As soon as the United States entered the war, Washington, the nation’s capital, became filled with people from all parts of the country who wanted to help in some way.  Some were called there by the government; others came to volunteer their services and to offer ideas that they thought useful.  Many came as representatives of organizations—­business and industrial organizations, scientific associations, civic societies.  New committees and associations were formed, until the number of voluntary citizen organizations eager to do “war work” became almost too numerous to remember.  They were all an indication of the desire of the people to do their part in the national enterprise.

CONFUSION WITHOUT ORGANIZATION

But there followed a period of confusion.  All these organizations and the people whom they represented wanted to help, but they did not always know just what to do nor how to do it.  Each organization had its own ideas which it often magnified above all others.  Different organizations wanted to accomplish the same purpose, but wanted to do it in different ways.  Often they duplicated one another’s efforts.  A war could not be won under such conditions.  But out of all this confusion there finally developed order, and this was because the various organizations of people realized that if they were to accomplish anything they must work in cooperation with the national government, whose business it was, after all, to organize the nation for united action.  In fact, it was for this reason that they came to Washington.  Many of them sought to influence the government to adopt this or that plan, and sometimes succeeded; but it was the government that finally decided what plans were to be adopted, and all of the effort of the numerous organizations and of individuals must be brought into harmony with these.

NATIONAL TEAM WORK THROUGH GOVERNMENT

The period of the war afforded many striking examples of national cooperation secured by the government.  It may have seemed sometimes that our government interfered with personal freedom to an unreasonable extent, as when it limited the amount of coal we could buy, fixed the prices of many articles, determined the wages that should be paid for labor, took over the management of the railroads and of the telegraph and telephone lines, and did many other things that it never had done in times of peace.  We expected government to exercise powers in war time that it would not be permitted to exercise in times of peace.  But it can be shown that even during the war, the government, with all its unusual powers, did not “ride roughshod” over the people, but sought to “make them partners in an enterprise which after all was their own.”  The nation was fighting for its life and for the very principles upon which it was founded, and it was necessary that cooperation should be complete and effective.  This was what the government sought, and it exercised its powers by inviting and obtaining national cooperation to a remarkable extent.