Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1918-09-06
WORKERS At HOME
VITAL AS SOLDIERS
sucH is THE DECLARATION OF
PRESIDENT WILSON IN LABOR
DAY MESSAGE.
Purpose Of America Is to Resist
Prussisn Aggression, and the Army
Of Laborers at Home Is as I'M
portant as the Army Abroad.

Washington.-Al Americans are adj
dressed as fellow enlisted men Of
single obligation, in President VIII
sons labor day message,
The presidents message follows:
"My Fellow Citizens;
Labor day, 1915 is not like any
Labor day that we have known. Labor
day was always deeply significant with
us. Now IL is supremacy significant.
Keenly as we were aware a year ago
Of the enterprise of life and death upon
which the nation had embarked, we did
not perceive its meaning as clearly
as we do now. We knew that we were
all partners and must stand and strive
| together but we did not realize as we
do now that we are all enlisted men,
members of a single army, of many
parts and many tasks. but commanded
by single obligation, our faces set
toward a single object We now know
that every tool in every essential in
dustry is a weapon, and weapon
welded for the same purpose that any
rifle Is WELDED weapon which, If
we were to lay down, no rife would
be of any use.
Against Hun Aggression.
"And a weapon for what? What is the
war for? Why are we enlisted? Why
should we be ashamed if we were not
enlisted? At first it seemed hardly
more than a war of defense against
the military aggression of Germany.
Belgium had been violated France in
vaded, and Germany was afield again,
as in 1870 and 1866, TO work out her
ambition in Europe; and it was neces-
sary to meet her force with force. But
it is clear now that it is much more
than a war to alter the balance of
power in Europe.
Germany it is now plain. was strik-
ing at what free men everywhere de-
sire and must have-the right TO deter
mine their own fortunes, to insist upon
justice. and to oblige governments to
act for them and not for the private
and selfish interests of a governing
class. 1t is n war to make the nations
and peoples of the world secure against
every such power as the German auto
crazy represents. 1t is a war of eman-
cipation. Not until it is won can men
anywhere live free from constant fear
or breathe freely while they go about
their daily tasks and know that gov
ernments are their servants, not their
masters.
"This is, therefore, the war of all
wars which labor should support and
support with all its concentrated power.
The world cannot be safe, mems lives
cannot be secure, no mans right can
be confidently and successfully assert
ed against the rule and mastery of
arbitrary groups and special interests
so long as governments like that
which. after long generalization, drew
Austria and Germany into the war are
permitted to control the destinies and
the daily fortunes of men and nations,
plotting while honest men work, lay
ing the fires of which innocent men,
women and children are to be the fuel.
Industry Must Sustain.
you know the nature of this war.
1t is war which industry must sus-
tain. The army of laborers at home is
as important, as esSe.- tial, as the army
of lighting men in the far fields of
actual battle. And the laborer is not
only needed as much as the soldier. 1t
is his war. The soldier is his champion
and representative To fail to win
would be TO imperil everything that
the laborer has striven for and held
dear since freedom first had its dawn
and his struggle for justice began.
THE soldiers at the front know this.
1t steelS their muscles to think of it.
They are crusaders. They are fighting
for no selfish advantage for their own
nation. They would despise anyone who
fought for the selfish advantage of
any nation"
Let us make this. therefore. a day
Of fresh comprehension. not only of
what we are about and of renewed
md clear-eyed resolution. but day
If conservation also, in which we de-
'ote ourselves without pause or limit
o the great task Of setting our own
country and the whole world free TO
'ender justice to all, and of maxine
[ impossible for small groups of politi-
al leaders anywhere to disturb or in
my way TO make tools and puppets
# those upon whose consent and upon
whose power their own authority and
heir own very existence depend.
I'VE may count upon each other. The
lation Is of single mind It Is taking
with no special class. 1t is
erving mo private or single interest.
is own mind has been cleared and
ortified by these days which burn the
ROSS away.