"Every man, in the draft age at least, must work or fight.
"This is not alone a war of military maneuvers. It is a deadly contest of industries and mechanics. Germany must not be thought of as merely possessing an army; we must think of her as being an army—an army in which every factory and loom in the Empire is a recognized part in a complete machine running night and day at terrific speed. We must make ourselves the same sort of effective machine.
"We must make vast withdrawals for the Army and immediately close up the ranks of industry behind the gap with an accelerating production of every useful thing in necessary measure. How is this to be done? The answer is plain. The first step toward the solution of the difficulty is to prohibit engagement by able-bodied men in the field of hurtful employment, idleness, or ineffectual employment, and thus induce and persuade the vast wasted excess into useful fields.
"One of the unanswerable criticisms of the draft has been that it takes men from the farms and from all useful employments and marches them past crowds of idlers and loafers away to the Army. The remedy is simple—to couple the industrial basis with other grounds for exemption and to require that any man pleading exemption on any ground shall show that he is contributing effectively to the industrial welfare of the nation."
Building Howitzers
A nine-mile howitzer nearly ready for transportation. Beyond are seen heavy armorplate turrets in the making. The small and large manufacturers were given equal opportunity to obtain war business.
![[Click for a larger image.]](#5476920433579063293_ill-073.jpg.id-7782825500289385368.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
Industrial preparation for war was guided by the principle of priority. This is an old principle, but it began to be applied in unheard-of ways. When an army is to be moved all means of transport in sight are commandeered. When an army is to be fed, civilians protest in vain against the seizure of stores. These practices were always features in the history of warfare.
A novel factor in priority as applied during the present war was the breadth of its scope.