he 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.
These products are to be secured only by the united efforts of an entire
people. The trained business man and the humblest workman must each
contribute. All of us must work, and in that work there should be no
interruption. There must be more food, more clothing, more shelter. The
directors of industry must direct it more efficiently, the workers in
industry must work in it more efficiently. Such a course saved us in
war; only such a course can preserve us in peace. The power to preserve
America, with all that it now means to the world, all the great hope
that it holds for humanity, lies in the hands of the people. Talents and
opportunity exist. Application only is uncertain. May Labor Day of 1919
declare with an increased emphasis the resolution of all Americans to
work for America.

XXXIII

WESTFIELD

SEPTEMBER 3, 1919

We come here on this occasion to honor the past, and in that honor
render more secure the present. It was by such men as settled Westfield,
and two hundred and fifty years ago established by law a chartered and
ordered government, that the foundations of Massachusetts were laid. And
it was on the foundations of Massachusetts that there began that
training of the people for the great days that were to come, when they
were prepared to endorse and support the principles set out in the
Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of
America, and the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. Here were
planted the same seeds of righteousness victorious which later
flourished with such abundance at Saratoga, a