The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-11-09
THE PATHos OF DISTANCE.
By E. T.
Member American Mission to Great

Member American Mission to Great
Britain and France.
In England and France l have seen
things which | wish could be burned
into the conscience of every business
man in the United States. | have seen
factories in ruins, office buildings
blown to bits, commercial districts,
miles in extent, lying deserted and 81
lent, grass growing in the streets like
places of the dead-everything that
years, perhaps hundreds of years of
patient industry had built up and pass
ed on as a heritage from father to son
all vanished.
We in America have known nothing
like this. We a know nothing like
it. Thanks to our Allies, these exper-
fences will be kept from US. That fac
tory of yours in New England, that
mine of your neighbours in Michigan,
that farm | W in Iowa-they are be-
ing protected to-day by the untold sac
rifces of the soldiers, the business
men, the women of England and
France.
Why then should we complain? Why
should we protest that our business is
ruined? Why should we bewail les
sened profits, cavil at high prices, in
conveniences, hard conditions? Why
should we rage at the disaster that
overtakes our business?
Our business. Let me tell you
something more of what "our bust
ness" means in England and France
as l have seen it. | talked with bust
ness executives past their prime, men
so old and weary that they would be
glad to stop a bit and rest before they
die. Yet they carry on. They, like
those famed old DICTIONARIES of France,
have no time to die" They battle
with conditions which, in a month, a
week, a day. may sweep everything
out of existence. | saw a great ship
builder-a fine old Briton-at his
work, all three of his sons gone. AT
his side stood the grandfather, now in
his eightieth year, doing what he
could. | talked to a barber, the sole
survivor of four brothers. | was chauf-
feured by a Qne-time British capitalist
1t was his own car-and n of his
legs, a soldiers reward, was made in
the United States.
These business men overseas, our
Allies, are war weary. The strain is
great, the enemy strong. Bitter is
their lot. But do they protest? Do
they despair? No! Grimly they car
ry IN. Again and again they send
their son to the battle front. Their
daughters-they see them rise at six in
the morning to search the casualty lists
for the name of a brother or sweetheart
then depart for a long days work in
factory, field or office. They them
selves-even their nights are not Civ
en- them for rest. When evening comes
they report for special duties. In the
British capital thirty thousand of
them, bankers, lawyers, lords and sirs,
the shopkeepers of London, men too
cid, too crippled, too sick to serve at
the ~front-police the darkened city
streets.
| was in London when son of these
men gave up their lives to plug up the
ueck Of Zeebrugge Harbor. l felt then
as l know now, that by that heroic
Geed they defended net only the
Thames and the coast of Kent, but
% harbOrs OF New York, Boston and
Charleston. Those lads over there
stand on guard before mills, our
stores. our homes. Their spirit-their
viii TO win at any COSTS emulated
by their business elders at home.
Our b"siress, Our profit Our
Nges, Good God. Will we ever open