The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-04-28
AN APPEAL BY THE PRESIDENT


trance of our beloved country into
the grim and terrible war for demo-
cracy and human rights which has
shaken the world creates so many
problems of national life and action
which viii call for Immediate consid-
Grafton and settlement of that, I hope
you will permit me to address you a
/ few words of ernest counsel and ap-
peal 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 ad-
1 dressed ourselves. There is not a sin
! gle selfish element, so far as I 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 the future peace and security
of the world.
To do this great thing worthiIy and
successfully, we devote ourselves to
the service without regard to profit
or material advantage and with an
energy and intelligence that will rise
by the level of the enterprise itself
/ We must realize to the full how great
the task is and how many things, how
many kinds and elements of capacity
and service and self-sacrf6ce 1t in
wolves.
"These are the things we must do
and do well, besides fighting
things without which mere fighting
would be fruitless:
"We must supply abundant food
for ourselves and our armies and our
seamen not only, but also for a large
part of the nations with whom we
have now made common cause. in
whose support and by whose sides we
shall be fighting.
We must supply ships by the hun
dreds out of our shipyards to carry to
the other side of the sea, submarines,
or no submarines, what viii every day
be needed there, and abundant ma
terials out of our fields and our mines
and our factories with which not only
to clOthe and equip our own forces
on land an sea, but also to clOthe and
support our people for whom the gal
liant fellows no longer can work, to
help clothe and equip the armies with
which we are cooperating in Europe,
and to keep the looms and manufac-
tories there in raw materials; coal
to keep the fires going in the ships at
sea and in the hundreds of factories
across the sea; steel out of which to
make arms and ammunition both here
and there, rails for worn out railways
back of the fighting forces; locomo-
tlves and rolling stock to take the
place of those every day going to
/ pieces; mules, horses cattle for la
Dor and military service; everything
with which the people of England
and France and Italy and Russia have
usually supplied themselves, but can
not now afford the men, and 4nachin-
cry, the materials to make
- If evident fo
that our industries IN farms, In ship
yards, IN the mines, in the factories,
must be made more prolific and more
efficient than ever and that they must
be more economically managed and
better adapted to the particular re-
quirements of our task than they have
been; and what / 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 eff
hciently as the men the battlefield
or in the trenches.
The industrial forces of the cours-
try, the men and women alike, will
be great national, a great interna-
tlonal service army-the notable and
honored host engaged in the service
OF the Nation and the world, the eff
Gent friends and saviours of free men
everywhere.
Thousands-nay, hundreds of
thousands-of the men otherwise IL
able to military service will out of
right and necessity be excused from
that service and assigned to the fun
damentaI, sustaining work of the
fields, and factories, and mines, and
they will be as much part of the
great patriotic forces of the Nation as
the men under fire.
Il take the liberty, therefore of
addressing this word to the farmers
OF the country and to all who can
work on the farms; the supreme zneed
OF with which we are cooperating is
an abundance of supplies, and espe-
claiIy of foodstuffs. The Importance
OF an adequate food supply, especial
Iy for the present year, is superlative.
Without abundant food, alike for the
armies and 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 sometime after
peace will have come both our own
people and large proportion of the
peoples of Europe must rely upon the
harvestS in America.
upon the Farmers or this country,
therefore In a 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 cooperation in the sale
and distribution of their production?
he time IS short 1t Is of the most
Imperative Importance that every
thing possible be done and done i'm
mediately to make sure of large har-
vests- 1 call upon young men and old
alike and upon able bodied boys of the
land to accept and act upon this duty
at once-to turn TO the host of farms
and make sure that no pains and Ia
Dor is spared IN this great matter
Il particular 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 convincing way than by resist
ing the great temptation of the pres
emit price Of cotton and helping. help
ing upon great scale to feed the ma
lions and the people everywhere who
are fighting for their liberty and for
Z hon