Community Civics and Rural Life Part 11

In a similar way we discovered and brought into use valuable natural resources of whose existence we had largely been ignorant and for which we had been dependent upon other nations. We made astonishing progress in scientific knowledge, and especially in the application of this knowledge to invention and to industrial enterprises. We developed a new interest in agriculture, and learned the food values of many products that had formerly been neglected. We were led to attack seriously the great problem of suitable housing for workmen, and had an important lesson in the relation between wholesome home-life and industrial efficiency (see Chapter X, pp. 112-113). Foundations were laid for the adjustment of the unfortunate differences that have long existed between workmen and their employers. The war suggested changes in our educational methods, some of which will doubtless become effective, to the great improvement of our public schools, colleges, and technical schools.

We shall study some of these things more fully in later chapters.

They are mentioned now to ill.u.s.trate how OUR NATIONAL PROGRESS WAS STIMULATED WHEN THE WAR FORCED US TO SEE THE RELATION OF ALL THESE THINGS TO ONE ANOTHER AND TO THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF OUR NATIONAL PURPOSE. On the other hand, failure to recognize this national interdependence means slow progress as a national community. When the war began, our nation was said to be "unprepared." Insofar as this was true--and it was true in many particulars--it was because in the times of peace before the war we had not thought enough about the dependence of our national strength and safety upon all these factors in our national life WORKING TOGETHER. And so, in the times of peace AFTER THE WAR, if the purposes for which our nation fought are to be fulfilled, we must continue to profit by this lesson which the war has taught us.

Recall your discussion of national interdependence in connection with your study of Chapter II.

Report on some of the important scientific and commercial developments resulting from the war; as, for example:

The development of the commercial use of the airplane.

The development of new food supplies.

The production of fertilizer from the nitrogen of the air.

The development of new industries in the United States.

Changes in methods of farming.

What are some changes in education that are likely to result from the war?

Show how the strike of coal miners in 1919 affected the life of the nation.

THE "SUPREME TEST" OF THE NATION

The "working together" of all these interdependent parts is the important thing. "The supreme test of the nation has come," said President Wilson. "We must all speak, act, and serve together."

[Footnote: Message to the American People, April 15, 1919].

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It is not an army that we must shape and train for war ... it is a Nation. To this end our people must draw close in one compact front against a common foe. But this cannot be if each man pursues a private purpose. The Nation needs all men, but it needs each man, not in the field that will most pleasure him, but in the endeavor that will best serve the common good. ... The whole Nation must be a team, in which each man must play the part for which he is best fitted. [Footnote: Conscription Proclamation, May 18, 1917.]

THE NATION AS A TEAM

We had some suggestion on page 72 of how such national team work became a fact. "Do your bit!" was the watch-word. It was splendid to see how personal interests gave way before the desire to serve the nation. It is a thrilling story how the racial elements in our population forgot their differences of race and language and remembered only that they were American; how employers and employees laid aside their differences; how farmers and businessmen, manufacturers and mechanics, miners and woodsmen, inventors and teachers, women in the home and children in the schools, doctors and nurses, and every other cla.s.s and group subordinated their personal interests to the one national purpose of winning the war in order that "the world might become a decent place in which to live."

As soon as the United States entered the war, Washington, the nation's capital, became filled with people from all parts of the country who wanted to help in some way. Some were called there by the government; others came to volunteer their services and to offer ideas that they thought useful. Many came as representatives of organizations--business and industrial organizations, scientific a.s.sociations, civic societies. New committees and a.s.sociations were formed, until the number of voluntary citizen organizations eager to do "war work" became almost too numerous to remember. They were all an indication of the desire of the people to do their part in the national enterprise.

CONFUSION WITHOUT ORGANIZATION

But there followed a period of confusion. All these organizations and the people whom they represented wanted to help, but they did not always know just what to do nor how to do it. Each organization had its own ideas which it often magnified above all others. Different organizations wanted to accomplish the same purpose, but wanted to do it in different ways. Often they duplicated one another's efforts. A war could not be won under such conditions. But out of all this confusion there finally developed order, and this was because the various organizations of people realized that if they were to accomplish anything they must work in cooperation with the national government, whose business it was, after all, to organize the nation for united action. In fact, it was for this reason that they came to Washington. Many of them sought to influence the government to adopt this or that plan, and sometimes succeeded; but it was the government that finally decided what plans were to be adopted, and all of the effort of the numerous organizations and of individuals must be brought into harmony with these.

NATIONAL TEAM WORK THROUGH GOVERNMENT

The period of the war afforded many striking examples of national cooperation secured by the government. It may have seemed sometimes that our government interfered with personal freedom to an unreasonable extent, as when it limited the amount of coal we could buy, fixed the prices of many articles, determined the wages that should be paid for labor, took over the management of the railroads and of the telegraph and telephone lines, and did many other things that it never had done in times of peace. We expected government to exercise powers in war time that it would not be permitted to exercise in times of peace. But it can be shown that even during the war, the government, with all its unusual powers, did not "ride roughshod" over the people, but sought to "make them partners in an enterprise which after all was their own." The nation was fighting for its life and for the very principles upon which it was founded, and it was necessary that cooperation should be complete and effective. This was what the government sought, and it exercised its powers by inviting and obtaining national cooperation to a remarkable extent.

