THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 97 
have much in common. One of the things they have 
in common is their interest in their community; for 
each wishes to see it progress. 
If the democracy of a nation depends upon the democ- 
racy of the individuals who compose that nation, then 
assuredly the war garden is a forge that is daily strength- 
ening the links in our chain of democracy. Our soldiers, 
shoulder to shoulder in the trenches, learned, that, 
whatever their respective stations in life, they are 
brothers. In a heat a little less intense, but none the 
less sufficient to weld the strongest souls, our garden- 
ers, too, have fused into a solid unit. Link by link the 
chain of our democracy has grown stronger. 
With it has grown our civic pride — the pride of each 
community in the progress it is making. One of the 
progressive things cities are proud of to-day is the 
extent of their war-garden activities. Just as different 
communities aimed to be the first “over the top” in a 
Liberty Loan campaign, and to secure the flag which 
spoke of patriotic duty performed, so they have been 
anxious to excel in the number of war gardens they have 
planted and in the amount of food they have raised to 
help the boys “over there.” 
The National War Garden Commission has received 
from hundreds of cities and towns throughout the 
United States expressions showing how proud they are 
of their war-garden records. Typical items of this 
enthusiasm are these: “Every bit of available land 
is being cultivated;” “There is scarcely a home here 
without a war garden;” “All back yards and vacant 
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