which brought about those results. Then, to plant and harvest the crop it helped provide the labor through its Farm Labor Bureau and the 21,000 lads from cities and towns trained and sent out in cooperation with the United States Boys' Working Reserve. The corn crop of 1918 was 45,000,000 bushels below the 1917 crop (although, thanks to weather conditions, of much greater feeding value) and it might have been almost a failure but for the State Council. Illinois was short of seed corn because of early frosts of 1917. The Council discovered this before any other agency in the country. It immediately started two campaigns: one to locate and acquire all of the good seed corn usable in Illinois and another to warn Illinois farmers against planting corn that had not been tested and proven good. The first named involved financial operations of some importance. The Chicago banks backed the Council with a pledge of $1,250,000 to buy the seed corn with, although the Council found it necessary to call for only $495,000. With this money the Council purchased good seed corn and distributed it among the farmers at the bare cost of handling and so, in connection with its other campaign for planting only tested corn, saved the corn crop of Illinois. When action required, the Council took the responsibility of leading the way without waiting for an inspiration from the National Government. At its very first business meeting on May 8, 1917, the Council passed a resolution urging Congress to enact immediately "a rigid food, fuel and commodity act," vesting in a commission, to be appointed by the President, "full power to control the production, distribution, transportation and price of food stuffs, grains, fuel and other basic commodities." At that time the Lever bill had not been introduced. Perhaps it would have been introduced sooner or later, but the State Council of Defense of Illinois was the first official body to recognize the need of and to demand such a law, and its action at least helped to prepare the public mind for the regulation which came later, which all now admit was essential, and which the people accepted without a murmur. Again; while the Lever bill was pending, it was the Illinois State Council which took the lead in getting the fuel administration establishedthrough its own action and the action of the Governor, as well as joint action of thirteen middle-west states-almost as soon as the Lever bill became a law. An instance of team work effected by the Council's State-wide organization: On September 17, 1918, the National Government called upon all State Councils to help shut off non-war construction work so that the energies of the nation might be concentrated upon essential war work. Within thirty days non-war construction boards had been established in 89 of the 102 counties in Illinois and when the armistice came-only 55 days after creation of the bureau-non-essential construction work to the amount of $13,873,000 had been deferred and few even complained about it. One more instance: In August, 1918, the National Government asked for help to regulate deliveries by retail stores, to induce people to carry home their own parcels and to limit Christmas giving to useful things. This struck close to the personal liberty of the individual. Yet within sixty days the merchants of every town in Illinois of 2,000 inhabitants or more, including Chicago, had limited their deliveries to one a day; women everywhere, who had never done so before, were carrying home their parcels; the merchants themselves in every town of the State were appealing to their patrons, in the name of the State Council, to buy only useful gifts for Christmas and to buy those early; and there was a board virtually in every town to see that these rules were enforced. Still another instance: Absorption of the National Guard by the United States Army left Illinois practically without protection against internal disorder which war time might invite. Under the direction of the State Council nearly 15,000 men-largely exempt from national service-enrolled in the Volunteer Training Corps, uniformed themselves and used their spare time for training. When they became fit they were converted into reserve militia. Six regiments of them, with one company or more in every con siderable city, are now in the service of the State, equipped and qualified for any duty which may be required of them. COST THE STATE LITTLE. One of the most gratifying features of the State Council's work was the small cost of it in dollars. One State Council had an appropriation of $5,000,000; others had appropriations of $1,000,000 and $2,000,000; many had appropriations of $100,000 or more. The Illinois Council had an appropriation of $50,000. That sum would not have paid for the postage stamps used. But the lack of adequate appropriation was perhaps an advantage instead of a handicap. It put the work for the Council on a higher patriotic plane than could have been reached with abundant funds in sight for paying to have the work done. This brings up a fact, which is believed to be unique in the histories of all State Councils of Defense throughout the country. The Illinois Council was literally a money making institution; it made a profit on legitimate patriotic enterprises, which without a doubt did a great deal of good in themselves besides earning a profit. It made $8,000 out of a patriotic food show, which served as a model for more than 250 similar enterprises throughout the country; it made a profit of $7,500 out of a cook book prepared for that food show, which was distributed all over the world from Great Britain to China-over 300,000 copies sold at five and ten cents each. These two items of profit went to help pay the Council's expenses (although the greater part of those expenses, more than two-thirds to be exact, was paid by voluntary contributions); but the Council's largest profits were turned back into the United States Treasury. The patriotic war show on the lake front in Chicago in September, 1918, attracted in fourteen days an attendance of 1,955,602 and earned a net profit of more than $300,000, all of which, under the law, had to be turned