President’s Annual Address 
H. Harold Hume 
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Horti¬ 
cultural Society, Ladies and Gentle¬ 
men :— 
Naturally at this time, the thought up¬ 
permost in our minds is of war and its 
influence on us and our surroundings. 
Some of us may have hung “No War 
Talk” signs over our desks or in our places 
of business. If we have, the best thing to 
do now is to hide them in the cellar or the 
atttic or somewhere among the things 
which have an ample covering of dust 
and cobwebs. Some of us may have been 
pro-German, others pro-Ally a few months 
or weeks ago, but now we must needs be 
pro-American not only in our speech but 
in our activities, in our daily goings and 
comings, for we are at war that democra¬ 
cy may not perish from the earth. 
Being at war at this day and time, is 
not an abstract thing, not something that 
concerns a few men in the nation’s affairs, 
the few men who today occupy positions 
of leadership in Washington or elsewhere 
in our country. And war today is not 
something that concerns only those who 
glide through the air, or sail the seas, or 
march o’er the land or go down into the 
depths thereof. Nay, being at war means 
that you and I, every member of this So¬ 
ciety and every man, and every woman 
and every child in this fair land of ours, 
is at war. It is a concrete condition which 
embraces all, irrespective of age, posi¬ 
tion or degree, from the cradle to the 
grave. The burden is upon all, and if 
America is to do her part in bringing this 
condition to a right ending, then it is for 
every one of us to take up the burden and 
manfully do our part. It is not that we 
must shoulder our muskets and march 
forth to the sound of fife and drum. Were 
we brave enough and strong enough and 
irresponsible enough to do that, the cause 
in which we are enlisted would be lost— 
a fine example of misdirected effort. But 
back of the firing line, and away from 
those who direct our national affairs, back 
in the town, back in the village, back o’er 
all the country side, there is a place for all, 
a place where one hundred per cent effort 
may count in results at least one hundred 
per cent. There, somewhere, is a place 
for all, the place where we, armed with 
hoe or rake or spade or shovel, or driving 
the armed cultivator or mighty plow may 
fight our nation’s battles. There may ap¬ 
pear to be little in common between a hoe 
and a sword, a cannon and a disk harrow, 
but all the common tools and implements 
of farm and garden must be marshalled 
and used effectively before the war is won 
and this world made again a fit place for 
freemen to dwell in, in happiness and 
peace. 
And having in mind the welfare of our 
nation, the welfare of our state, and the 
welfare and happiness of you, the mem- 
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