The Washington herald., 1918-03-27

One cannot read the interallied la
Dor war aims without realizing that
| tremendous problem must attend
the end Of the war, and the coming
of peace.
The outlook is not at all bright
The sky becomes dark with mys-
terry. No one dare foretelI what may
happen when those days come. For
while We are steady in the employ
ment of war. with the coming of
peace the problem will be shifted
and to ground upon which even
greater warfare might be brought
on than that we are now engaged
in. 1t is inconceivable we may
think. that the end of war would
bring us a condition which could
breed new war-and yet that is the
case. From the extensive outline
which labor leaders of the allies
have prepared we quote that part
| which is OF particular interest-be-
cause it portrays rather vividly. If
rather discouragingIy some OF the
bost-bellum troubles.
This is no illusion. There are
conditions here which will have to
be met. We cannot dodge them. We
cannot equivocate. We must meet
and with courage. Read this part
of the statement, gentle reader. and
see IL you grasp the possible mag
nitude of the problems from it. 1t
says:
ITO make the world safe for de-
mocracy involves much more than
the prevention of war either mill
tary or economic. 1t will be a de-
vice of the capitalist interests to
pretend that the treaty of peace
need concern itself only with the
cessation of the struggles OF the
armed forces and with any neces-
sary territorial readjustments. The
Inter-Allied Conference insists that
in view OF the probabl world wide
shortage, after the war. of export
able foodstuffs and raw materials,
and of merchant shipping, it is i'm
perative, in order to prevent the
most serious hardships, and even
possible famine, in one country or
another, that systematic arrange
ments should be made on an inter-
national basis for the ALLEGATION and
conveyance OF the available export
able surpluses of these commodi-
ties to the different countries, in
proportion. not to their purchasing
DO"tTSV Dul 10 ScNtEdl pTcSSlHS
needs: and that, within each coun-
try, the government must for some
time maintain its control . of the
most indispensable commodities. in
order to secure their appropriation.
not in a competitive market mainly
to the richer classes in proportion
to their means, but. systematically.
to meet the most urgent needs of
the whole community on the prin-
ciple of mo cake for anyone until
all have bread"
Moreover. It cannot but be antici-
pated that. in all countries, the dis
location of industry attendant on
peace. the instant discharge of mil
lions of munition makers and work
ers in war trades. and the demo-
biliZation of millions of soldiers-in
face of the scarcity of industrial
capital, the shortage Of raw materials.
and the insecurity of commercial en-
terprise-will, unless prompt and en-
ergetic action be taken by the sew
eral governments, plunge a large part
of the wage-earning population into
all the miseries of unemployment
more or less prolonged. In view of
the fact that widespread >unemploy-
ment in any. country, like a famine,
is an injury not to that country,
alone, but impoverishes also the rest
of the world, the conference holds
that It Is the duty of every govern
ment to take immediate action, not
merely to relieve the unemployed,
when unemployment has set in, but
actually, so far as may be prac-
ticable. to prevent the occurrence of
unemployment. 1t therefore urges
upon the labor parties of every coun-
try the necessity of their pressing
upon their governments the prepara-I
ton OF plans for the execution of all
the innumerable public works (such
as the making and repairing of roads.
railways and waterways, the erec-