The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1915-11-13
(By A. B. du POnt.)

pampered, hereditary Crown
Prince and his wife, and thereby
ignited fuse, which, in burning,
has caused the explosion OF fhon
sands Of tons of ammnDi,ioD,
killing and manning hundreds Of
thousands Of men; and the fuse
still burns, and its burning may
ultimately cause the destruction
Of the lives Of hundreds of hoa.
sands of other men. Nav! 1t
will cause the destruGtIOn "t the
lives of more than a million men,
women, and children.
Not one Of these people who
have been killed, nr who are go
ing to be killed, has desired that
any one Of his fellowmeD be
killed.
What has caused and is caus.
ing this destruction of lifti The
fuse! Why does not some one ex
tinguish or destroy i,i Is it not
because the majority of men whe
live in the countries now at wal
fear the burning of the fuse less
than they fear it's extinguish
menti Why was the fuse con.
structed and why is it being ex
tendeds Certainly 1t IS not for
the purpose Of killing men, WON
en- and children 1t must be fOr
some other purpose-some pur
pose that the majority Of men
believe will result in SO great
benefit to them that they are
willing to face the risk to theil
lives that is entalled by the con-
[structlon and the maintaining oi
the fuse and all the war equip
ment connected therewith.
There can be only one reason
tha. Gan justify men to carry or
war, and it Is that they believe
by means Of it, life and happi
ness in the future can be sus
tained by q lessening expendi
ture Of effort. It 10, therefore
pertinent to inquire what efforts
are required of men to sustain
life and happiness. and whether
there ls not q better way to per
nit these efforts to be applied
than through the terrible de-
structIon Of life and happiness
that is occurring in Europe.
Life Of man is, and slways viii
be sustained by the consumption
Of the product Of the application
of labor to materials, directed BY
Intelligence; and his happiness
is wholly dependent upon the ex.
tent that the qualification Of hii
physical and mental sppetites ex
Deeds the burden to.his body and
mind in obtaining the cause of
the qualification.
Therefore, the problem of man
is to fiDd a way to satisfy, ae
nearly as possible. his appetitei
With the expenditure Of the least
possible fffort.
Human experience has proved
that the least effort 10 required
Of men towards satisfying thetl
appetltes when the labor of some
| Is applied to produce one kind of
product and of others to product
other kinds, and these prod uctt
are exchanged.
How, then, is 1t possible thai
men will cause the destruction Of
| potential labor and materials 81
warf
Is IL for the reason that theil
appetites are sstisfedf No!
Is It for the reason that there
lie not material enough upon oi
I'm the earth to which poteutia'
| labor can be applied 10 order te
create products that would tend
to satisfy their appetitees 40!
Therefore, 1t must be that mai
has not enough intsIliGeE ce, OF
does not use 1t sufficiently.
Is It not absurd that almost
all OF the inh abitsnts OF Europe
/ are divided INTO two great lac
1 tions, both STRIVING to their ut
/ most to destroy not only the pro
ducts of labor that they could
exch aDge, but to destroy life (po
Ieential labor), the product use Of
(which could be exchanged. 81 {
Thereby also help satisfy the aE
petites of the contenderss
/ There can be only one explana
tion for this folly. ard It 10 thal
i the conteDders believe that Il
4 they had not started the war, o.
lie they nov stop 1t, they woult
4 have less chance OF having theil
lappetites satisfied than by tn.
1 war continuing.
Manifestly there can be onI,
l two reasons that could have n
1 dnced any Of the natiOne now .