Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1918-09-07
SUCH is THE DECLARATION OF
PRESIDENT WILSON IN LABOR
DAY MESSAGE.
Purpose of America is to Resist
Prussian Aggression, and the Army
of Laborers at Home Is as I'm
portant as the Army Abroad.

U.s. NOW II is supremacy SlSnlncanl.
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 single army, of many
parts and many tasks, but commanded
by single obligation, our faces set
toward single object. We now know
that every tool in every essential in
dustry is weapon, and a weapon
welded for the same purpose that any
rifle is welded; a weapon which, If
we were1to lay down, no rifle 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.
vaded, and Germany was afield again,
as in 1870 ind 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 governing
class. 1t Is a war to make the nations
and peoples of the world secure against
every such power as the German auto
cracy 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 essential, as the army
of fighting men in the far fields of
actual battle. And the laborer is moi
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 striyen for and held
dear since freedom first had its dawn
and his struggle for justice began.
"The soldiers Mt 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
and clear-eyed resolution, but a day
of conservation also, in which we de-
vote ourselves without pause or limit
to the great task of setting our own
country and the whole world free ia
render Justice to all, and of maxine
1t impossible for small groups of pollti-
cal leaders anywhere to disturb or in
any way to make tools and puppets
of those upon whose consent and upon
whose power their own authority and
their own very existence depend.
1--WE may count upon each other. The
nation is of a single mind. It is taking
counsel with no special class 1t is
serving no private or single interest
Its own mind has been cleared and
fortified by these days which burn the
drosS away.