I know, and you know, what response to this great challenge of duty
and of opportunity the Nation will expect of you; and I know what
response you will make. Those who do not respond, who do not respond
in the spirit of those who have gone to give their lives for us on
bloody fields far away, may safely be left to be dealt with by
opinion and the law--for the law must, of course, command those
things.
I am dealing with the matter thus publicly and frankly, not because I
have any doubt or fear as to the result, but only in order that, in
all our thinking and in all our dealings with one another we may move
in a perfectly clear air of mutual understanding.
And there is something more that we must add to our thinking. The
public is now as much part of the Government as are the Army and Navy
themselves. The whole people, in all their activities, are now
mobilized and in service for the accomplishment of the Nation's task
in this war. It is in such circumstances impossible justly to
distinguish between industrial purchases made by the Government and
industries. And it is just as much our duty to sustain the industries
of the country, all the industries that contribute to its life, as it
is to sustain our forces in the field and on the sea. We must make
the prices to the public the same as the prices to the Government.