“Small businesses are the heart of the American economy,” President Barack Obama said in a speech at the White House last spring. “They’re responsible for half of all private-sector jobs, and they created roughly 70 percent of all new jobs in the past decade. They’re not only job generators, they’re at the heart of the American Dream.”

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This country was the only country born, not of chance and tribal warfare, but as a rational product of man’s mind. This country was built on the supremacy of reason—and, for one magnificent century, it redeemed the world.”

I remember as a young girl trying on my mother’s high-heeled shoes in an effort to mimic her style and feel more grown up. Today, I often find my own five-year-old daughter swiping my shoes, scarves and sweaters, wishing to look fashionable and more grown up as she totters around in my heels and sweaters, paired with little-girl leggings.

Originally published as the cover of the July 6, 1916, issue of Leslie’s Weekly with the title “What Are You Doing for Preparedness?” this portrait of Uncle Sam went on to become—according to its creator, James Montgomery Flagg—“the most famous poster in the world.”

In fact, Flagg patriotically contributed forty-six works of art to the war effort in order to bolster the recruitment of citizen workers, soldiers and sailors for both world wars. One can only imagine what Uncle Sam saw in the faces of the men, women and children who gazed upon this poster back then. Was it determination? A readiness to serve? A confidence of victory over our enemies as long as we stick together?

As the country sinks deeper into economic doldrums, it’s likely to stay there for a while. Nearly every economist polled believes a recession has begun, and most think it will persist beyond the first quarter of 2009. Thankfully, the decorated-apparel industry in general weathered last year’s storm and came through relatively unscathed, given the strengthened appeal and affordability of the goods being produced and the market windfall the industry enjoyed from the fierce political campaigns. Business is down somewhat, according to the business owners we’ve polled, but without near the devastation as seen in many industries.

We recently finished a simple job for a new client in British Columbia. It was a promotional project on 2,400 inexpensive white shirts: one-color left-chest and back; black ink using a bold Helvetica typeface spelling out the company name.

Wow! Talk about a tough one. We’re pretty sure you’re reading now to learn how to print one-color, black ink on white Ts, right? Wrong! Still, if any of all y’all have ever shipped a job to Canada, you might relate to the how complicated such a simple little project can really be. (But, since this column is called “Software to Substrate,” it doesn’t generally concern itself with freight complications. So let us get back to the task.)

Canadian complications