History and government of New Mexico . for the whole country. In thenumber of men contributed tothe volunteer National Guardin proportion to population,New Mexico stood fifth amongall the American States. Yetnothing else gives so adequatean idea of the spirit of thepeople as the fact that of the17,157 New Mexicans in activeservice during the war only8,505 were in the draft, andmany of these were actuallyvolunteers. All the rest, morethan fifty per cent, were volunteers untouched by thedraft. Of the total, 5,437 ( per cent) were men ofSpanish names; 11,720 ( per cent), non-Spanish. 30
History and government of New Mexico . for the whole country. In thenumber of men contributed tothe volunteer National Guardin proportion to population,New Mexico stood fifth amongall the American States. Yetnothing else gives so adequatean idea of the spirit of thepeople as the fact that of the17,157 New Mexicans in activeservice during the war only8,505 were in the draft, andmany of these were actuallyvolunteers. All the rest, morethan fifty per cent, were volunteers untouched by thedraft. Of the total, 5,437 ( per cent) were men ofSpanish names; 11,720 ( per cent), non-Spanish. 305. Civilian War Work. — Those who could not go tothe front did their part patriotically at home. Everyorganization and institution, political, social, religious,and educational, bent its energies to the all-absorbingtask of winning the war. They backed the Liberty Loans,supported the Y. M. C. A. and Knights of Columbus,worked for the Red Cross, and gave freely of both time andmoney to every undertaking for enlarging the numbers, im-. GOVERNOR O. A. Labrazolo, 1919-1920 THE BEGINNINGS OF STATEHOOD 255 proving the morale, and strengthening the fighting qualitiesof the American army. Units of the Students Army Training Corps were estab-lished at the University, the Agricultural College, and theMilitary Institute to train officers for the army. Thewhole curriculum in each of these institutions was quicklyoverhauled and readjusted tomeet war conditions. Technicaltraining in mechanical andengineering lines was given bythe Agricultural College, atthe request of the War Depart-ment, to hundreds of enlistedmen from New Mexico andother States. 306. Financial Support.—Every call for money to beused by the great war organiza-tions was answered with un-bounded generosity. The awfulspring of 1918, when the Ger-mans were driving everything before them and the causeof freedom was in its darkest hour, found in almost everyNew Mexican home the grim determination to make anysacrifice necessar
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