Connecticut western news., 1917-04-19
WILSON CALLS
 NATION TO ARMS
Asks All to Serve In Great
 American Army.
MERE FIGHT TYING FRUlTLESS"

urn the Scale Called Into beIng
 by Conscripting Housewife, Farmer,
 MiddIeman, Railroads, All Workers
 Into Army of National Service.
 The whole nation has been called
 upon for war service in a formal proc
 lamation issued hy President Wilson.
 Declaring that mere fighting will be
 fruitless." the president demanded the
 active support and cooperation of men
 and women in every walk of life-"a
 great international service army.
 From farmer to housewife. each indi.
 vtdua is called upon to do his or her
 share ill conserving and making avail
 able for war use the vast rcSuurcesAoi
 the nation.
 'rhe supreme test of the nation has
 come,' said the president: 'we must
 all speak. act and serve together"
 The text of the proclamation read:
 My Fellow Countrymen-The entrance of
 our own beloved country into the grim
 and terrible war for democracy and hu-
 man rights which has shaken the world
 creates so many problems of national life
 and action which call for immediate con- sideration and settlement that I hope it
 will permit me to address to you few
 words of earnest counsel and appeal with
 regard to them
 We are rapidly putting our navy upon
 an effective war footing and are about to create and equip a great army, but these
 are the simplest parts of the great task to
 which we have addressed ourselves There
 Is not single selfish element so far as l
 can see in the cause we are fighting for We are fighting for what we believe and
 wish to be the rights of mankind and for ,-FN. Al To do this great thing worthily and suc-
 cessfully we must devote ourselves to the service without regard to profit or mate
 rial advantage and with an energy and in- telligence that will rise to the level of the enterprise itself. We must realize to the fullest how great the task is and how
 many things-how many kinds and ele-
 ments of capacity and service and self sacrifice-it involves.
 Must Supply Food. These, then, are the things we must do and do well besides fighting do the things without which mere fighting would be fruitless
 We must supply abundant food for our selves and for our armies and our sea- men not only, but also for large part of the nations with whom we have now made common cause, in whose support and by
 whose sides we shall be fighting. ..s., ia. s@ ..-.. We must supply ships by the hundred
 
 side of the sea. submarines or no subma- rines. what will every day be needed there and abundant materials out of our fields and our mines and our factories with which not only to clothe and equip our own forces on land and sea- but also to clothe and support our people, for whom the gallant fellows under arms can no longer work, to help clothe and equip the armies with which we are operating Tn Europe and to keep the looms and manu- factories here in raw material; coal to Keep the fires going in ships at sea and the furnaces of hundreds of factories across the sea, steel out of which to make arms and ammunition both here and there rails for wornout railways back of the fighting fronts, locomotives and rolling stock to take the place of those every day going to pieces, mules, horses cattle. for labor and for military -service-everythtng | with which the people of England and France and Italy and Russia have usually supplied themselves, but cannot now af- ford the men, the materials or the ma chinery to make.
 All to Serve Nation. It is evident to every thinking man that our industries on farms in shipyards, in mines, in factories must be made more prolific and more efficient than ever, must be more economically managed and bet ter adapted to the particular requirements of our task than they have been. and l that | women who devote their thought and their energy to these things will be serv- ing the country and conducting the fight for peace and freedom just as truly and just as effectively the men on the bat tlefield on in the trenches.
 The industrial forces of the country men and women alike, will he a great na- tional-a great international-servicea army, a notable and honored host engaged fin the service of the nation and the world and the efficient friends and saviors of free men everywhere.
 Thousands-nay, hundreds of thousands of men otherwise liable to military serv- ice will of right and of necessity be ex- cused from that service and assigned to fundamental sustaining work of the fields and factories and mines. and they will he
 as much part of the great patriotic forces of the nation as the men under fire I take the liberty therefore of address. ing this word to the farmers of the coun- try and to all who work on the farms: The supreme need of our nation and of the nations with which we are co-operat. ing is an abundance of supplies and espe cially of foodstuffs. The importance of an adequate food supply, especially for the present year, is superlative. Without abundant food alike for thu 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 people and large propor- tion 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 moi
 count upon them to omit no step that will | increase the production of their land or that will bring about the most efrectual
 cooperation in the sale and distribution | of their products? The time As short If
 is of the most importance that everything | possible be done and done immediately to
 make sure of large harvests. call upon young men and old alike and upon the | ablebodied boys of the land to accept and | act upon this duty-to turn in hosts to the | farms and make certain that no pains and ] m lahnr is lacking in this great I,natta.