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 assurance 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?