The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1917-04-20
PROCLAMATION BY
THE GOVERNOR
To the Poodle OF Tennessee:-

| 10 the ItOple Ol l6intSstt.--
President Wilson, after days anC
months of watchful waiting. exerting
every effort to avoid a rupture with
/ Germany, striving in every way L
prevent war, moved alone by a deer
consciousness of duty to the American
people. governed and controlled by
unselfsh motives, yielding to the al.
most universal demand of a peace
I loving people, on the 2nd inst, request
ed the congress Of the United States
assembled in extraordinary session, to
declare the recent course Of the i'm
perial German government to be, III
fact, nothing less than war against
the government and the people of the
United States that it formally accept
the status of belligerents thus thrust
upon it, and take immediate steps, not
only to put the country in a more thor
uugh state of defense, but also to ex-
ert all its powers and employ all its
resources to bring the government of
the German Empire to terms and end
the war"
BY reason of these conditions, Amer
lea has never faced a graver crisis
with reference to its foreign affairs
in all its history. Confronted as we are
by impending war, our people should
take counsel on the vital question of
food supply. 1t is just as necessary to
organize the people for economic pro-
duction in times like these, as it is to
organize our armies for defense.
Secretary of Agriculture Houston, in
a statement issued March 9th, gives
sound advice to the nation. He says:
Both for economic and patriotic rea-
sons, the American farmer should
strive this year for the highest stand
ard Of efficiency in the production and
conservation of food"
We have been 50 prosperous and
lived SO eXtravagantly until extrava-
gance has become a national vice. We
are VIGOROUSLY wasteful in the use Of
food, and we have never practiced
economy in food production,
Impressed with the gravity Of the
situation, and being DESTROYS of invit-
ing the attention of our people to this
important question, |, Tom c. Rye,
Governor of Tennessee, do by this pro-
clamation call upon all the people of
the state to put forth every effort for
efficient food production and especially
do | urge you to so plan and work, as
you have never planned and worked
before, that our people at home and
abroad may be properly fed.
Let me urge that you grow your own
food supplies for family and live stock,
that you practice economy; conserve
labor, avoid waste, and deny yourself
Injuries.
Do not be tempted by speculative
prices to plant large crops with which
you are not familiar, or which disturb
the ordinary practices of sound agri-
culture.
The times demand that every citizen
should think soberly and act wisely,
so that the honor of the nation may
De maintained. - -
In order that We may profit the
more by the suggestions herein made,
and that they may result in some sub
stantial good, let me urge that repre-
sentatives of all organized bodies in
terested in agricultural productions in
tennessee, meet at some suitable
time and place in the near future for
a conference on the problmes involved
In testimony whereof, l hereunto
set my hand and cause the great seal
of the state to be affixed at the de-
partment in Nashville on this, the third
day of April, nineteen hundred and
seventeen. TOM C. RYE, Governor
By the Governor,
IKE B. STEVENS, Secy. of State.