Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-02-08
FLIERS AT THE
FRONT ARE BADLY
HANDICAPPED
BY Frank A Vanderlip

Hardly day passes but there is
some fresh illustration OF the inability
on the part Of governments to buy
with money something essential for
war preparation We are now discover
ing that there is not linen enough in the
world to cover the aeroplanes that the
allies are producing The English
government has just decided that at
least 10000 acres OF English soil must
be devoted to the production OF flax,
instead Of food That government is
making terms with the farmers, which
viii lead to the planting OF that crop,
The illustrations are endless OF the
fact that there are not labor and mate
rails enough to produce the things that
the people want and the things that
the government wants. There are two
ways OF helping solve the problem.
One is to speed up production and in
duStry The other is to cut down un-
necessary consumption BY the latter
method every one can put himself in
an effective way in a front trench.
Every one can make sacrifices that will
be reflected in a quicker and better
equipment OF armies. The progress that
can be made by speeding up production
can be exceeded many fold by the ei-
feet which can be produced by whole
nation making up its mind really to
help win the war The difficulties Of
equipping the army would be easily cut
in half If every individual in this
country would recognize his respon-
sibility in helping to equip the army
his responsibility to get on without de
handing new things he can get on with
out, and by so doing leave a greater
amount Of labor and material to pro-
duce the things the government must
have.
Every yard OF linen that is bought
from to-day on puts the buyer in di-
rect competition with the Aeroplane
Board in cquipping the fleet Of aero
planes which we hope to put over the
German lines. That should be very
plain to every one when it is known
that the need OF linen for aeropane
production exceeds the total stock there
is in the world But the same rule
applies in almost every direction that
we turn.
There can be only two reasons why
men should not see in their personal eX-
penditure their individual responsibility
for equipping the army. One is a be-
lief that a fully equipped American
army is not going to be necessary; that
the war either will be won by our al
lies, or it has already been won by the
exhaustion of our enemies. There is lit
tie in the situation upon which to base
such a belief The other reason must
be that people believe that there are
labor and materials enough to produce
everything that they want for their i'll
dividual use and everything that the
government must have Absolute
blindness to what the total is when
YOU add two and two is the only cX-
cuse there can be for believing there
are labor and materials enough for the
individual comforts and military needs
Of the country. The man who is not
prepared to economic to-day either
believes there is no necessity for mill
tary preparedness or he will not look
in the face the plaineSt facts i'll re-
gard to industrial capacity The gov
eminent has provided the easiest pos
sible road for the individual to turn
his personal sacrifice into patriotic aid
save and buy War Savings Stamps