During the past five years we have heard many false prophets. Some were
honest, but unwise; some plain slackers; a very few were simply public
enemies. Had their counsels prevailed, America would have been
destroyed. In general they appealed to the lower impulses of the people,
for in their ignorance they believed the most powerful motive of this
Nation was a sodden selfishness. They said the war would never affect
us; we should confine ourselves to making money. They argued for peace
at any price. They opposed selective service. They sought to prevent
sending soldiers to Europe. They advocated peace by negotiation. They
were answered from beginning to end by the loyalty of the American
workingmen and the wisdom of their leaders. That loyalty and that wisdom
will not desert us now. The voices that would have lured us to
destruction were unheeded. All counsels of selfishness were unheeded,
and America responded with a spirit which united our people as never
before to the call of duty.

Having accomplished this great task, having emerged from the war the
strongest, the least burdened nation on earth, are we now to fail before
our lesser task? Are we to turn aside from the path that has led us to
success? Who now will set selfishness above duty? The counsel that
Samuel Gompers gave is still sound, when he said in effect, "America may
not be perfect. It has the imperfections of all things human. But it is
the best country on earth, and the man who will not work for it, who
will not fight for it, and if need be die for it, is unworthy to live in
it."

Happily, the day when the call to fight or die is now past. But the day
when it is the duty of all Americans to work will remain forever. Our
great need now is for more of everything for everybody. It is not money
that the nation or the world needs to-day, but the products of labor.