[Sidenote: The whole people wish to help.]
[Sidenote: Benevolent and philanthropic societies.]
The first response from the country to the act of Congress in declaring a state of war came in the form of offers of services from the people, and for weeks there poured into the War Department an almost bewildering stream of letters and visitors offering service of every kind. Without distinction of age, sex, or occupation, without distinction of geographical location or sectional difference, the people arose with but one thought in their mind, that of tendering themselves, their talents, and their substance for the best use the country could make of them in the emergency. Organizations and associations sprang up over night in thousands of places, inspired by the hope that collective offers and aggregations of strength and facilities might be more readily assimilated by the Government; and benevolent and philanthropic societies began to form for the purpose of taking up as far as might be the vicarious griefs which follow in the train of military operations. There was at the outset some inevitable crossing of purposes and duplication of effort, and perhaps there may have been some disappointment that a more instantaneous use could not be made of all this wealth of willingness and patriotic spirit; but it was a superb and inspiring spectacle. Out of the body of a nation devoted to productive and peaceful pursuits, and evidencing its collective spirit only upon occasions for the settlement of domestic and institutional questions, there arose the figure of a national spirit which had lain dormant until summoned by a national emergency; but which, when it emerged, was seen to embody loyalty to our institutions, unity of purpose, and willingness to sacrifice on the part of our entire people as their underlying and dominant character.
[Sidenote: Great national strength in a free people.]
Those who believed that the obvious and daily exhibition of power which takes place in an autocracy is necessary for national strength, discovered that a finer, and freer, and greater national strength subsists in a free people, and that the silent processes of democracy, with their normal accent on the freedom of individuals, nevertheless afford springs of collective action and inspiration for self-sacrifice as wide and effective as they are spontaneous. The several Government departments, the Council of National Defense, and other agencies of a more or less formal character subdivided the work of organization. Congress rapidly perfected its legislative program, and in a few weeks very definite direction began to appear in the work of preparation.