Preparedness

It’s fishing time, it’s fishing time

     Fair spring is ushered in;

The birds are on the wing again,

     And fish are on the fin.

Preparedness is the slogan now,

     Upon the land and sea;

And that applies to rod and reel,

     And hits both you and me.

It’ fishing time – of course you know,

     You feel it in your bones;

You just can hear the water splash

     Around those mossy stones.

The brooklet calls you from afar,

     Prepare to enter in;

The birds are on the wing again,

     And fish are on the fin.

March 23, 1917

The Preparedness Movement, also referred to as the Preparedness Controversy, was a campaign led by Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt to strengthen the military of the United States after the outbreak of World War I. Wood advocated a summer training school for reserve officers to be held in Plattsburg, New York.

The movement was originally opposed by President Woodrow Wilson, who believed the United States should be in a position of armed neutrality. Several organizations were formed around the Preparedness Movement and held parades and organized opposition to Wilson's policies. After the Lusitania was sunk by German U-boats on May 7, 1915 and Pancho Villa launched his raid against Columbus, New Mexico, Wilson's attitude changed. Congress passed the National Defense Act of 1916 in June 1916 to authorize an enormous increase in the size of the military, and the Preparedness Movement faded. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preparedness_Movement