Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1917-04-26

on the farms: The supreme need of
our own nation and Of the nations
with which we are cooperating Is an
abundance Of supplies, and especially
Of foodstuffs. The Importance of an
adequate food supply, especially for
the present year, is superlatlve.
without abundant food alike for
the armies and the peoples now at
war, the whole great enterprise upon
which we have embarked will break
down and fall.
Hold Fate of Nations.
"The worlds food reserves are low.
Not only during the present emergency
but for some time after peace shall
have come both our own people and a
large proportion of the people of Eu-
rope must rely on 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 not count
upon them TO omit no step that will
increase the production of their land
or that will bring about The most eff
fectual cooperation in the sale and
distribution of their products?
"The time is short. 1t Is of the most
imperative Importance that everything
possible be done and done Immediate
ly to make sure of large harvests.
call upon young men and old alike and
upon the able-bodied boys of the land
to accept ana act upon this duty-to
turn In hosts to the farms and make
certain that no pains and no labor is
lacking In this great matter.
81 particularly appeal to the farmers
of the South to plant abundant food
stuffs as well as cotton.
Trade to Be unhampered.
1.-THE course of trade shall be as I'M
hampered as 1t is possible to make it,
and there shall be no unwarranted
manipulation of the nations food sup
ply by those who handle 1t on its way
to the consumer.
"This let me say to the middietnen
of every sort, whether they are han
ding our foodstuffs or our raw mate
terlals of manufacture or the products
of our mills and factories: The eyes
of the country will be especially upon
you. This is your opportunity for sig
nal service, efficient and disinterested.
The country expects you, as 1t expects
all others, to forego unusual profits, to
organize and expedite shipments of
supplies of every kind, but especially
of food, with an eye to the service you
are rendering and in the spirit of those
who enlist in the ranks, for their peo-
pie, not for themselves.
II shall confidently expect you to
deserve and win the confidence of peo-
pie of every sort and station.
Efficiency on Railroads.
ITO the men who run the railways
of the country, whether they be man
ayers or operative employees, let me
say that the railways are the arteries
of the nations life, and that upon them
rests the immense responsibility Of
seeing to 1t that those arteries suffer
no obstruction Of any kind, no ineth-
cheney or slackened power. ..,
ITO the merchant let me suggest the
motto, Small profits and quick serv-
ice,' and to the shipbuilder the thought
that the life of the war depends upon
him. The food and the war supplies
must be carried across the seas no mat
| ter how many ships are sent to the
bottom. The places of those that go
down must be supplied at once.
"To the miner let me say that he
stands where the farmer does: The
work of the world waits on him. If
he slackens or fails, armies and states
men are helpless. He also is enlisted
in the great Service army.
Every Garden Helps.
LET me suggest also that every one
who creates or cultivates q garden
helps, and helps greatly, to solve the
problem of the feeding of the nations |;
and that every housewife who prac-
tees strict economy puts herself in
the ranks of those who serve the ma
ton.
"This is the time for America to cor
rect her objectionable fault of waste
fulness and extravaganza. Let every
man and every woman assume the duty
Of careful, provident use and expendi-
ture as a public duty, as a dictate of
patriotism which no one can now ex-
pect ever to be excused or forgiven for
ignoring.
'In the hope that this statement of
the needs of the nation and of the
world in this hour Of supreme crisis
may stimulate those to whom it comes
and remind all who need reminder of
the solemn duties of time such as the
world has never seen before, beg that
all editors and publishers everywhere
will give as prominent publication and
as wide circulation as possible to this
appeal.
Supreme Test Has Come.
81 venture to suggest also to all ad'
vertising agencies that they would per,
haps render a very substantial and