made more prolific and more efficient than ever and that they must
be more economically managed and better adapted to the particular
requirements of our task than they have been; and what I want to
say is that the men and women who devote their thought and their
energy to these things will be serving the country and conducting
the fight for peace and freedom just as truly and just as
effectively as the men on the battlefield or in the trenches. The
industrial forces of the country, men and women alike, will be a
great national, a great international Service Army,--a notable and
honored host engaged in the service of the nation and the world ...
Thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands, of men otherwise liable
to military service will of right and necessity be excused from
that service and assigned to the fundamental, sustaining work of
the fields and factories and mines, and they will be as much part
of the great patriotic forces of the nation as the men under fire.

He then appealed directly to every kind of worker in the country,
and to the farmers he said:

The supreme need of our own nation and of the nations with which
we are cooperating is an abundance of supplies, and especially of
foodstuffs. ... Without abundant food ... the whole great
enterprise upon which we have embarked will break down and fail ...
Upon the farmers of this country, therefore, in large measure,
rests the fate of the war and the fate of nations. Let me suggest,
also, that every one who creates or cultivates a garden helps, and
helps greatly, to solve the problem of the feeding of the nations;
and that every housewife who practices strict economy puts herself
in the ranks of those who serve the nation.