Year: 1863

our heids should be now devoted 90 the production
Of ctton and tobacco, instead Of grain and live
stock, and other articles necessary for the sub
sistence Of the people and the army, the conse-
quence may prove, serious sif ,snot disastrous
especially should the present season prove M un.
favorable as the last Your country, therefore
appeals to you to lay aside all thought of gain,
and to devote yourselves 20 securing your berties
without which those gains would be valueless. II
ID true that the wheat harvest in the more South.
ern States which win be gathered NEXT month
promises an ,abundant yield, -bne even if this
promise be fulfilled, the difficulty of transporta.
ton, enhanced as It has been by an unusually
rainy winter, will cause embarrassments in mill
tary operations and suffering among the people
should the crops in the middle and northern
portions of the Confederacy prove deficient. But
no uneasiness need be felt in regard to mere
supply of bread. for man. 1t is for the large
amount OF corn and forage required for the raising
OF live stock, and for the supply of the animals
used in military operations that your aid ia
specially required. These articles are too bulky
for distant transportation, and in them the de-
fciency in the last harvest was most felt. Let
your fields be devoted exclusively to the produc.
tion Of corn, oats, peas, potatoes and other food
for man ana beast. Let corn be sown broadcast
for fodder, in immediate proximity to railroads
rivers and canals and let all your efforts be direct
ed to the prompt supply of these articles in the
districts where our armies are operating You
will thus add greatly to their efficiency, and
furnish the means without which il is impractica-
Bile to make those prompt and active movements
which have hitherto stricken terror into our enc
mics, and secured cur most brilliant triumphs.


Having thus placed before you, my countrymen,
the reasons for the call made on you for aid in
supplying the wants of the coming year, add


few words appeal in behalf Of the brave soldiers
-
Government is unable to furnish all the comforts
they SO richly merit. The supply of meat for the
army is deficient. This deficiency is only tempo
rary, for measures have been adopted which WILL
it is believed enable to restore the full ra-
ton. But that ration is now reduced at times 10
one-haf the usual quantities in some of our armies.
1t is known that the supply of meat throughout
the country is sufficient for the support Of ALL
but the distances so great, tie condition of the
roads has been so bad during the five months of
winter weather through which we havejust pass
ed, and the attempts of grovelling spectators to
forestall the market aud make money out of the
life-blood of our defenders, have so much inhu-
enced the withdrawal from sale of the surplus 10
the hands of the producers, that the Government
has been unable to gather full supplies The Sec
retary of War has prepared plan, which is ap-
pended to this address, by the aid Of which, or
some SIMILAR means to be adopted by yourselves,
you can assist the officers of the Government in
the purchase of the bacon, the pork and the beef,
known to exist in large quantities in different parts
of the country. Even if the surplus be less than
is believed, is it not bitter and humiliating
lection that those who remain at home, secure
from hardship and protected from danger, should
be in the enjoyment Of abundance, aud that their
slaves also should have full supply Of food while
their sons, brothers, husbands and fathers are
stinted in the rations on which their health and
efficiency depend?


Entertaining no fear that you will either mis-
construe the motives Of this address, or fail to re-
spond to the call of patriotism, I have placed
the facts fully and promptly before you. Let
US all unite in the performance of our duty, each
in his sphere; and, with concerted, persistent and
we'll directed cffurt, there seems little reason to
donbt that, under the blessings of Him to whom
we look for guidance, and who has been to ms our
shield and our strength, we shall maintain the
sovereignty and independence of these Confcde.
rate States and transmit to our posterity the her
tage bequeathcd to us by our fathers.


JEFFERSON DAVIS.


EXECUTIVE OFFICE,