alike and
upon able-bodied boys of the land TO
accept and act upon this duty-to turn
in hosts TO the farms and make Ger.
tain that no pains and no labor is lack
ing in this great matternA
Appeal to Farmers of South
Il particularly appeal to the farm.
ers of the South to plant abundant
foodstuffs as well 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 governments of the
several states stand ready to coop
crate. They will do everything pos
sible to assist farmers in securing an
adequate supply of seed, an adequate
force of laborers when they are most
needed at harvest time, and the means
of expediting shipments of fertilizers
and farm machinery as well as of the
crops themselves when harvested
The course of trade shall be as un
hampered as it is possible to make II,
and there shall be no unwarranted
of the nations food sup
ply by those who handle 1t on it's way
to the consumer. This is our oppor-
tunity to demonstrate the efficiency
of great democracy and we shall
not fall short of it.
People Watch MiddIemen.
Let me say to the middlemen of
every sort, whether they are handling
our foodstuffs or our raw materials
Of manufacture or the products OF
our mills and factories: The eyes of
the country will be especially upon
you. This is your opportunity for
signal service. efficient and disinter
ested. The country expects you as ii
expects all others, to forego unusual
profits, to organize and expedite ship
ments of supplies of every kind, but
especially of food, with an eye to the
service you are rendering and in the
spirit of those who enlist in the ranks
for their people, not for themselves. ]
shall confidently expect you to de
serve and win the confidence of people
of every sort and station.
"To men who run the railways of
the country, whether they be man.
ayers or operative employees, let me
say that the railways are the ar
teries of the nations life and that
upOH lueH I6SlS lue lHllHeHSe TeSpOH'
sibility of seeing to it that those ar
teries suffer no obstruction of any
kind no inefficiency of slackened
power. To the merchants let me sug-
gest the motto: Email profits and
quick service; and to the shipbuilder
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 sup
piled 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 slack
ems or fails, armies and statesmen are
helpless. He also is enlisted in the
great service army. The manufac
turer does not need to be told. hope