of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 671

our energies and attention. As new contingents leave for the training camps,
the interest of so many more families is quickened. But it is only when those
near and dear to us get close to actual fighting, and to the possibility of death,
that we really get down in earnest and make an all-out effort.

Take the several phases of the war effort in which, as civilians, the great
bulk of our citizenry can participate. War production has been speeded tre-
mendously, and goals set a few months ago by the President, which at that time
seemed absolutely fantastic, now are being attained, and in many cases even
exceeded. All credit to the millions of patriotic men and women who are work-
ing on this vital war production line! We could not criticize their efforts, which,
almost uniformly, have been remarkable. But It will be admitted by anyone, I
believe, that if every worker in every war plant had a brother or son in the
thick of the fighting, the present production achievements, extraordinary as
they have been, would quickly be dwarfed. ,

In the matter of rationing, as well, we see evidence, unmistakable, of the
lack of complete cooperation because of the absence of close personal relation-
ship to what is going on. Automobile tires and gasoline, are almost the life-
blood of our economic and military existence. Yet how many of our people are
still disregardful of the general good in the matter of these vital commodities!
President Roosevelt has asked for the conservation of tires and rubber by a
reduction of speed in driving. He didn't, but he might well have, called to mind
the dangers and sacrifices undergone by tanker crews, for instance, to bring
gasoline to our Eastern Seaboard cities. Yet every day we see motorists racing
up and down our roads, utterly refusing to cooperate in this very vital matter,
heedlessly wasting tires and gasoline that conceivably, in the event of a hostile
attack, might mean the difference between victory and defeat for our defending
forces.

We know, too, that with regard to many other items and commodities that
are scarce, or in danger of becoming so, some of our citizens are rushing in to
buy large supplies, larger perhaps than they can ever expect to use, and thus
making it difficult for others to secure adequate supplies of such things. All
of this is inimical to the public good.

Only as every individual citizen realizes that the lessened quantities of the
necessities of life, food and the like, that will be possible of procurement from
now on, must be available equally to all our people, will the proper distribution
be possible. How desirable it is that this be accomplished hardly needs be
pointed out. As Americans all, facing the same dangers, enduring the same
privations, we must share and share alike as far as possible so that everybody
may have some of the things that will be procureable.

If every American right now would take the same personal interest in this
war that he would do if he had someone of his immediate family in the fighting
forces, or that ho would do if the war were being fought within a few miles of
us, we would then be able to do what has to be done much more quickly, and the
final result, complete victory, would be achieved that much sooner.

No one can deny that the war effort has progressed infinitely better than
was the case a few months ago. Nevertheless, there is still in the minds of