The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1917-04-20
\ II
PRESIDENTS
PROCLAMATION


MAY FEED HER ARMIES And PEOPLE
WHO ARE FIGHTING GERMANY.
My FelloW-C -Countrymen.
The entrance of our own beloved
country into the grim and terrible
war for democracy and human rights
which has shaken the world creates
I'D many problems of national life and
action, which calls, for immediate
consideration and settlement, that I
hope you will permit me to address
tO YOU few words of earnest counsel
and appeal with regard I'd th@m-
\ wv are rapidly putting our navy
upon 49, effective war footing and re
about I'D create and equip great
army, but these are the simplest parts
of the great task to which W. have
addressed ourselves. There iS not a
single selfish element, so c. - can
see, in the cause W. are fighting for.
We are fighting for what W. believe
and wish to To- the rights of mankind
and for the future peace and security
Of the world. TO dO this great thing
worthily and successfully W. must de-
\ vote ourselves to Tho service without
regard to profit Oh material advan-
ltaEe and with an energy and intelli-
gence that will rise tO the level of
the enterprise itself we must real
f. to the full how great the task is
and how many things, how many
kinds and elements of capacity and
service and Self-SaCrifice lt involves.
These, then, are the things w. must
do and do we'll, besides fighting the
things without which mere fighting
would be fruitless.
we must supply abundant food for
yourselves and fOr our armies and our
seamen not only, but also for "a large
part of the nations with whom w.
have now made common cause, in
whose support and by whose sides w.
shall be fighting.
WI must supply ships hy the hun
dredS out of our shipyards to carry to
the other side of the sea, submarines
Or nO submarines, what will every
day be needed there and abundant ma
tarials out of our fields and our mines
md our factories with which not only
to clothe and equip our own forces
or land and sea but also tO clntha and
support thu people for whom the gal
liant fellows under arms can no longer
work, tO help clOthe and equip Cine
Earnies with which We are co-operat-
ling in Europe and 40 keep the looms
and manufactures there in raw ma
lterialg; coal to- keep the fires going
ln ships at sea and in the furnaces Of
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 fronts; locomotives and
rolling stock tO take the place or
those every day going to pieces; N
mules, horses, cattle for labor anfz
for military service; everything with
which the people of England and
France and Italy and Russia have us
ually supplied themselves but cannot
now afford the men, the materials Oh
the machinery It'd make.
| It il evident I'D every thinking man
that our industries On thu farm, in
the Shipyards, in the mines, in tine
factories, must To- made more prolific
and more efficient than ever, and that
they must he more economically man
aged and better adapted tO the par
ticular requirements Of our task than
they have been; and what A want It'd
say iS that the men and the women
who devote their thought and their
energy Cd these things will be serving
the country and conducting the fight
for peace and freedom just as truly
and just as effectively as the men OH
the battlefield CO.. in the trenches.
The industrial forces or the coun-
Try, men and women alike, will be
great national, great international,
service army-a notable and honored
host engaged lin the service of the
nation and the world, the efficient
friends and saviOrs or free men ev-
erywhere Thousands, nay, hundreds
Iof thousands Of men otherwise liable
To military service, will or right and
rOf necessity t. excused from that ser
vice and assigned to the fundamental,
sustaining work of the fields and fac
tories and mines, and they will be -
much part of the great patriotic for
Co. of the nation as the men under
fire
I take the liberty, therefore, or ad-
dressing this word To the farmers OF
the country and To iii who work Oh
the farms; The supreme need Of our
own nation and OF the nations with
which W. are cooperating il an
abundance of supplies, and especially
Of foOdstuffs- The Importance of an
adequate food supply, especially for the
present year, IL superlatiTe. Without
abundant food, alike for the armies
and the peoples now at war, the whole
great enterprise upon which W. have
embarked will break down and fail
The worlds food reserves are law.
Not only during the present emergen-
cy but for some time after peace shall 1
have come both our own people and "a \
large proportion of the people OF 4
Europe must rely upon the harveHts |
in America. Upon the farmers of |
this country, therefore. in large meas
ure, 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 tine production Of \
their land or that will bring about \
the most effectual cooperation in tine
sale and distribution of their pro-
ducts? The time * short It is of \
thu most imperative Importance that H
everything possible be done and done \
to make sure or large
harvests- I call upon young men and
old alike and upon the able-bodied \
boys OFF the land I'D accept and act
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