THE SELECTIVE DRAFT AS AN ILl.u.s.tRATION OF TEAM WORK

Our national army was created by a "selective" draft, or conscription. Conscription had formerly been looked upon with disfavor as a form of forced military service. A volunteer army was thought to be more in harmony with a democratic form of government. But the draft is now seen to be far more democratic than a volunteer army because it treats all able-bodied men alike, instead of leaving the fighting to those who are most courageous and most patriotic, while those who are inclined to shirk may easily do so. Moreover, the SELECTIVE draft means the selection of men to serve in the capacity for which they are best fitted. In Great Britain, under a volunteer system, and in France, under a system of compulsory military service for all men, thousands of brave men went to the trenches in the early days of the war who, because of their training, should have been kept at home to perform the vast amount of skilled labor and scientific work which this war demanded. War industry, without which there could be no fighting, was thus greatly hampered.

By our selective draft, on the other hand, while every man was expected to do his share, each was selected as far as possible to do the thing which he could do best and therefore which would best serve the country. It also sought to prevent those who had families dependent upon them from going to war until they were absolutely needed. Thus the selective draft is an example of government organizing our national manpower for more effective teamwork and with less hardship than if it had been left to voluntary action.

TEAM WORK THROUGH THE FOOD ADMINISTRATION

The United States Food Administration was created by the President to carry out the provisions of a law pa.s.sed by Congress", to provide further for the national security and defense by encouraging the production, conserving the supply, and controlling the distribution of food products and fuel." The President placed at its head a man in whom the people of the country had great confidence, because of his experience and success in organizing and managing the Belgian relief work, Mr. Herbert Hoover. He gathered around him men familiar with the problems relating to the food supply of the nation, and then proceeded to enlighten the country in regard to the nature of these problems and to seek for the cooperation of the people in solving them.

As soon as he was appointed, the food administrator issued a statement containing the following facts:

Whereas we exported before the war but 80,000,000 bushels of wheat per annum, this year we must find for all our allies 225,000,000 bushels, and this in the face of a short crop. ... France and Italy formerly produced their own sugar, while England and Ireland imported largely from Germany. Owing to the inability of the first-named to produce more than one third of their needs, and the necessity for the others to import from other markets, they must all come to the West Indies for their very large supplies, and therefore deplete our resources.

If we can reduce our consumption of wheat flour by 1 pound, our meat by 7 ounces, our sugar by 7 ounces, our fat by 7 ounces PER PERSON PER WEEK, these quant.i.ties, multiplied by 100,000,000 (the population of the United States) will immeasurably aid and encourage our allies, help our own growing armies, and so effectively serve the great and n.o.ble cause of humanity in which our nation has embarked.

DEMOCRACY A PARTNERSHIP

This ill.u.s.trates how the Food Administration sought cooperation.

It "made partners" of the people, explained to them the situation, and asked them to help as individuals. It showed the nation what it must do if it were to be successful in its undertaking. It is true that the President had large powers to enforce observance of the rules outlined by the Food Administration, but it was only in the exceptional case of the individual consumer and producer who refused to cooperate for the common good that it became necessary to use the power. The method of democracy is to point out clearly how the desired result may be obtained and to depend upon the people to govern themselves accordingly.

After a year of the war a member of the Food Administration is quoted as saying, [Footnote: In an article on "Your Wheatless Days," by W. A. Wolff, in Collier's Weekly, Aug. 17, 1918.]

"There's never been anything like it in history. ... We asked the American people to do voluntarily more than any other people has ever been asked to do under compulsion. And the American people made good!"

What was true in the unusual time of war is true to even a greater extent in the ordinary time of peace. We have little to fear from our national government as long as we and those to whom we entrust its management, always keep in mind its real purpose, which is to show us how to work together effectively as a nation and to help us do it.

EVERY MAN COUNTS

All through this study we are going to observe how in the ordinary affairs of life our national government serves us in this respect.

One thing that we need especially to learn is that we have a great national purpose ALL THE TIME, in peace as well as in war. In fact, PEACE IS A PART OF THAT PURPOSE. We went to war because without it there could be no a.s.surance of a lasting peace. While we fought to defend our national purpose and our national ideals against a powerful foe from without, this purpose and these ideals cannot be fully achieved by the war alone. They can be finally achieved only by ourselves as we develop, day by day, our national community life. To do this we must always keep in mind our great national purpose, we must realize our dependence upon one another in achieving this purpose, and we must make our national team work as perfect as it can be made. Above all, we must realize that, in peace as in war, EVERY MAN COUNTS in our national community life.

As President Wilson said:

"THE NATION NEEDS ALL MEN, BUT IT NEEDS EACH MAN. ..." "THE WHOLE NATION MUST BE A TEAM, IN WHICH EACH MAN SHALL PLAY THE PART FOR WHICH HE IS BEST FITTED."

Read and discuss President Wilson's "Message to the American People," of April 15, 1917.

What organizations existed in your community to secure teamwork for war purposes?

Show how boys' and girls' clubs, or the School Garden Army, made cooperation possible on a national scale. Is this true in peace times as well as in war time?

Is there greater or less need of national teamwork today than during the war? Explain your answer.

What evidences are there that the teamwork of our nation has not been as good since the war as during the war? Why is this?

Show how universal military training might increase the national spirit What arguments can you give against it?

Should or should not the food administration of wartime be continued in peace time? Why?

What does it mean to you to be an American?

READINGS

In Long's American Patriotic Prose: