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"One Hundred Million Soldiers"
Fellow countrymen, to win this war, Congress pledged the
resources of the United States to the last man and the last dollar.
When you applauded that, you agreed that we would be a united
nation, prepared to make every sacrifice necessary to win this
fight. Have we the strength of character to carry out that pledge?
We ought clearly to comprehend that this is a war of equipment.
Our men may be as brave as any heros ever were, but they cannot
successfully fight this sort of fight barehanded. They must have
the equipment of guns great and small, of ammunition, of a sky full
of airplanes, and of a bridge of ships across the Atlantic. The
cost of that, together with the cost of what we must manufacture
for our allies, will represent of money value of nearly 19 billion
dollars.
We cannot fight a war without money, that we all know. But
after all we cannot win a war with money. You could dress a
soldier in dollar bills and he would still be cold. It is the
output of the workshop that we must have. We are just now seeing
that money will not build a fire in a furnace. That needs coal,
and money will not secure coal where the coal cannot be
transported. We are learning that appropriations, and treasury
credit do not equip the army, unless there are other raw materials
-- the workshop, and the manpower -- which that money can command.
Sticking a label on a bottle does not fill the bottle; making an
appropriation does not build a ship. There are not men enough to
make for us our ordinary comforts and luxuries and at the same time
build the ships and fighting equipment needed. If we will
recognize that fact, we will then see why each one of us must give
up some of our ordinary comforts and luxuries. If we do not, the
army cannot be equipped in time.
So we must see to it that every one of our hundred million
Americans enlist in that great army back of our soldiers. We must
all serve. The responsibility is upon you to decide how you will
serve. Whether in the army in khaki or in the larger army -- the
hundred million army. You must go or forego. You must fight or
sacrifice. You are the Kaiser's ally if you make men work for you
manufacturing luxuries while guns are still unforged and ships
unbuilt. Join the hundred million army. Then mark your service by
foregoing unnecessary things and bringing, buying with the money
you save bonds of the United States, big bonds if you can, baby
bonds in any event. Buying war saving stamps means equipping the
army, means saving the lives of American soldiers, means whipping
the Huns, and redeeming the world for civilization.
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