The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-07-05

solved by the government before fall:
Il have just come from a meeting Of
the central committee of the Red
Gross. These are days of big things.
These are days when big things are
being done in a big country by the
men.
1T is because the success of our
national venture rests upon you that
you are here today. You are called
into this game just as definitely as
the Red Cross nurses or the soldiers
in The trenches or Pershing in France
or the President in the White House.
This wan is your game, and | am mol
going to mince words about 1t at all.
II is bong put up TO you as a chal-
ien2c The burden the present and
immediate burden, because you con.
trol the fundamental in industry
that burden rests upon your shoulders,
and thu question is, How much vision
have you? Are you small or are you
big? Are you petty politicians OF the
country or are you statesmen in a
great time? Now, this is the real chal-
lenge IN the present situation, be-
cause the country will not stand any
thing but a large policy from large
men.
"You have been getting or for years,
nan Of you, under the greatest diffi-
Guilty. only yourselves know better
than myself just what these difficulties
have beer and how close a margin of
profit there has been and how many
times you were without profit. |
don't believe that the coal industry
of the country ear continue upon the
basis existing prior to this war. |
want to see this industry stabilized. |
want to see your profits large: large
because you are dealing with things
in a large way, and | believe in for
warding men according to their mag
nation and their capacity and their
daring when they are doing a service.
But this is war time, as any one OF
you may say. 1t is a time when your
boy and mine are going 10 the front.
1t is no time in which to reap an ad-
vantage wen though it comes under
the normal conditions of trade. The
law Of supply and demand which regu-
lates prices normally is set aside IN
this time because the life of the ma
ton is at stake. There are things
greater than making money today, and
if that thought gets into your soul
and gets into the soul of the peo-
pie of the United States we car make
short work of this war on the other
side; and it is because we want a
short war that we want to have the
people of the United States mobilize
behind this administration, not be-
cause it is our administration but be-
cause it is your administration.
Did you notice the speech of Mr..
Root, made a day or so ago in Russia?
| want you to picture him to your
selves speaking before 5000 peasants
and workingmen-men most of whom
rs years ago were slaves-slayes as
truly as the negro was a slave in the
South at that time. Those men are
looking out upon a world with eyes
that are new and unaccustomed to the
light. They have heard of liberty:
they have heard of justice; and they
have heard it said that under democ-
racy those greatest essentials TO free
development would come. And MI.
Root stands before those men and
says We are fighting for you. We
want you to fight for us Now, what
shall we say to Mr.. Root? Is there a
man in the United States who would
say to Mr.. Root, Tell the people of
Russia that my purpose in this time
of international struggle is to make
money? We look upon this as an OPP
p%ortunity to take to myself all the adj
vantage that America can give?' Is
there a business man in America who
will say to me, You send your boy
to France while | stay here and coin
his blood into dollars?'
Il know that isn't the spirit of the
American business man. l have stood
here for two months, since this war
began. and have been overwhelmed
with kilograms from the greatest men
in the country. all saying Let me
help. Let me come in. | am toe old
to go TO the front, but ] am not too
old to come down there and give the
remainder of my life to helping
That's the spirit that will win this
war"
The Secretary pointed out that he
was talking to the coal operators as
to statesmen, and then he defined a