Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 40 Part 2.djvu/317

 1666 PROCLAMATIONS, 1917. they may be for instructions as to how they may accomplish their registration by mail. In case such persons as, through sickness or absence, may be unable to present themselves personally for registration shall be sojournin in cities of over thirty thous_and population, they shall aplply to the city clerk of the city wherein they may be sojourning rat er than to the clerk of the county. The clerks of counties and of cities of over thirty thousand population in whrch numerous applications from the sick and from non-residents are expected are authorized to establish such sub-agencies and to employ and deputize such clerical force as may be necessary to accommodate _ these applications. w{,'§§§?§‘§,$fv,§d “" The power against which we are arrayed has sought to impose its will upon the world by force. To this end it has increased armament ` until it has changed the face of war. In the sense in which we have been wont to think of armies there are no armies in this struggle. There are entire nations armed. Thus, the men who remain to till the soil and man the factories are no less a part of the army that is France than the men beneath the battle flags. It must be so with us. It is not an army that we must shape and train for war; it is a nation. To this end our §ople must draw close in one compact front against a common foe. ut this can not be if each man pursues a private urpose. All must pursue one purpose. The nation needs all men ;}but it needs each man, not in the Held that will most pleasure him, but in the endeavor that will best serve the common good. Thus, though a sharpshooter pleases to operate a trip-hammer for the forging of great guns, and an extpert machinist desires to march with the flag, the nation is being serve only when the sharpshooter marches and the machinist remains at his levers. The whole nation must be a team in which each man shall play the art for which he is best fitted. To this end, Congress has providedp that the nation shall be organized for war by selection and that each man shall be classified for service in the place to which it shall best serve the general good to call him. WIQQQB wigggmmt _ The significance of this can not be overstated. lt is a new thing in our history and a landmark m our progress. It IS a. new manner · of accepting and vitalizing our duty to give ourselves with thoughtful devotion to the common purpose of us all. It is in no sense a conseription of the unwilling; it is rather, selection from a nation which has volunteered in mass. It is no more a choosing of those who shall march with the colors than it is a selection of those who shall serve_an equally necessary and devoted purpose in the industries C _ h that he behind the battle line. _ ¤¤t&iii£i°`ii»usRsgi23?,l The day here named is the time upon which all shall present themmm my- selves for assignment to their tasks. It is for that reason destined to be remembered as one of the most conspicuous moments in our history. It is nothing less than the day upon which the manhood of the count shall step forward in one solid rank in defense of the ideals to which Ithis nation is consecrated. It is important to those ideals no less than to the pride of this generation in manifesting its devotion _ _ _ to them, that there be no gaps in the ranks. _ ,a,?§§”$§Y,§§dpj{g§‘g;§g _ lt is essential that the day be approached in thoughtful apprehen- <»mig=»ri<>¤. sion of its significance and that we accord to it the honor and the meaning that it deserves. Our industrial need prescribes that it be not made a technical holiday, but the stern sacrifice that is before us, urges that it be carried in all our hearts as a great dav of patriotic devotion and obligation when the duty shall lie upon everv man, whether he is himself to be registered or not, to see to it that the name of every male person of the designated ages is written on these lists of honor.