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SECRETARY'* REPORT 



way, and to the extent of their ability, yet there are 

 other ways in which this aid and support may be 

 rendered our country than by enlisting in her armies, 

 and fighting her battles, for those who do thus enlist 

 and fight must be well fed and clothed, armed and 

 equipped, else their sufferings will be greatly increased, 

 their services wasted, and their lives lost to no avail ; 

 and those who produce, or aid in the production and 

 manufacture of this necessary food and clothing, and 

 these all important arms and equipments are also 

 rendering valuable services to the same cause in which 

 the others labor and suffer and die : in short, that the 

 maintenance of our armies, the success of the war, and 

 the future prosperity of the people depend in no small 

 degree upon the diligence and success of those agri- 

 culturists, manufacturers and artizans who remain at 

 home, and since the strongest, the bravest, and the best 

 of all these classes are now in the field, (unless they 

 have already fallen in their country's service,) and have 

 become consumers and nonproducers of the articles so 

 much needed ; we who remain must do something more 

 than weep and mourn for the loved and lost ones, and 

 follow with our best wishes, and our prayers for their 

 safety and success of the living. We must labor for 

 them. And since the number and ability of the pro- 

 ducers is very much lessened, and the absolute necessity 

 for productions vastly increased, it becomes a question 

 of no trifling importance how can intelligence, and skill, 

 and labor be most advantageously applied so that the 

 comparatively few and feeble laborers remaining can 

 accomplish all, and more than all formerly accomplished 

 by the many and the strong ? 