over to the Committee on Public Information. The incidental profit made out of the seed corn campaign had to be turned over to the Department of Agriculture. Had the Council been able to keep all it made, it would have paid all of its expenses without "passing the hat," and could have turned money back into the State Treasury. The work of the State Council of Defense from first to last, of which only the high spots have been suggested here, is a demonstration of team work. Liberty Loans and Red Cross "drives" were "put over" by team work. The great crop of 1918 was the result of team work. The Federal government made known its needs; the leading farmers of the State got together and laid out a program which would meet those needs and then worked together to achieve a common purpose. The same thing happened in every other industry. There was not a strike of importance in the State after the war started. All war undertakings succeeded by virtue of this spirit of cooperation. Since this unity of thought and purpose can be achieved under stress of war, why can it not be done in time of peace? Patriotism is but a higher development of team work. The team-work principle is quite as applicable to the problems of peace time as to the problems of war. If the State of Illinois has learned this from the experience of the State Council of Defense, the greatest achievement of the Council is yet to be realized. THE VOLUNTEER TRAINING CORPS. BY JOHN G. OGLESBY, Lieutenant Governor, Chairman Military, State and Local Defense PROBABLY as startling a statement as can be made to the average citizen of Illinois keeping one's self well within the confines of fact, is that more men are in the military service of this State at the present time than ever before. The surprise this statement occasions among persons one would naturally expect to have a fair knowledge of what is being done to protect the peace and property of our citizens is convincing evidence that very few individuals outside of those who are sacrificing their time and talents to the cause have the slightest conception of the military activities that took place at home while so many gallant sons of Illinois were adding to the martial glory of our commonwealth in the more spectacular field of action in France. Naturally and fittingly, all the honors and all the hero worship of the war period were showered upon our fighting men. Now that the survivors among these heroes are returning and conditions are settling down toward normal it might be well for us to pause and pay a measure of tribute to those patriotic citizens who, being barred by age or other reasons from serving their country where glory beckoned, threw themselves into the breach that resulted when our Illinois National Guardsmen marched away to war. With full knowledge that their task was a thankless one, these high minded citizens volunteered the service that guaranteed security at home in days when the iron hand of government control was as necessary in Illinois as it was in the battle areas of Europe. The Volunteer Training Corps and the Illinois Reserve Militia created from the Training Corps were an outgrowth of the stress of war times. Following the authorization by the Fiftieth General Assembly of the State Council of Defense, and the appointment of the members of that body by Governor Lowden, the Military Committee of the Council conceived and created the military structure later designated as the Volunteer Training Corps and the Illinois Reserve Militia. It was realized that as soon as the then existing Illinois National Guard organizations were called into Federal service, Illinois would be without armed representation of force. There would be none to quell disorder and preserve the public peace within the boundaries of the State. The efficiency and effectiveness of the system thus created is attested not only by the magnificent results accomplished in our own State but by the fact that every other state in the Union adopted, practically without change, the Illinois system of replacing their National Guardsmen. The broad and general purpose of the Illinois Volunteer Training Corps was to furnish rudimentary military training and a measure of preparedness for citizens of draft age awaiting the call into the military service of their country. Every male citizen physically fit was eligible to membership and, during the period between the application of the selective draft and the calling of the chosen ones into service, thousands of embryo soldiers received their first military training and obtained the knowledge which gave them prompt recognition and rapid promotion as that great selective service army was developed. The Illinois Reserve Militia was created for a more distinct purpose. It was to take the place of the former Illincis National Guard; to be in readiness, as the military arm of the State to respond to duty of whatever sort or character it might be called upon to perform within the confines of the State. With all men of military age requisitioned for the service of their country, the filling of the Reserve Militia meant sacrifices on the part of business, professional and laboring men of mature years. The overwhelming response to the call for enlistments in this service was a flattering commentary on the patriotism and public-spiritedness of our population. When the State Council of Defense passed out of existence, December 31, 1918, the Volunteer Training Corps comprised 259 units with a personnel of 17,566 men. Of this number, seven regiments, consisting of ninety units and 6,996 men, were incorporated in the Reserve Militia. The Reserve Militia, together with the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Illinois Infantry regiments (State Guard organized under the Hay bill but not federalized) constitute the present military forces of the State, subject to the control of the Governor and available for military service whenever and wherever in the State they may be needed. In other words, the State Guard and the Reserve Militia are now on exactly the same footing as the National Guard before the war except that they are not amenable to national military orders. |