Connecticut western news., 1918-10-24
CONNECTICUT IS READY FOR ANYTHING

printed above, was as follows:
 My Dear Mir. President:
 "As Chairman of the Council of Ma tional Defense, beg to report to you the noteworthy accomplishments Of the State Council of Defense in the forty-eight states of the Union. and to indicate the war activities for which they seem to me to be peculiarly fit- ted md peculiarly responsible, and to ask your advice and assistance in a matter vital to their future effective ness.
 "The state councils of defense, as you are we'll aware, were instituted 6t the suggestion of the Council of Ma tional Defense shortly after we enter- cd the war. Almost from the day Of their organization they took promi- nent part in recruiting our armed forces. Since the early months of the great struggle they have rendered par ticularly valuable service on behalf of the Department of Agriculture In in- creasing the production of foodstufrs. Before the creation of the United States Food Administration they led the national campaign for food conser- vation. Most of them took a leading part in the institution of Home Guards to take the place of the federal militia. They met many another state emer~ gency by prompt local action. As time went on in the natural course of events many of the fields of action which they had occupied were officially taken over by especially created federal adminis- trations. But new problems constantly arose, and the work of the state coun- cils, instead of diminishing, has nota- bly increased in scope and in signif.. canoe.
 "To accomplish this work they have built up an organization uniquely suit ed to it's purpose. Every state council of defense has active county, or equiv alent, councils of defense under 1t, while in nearly every state the organi- zation of community councils h. the school districts, bringing the govern ment to the people and the people to .he government, is progressing rapidly.
 Through their speakers, their war conferences, their contact with the press and their contact with the peo- pie themselves through their communi- ty councils, the state councils are now in special sense the guardians of civilian morale in each state, carrying on q work of education and informa- ton which we look to see continued and strengthened, Tn order that the will to win and the knowledge of how to make that will effective may be everybody's possession throughout the war, in the dark hours of trial as Rell as in the hour of victory. '
 "In states with a considerable popu- lation of foreign origin the state coun- cils of defense are leaders in the work of Amerlcanization, establishing war information bureaus, correlating exist ing AmerlcnniZatlon agencies. increas- ing as far as possible the educational facilities available to the foreign-born and seeing that such facilities are used.
 "The state councils are engaged in preparing the young men of the coun- try for the high duty of selective serv- Ice, advising ard informing them in particular upon the adjustment of their legal affairs and upon military conditions and requirements and social hygiene
  ence to bear on behalf of economy ana thrift throughout the country. It Is also their special task, in the interest of economy, to supervise the solicita- tion of funds for war relief by volun- tary agencies, and to coordinate tlke efforts of these agencies, seeing thflt( they work harmoniously and to com mon purpose, and determining what agencies shall be approved and what discouraged.
 'They act also as the state repre- sentatives of the Highways Transport Committee of the Council of National Defense in the increasingly important work of extending and facilitating mo- tor-truck transportation, in order to re- duce the tremendous burden on our railroads and to stimulate the produc- ton of food by providing means ofl transporting it to market.
 "In addition, they are doing notableI work in connection with public health, In connection with vocational eGuca-V tion and in studying and assisting inI the solution of the difficult housingY and rent-profiteering problems which, the war has brought to many local ity.
 Last, but far from least their rami- flying organization enables them ,tol play valuable part in the pract kall execution of the policies of the ,e1 partment of Agriculture, the Food S1~l ministration, the Fuel Administrations the Labor Department, the Shipping board and the other federal ugencies