The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-09-14

t1on01 Defense shortly after we enter ed the war. Almost from the day of their organization they took a 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 foodstuffs. 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 admins 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 signifi- canoe.
 ITO 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 in the school districts, bringing the govern ment to the people and the people to kha jc
 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 a special sense the guardians of civilian morale ln each state, carrying on work of education and informa- ton which we look to see continued and strengthened, in 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 well as in the hour of victory.
 "In states with considerable popu- lation of foreign origin the state coun- l cils of defense are leaders in the work | of Americanization, establishing war 1 information bureaus, correlating exist ing Americanization 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 then in particular upon the adjustment of their legal affairs and upon military conditions and requirements and social hygiene.
 ''They are bringing their great influ- 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 the efforts of these agencies, seeing that they work tremendously and to a con- 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- tion of food by providing means of transporting it to market.
 "In addition, they are doing notable work in connection with public health, in connection with vocational educa- tion and in studying and assisting in the solution of the difficult housing and rent-profiteering problems which the war has brought to many a local ity.
 Hast, but far from least, their rami- flying organization enables them to play a valuable part in the practical execution of the policies of the De- partment of Agriculture, the Food Ad- ministration, the Fuel Administration, the Labor Department, the Shipping Board and the other federal agencies
 which are extended into the states.
 We expect the state representatives
 of these federal agencies to feel in the
 future, as they have been able to feel
 in the past, that the organization of
 the State Council of Defense is their
 ready right-hand. Most of the state
 councils are incidentally performing ] the special service of bringing these
 federal representatives together for
 frequent and regular consultation, and
 in most of the states these federal rep resentatives are actually members of the councils of defense.
 "These, in general terms, are the broad lines upon which the state coun-
 cils are now acting, and I have said
 nothing of the local industrial and so-
 cial emergencies which 1t is their spe-
 cial province to meet by local action. "The existence of this great national system. valuable for each and every government department, makes, o1 course. for economy of effort and ren. ders unnecessary the creation of much local federal machinery which would otherwise have to be set up for the per. formance of specific tasks.
 May suggest, then, that you ask : all federal departments, administra.
 lions and commissions, when planning new work or extension of their organi cations. to consider carefully the pos