Milford chronicle., 1918-10-25
THE SHOCK OF PEACE

well fear the consequences OF peac
which finds us unprepared.
Let us picture the arrival OF peace
All the worlds millions will be VIII
II with Joy. The expectation OF sacrl
1t flee, privation and death will be sup
y planted with a frantic relief. Th'
= look ahead down the long hard roa'
of war instantly will be wiped ou
and in its place will come happiness
and a new atmosphere filled WITH
rosy visions.
But, oh! the cold, gray dawn OF the
morning after. when we bathe our
heads in icy common sense and face
the facts of a world half-destroyed,
of cities up-rooted, of manufactures
diverted from their normal course, OF
industries all twisted from their old
foundations, of whole populations de-
lected from the wOnted ways they
must again learn to travel.
Let us be selfish for minute and
blot out the awful picture of Europe.
Let US consider only our own United
States which war has apparently yet
so lightly touched.
Do you realize that at least ten mil
lions of laborers are employed today
in filling war orders, in making mu-
nitions for war, and in supplying with
food, clothing and otherwise, our arm
les in the field? Do you realize that
on the declaration of peace the Unit
ed States will have in uniform in the
army and navy four or five million !
men?
What will happen to affect these !
soldiers and these laborers? The first
thing probably will be the cancella-
ton of war orders. Every factory
every industry organized on a war
basis will be obliged, in the space Of
a few days, to place itself on a peace
basis, and in doing this it will face
the stark unknown.
If there are two million or more
American soldiers in France it may
require two years to bring them all
home, but many of them will return
Meanwhile, and this as
soon as peace is declared, those as
sembled in cantonments in this coun- {
-ry may be disbanded. What are [
.hese soldiers going to do, their form [
sr occupations largely gone, and COM 7
ng back to a world where indus
ries are partly if not wholly stag +
lant, where offices are filled with +
ubstitutes, where factories are clos q
ng down? {
We are floating now in the high tide V
# an artificial war commercial activ- y
ty. How many have saved the extra "
wages earned? How many are ready o.
o meet a protracted period of unem-
loyment? Il
OF course, employers will make ev- v
ry possible haste to switch their fac B
Ories over to peace products and to m
econnect with peace markets and g
eace customers But all this takes az
me.
Each man should ask himself-what p'
as he saved, what place has he W
eady to jump into when the one he II
ow occupies is taken from him eth p'
+ by the shutting down of the work
+ by the return of soldiers to whom
he country owes first care.
Remember, too, that this shock of
eace will hit us at the moment when
ne cost 0. living is at its pinnacle. sc
ever before in our history will bread Ell
ave cost so much, never before in
lr history will clothing, fuel and the ST
5sentials of life have been so high. as
illiOns will face On one side the ar
lasm of unemployment and on the I'll
-her the mountain peak of the high
st prices ever known for living es- II
entails. w
What will happen when demagog- in
es may appear on every hand TO la
reach anarchy and fear and envy
I'd distrust, and when the dema- w
)gue has for an army not only those da
his own ilk but the vast army com Mi
slied against its will to be idle and
Ingry? MI
Then through the streets may be bo
'ard the hollow clink Of the empty Jr
nner-pail. Then through the stag
mt factory isles may wander the un- Ia
rted workers. Then will millions WI
il upon those who have been tenn
rarily their rulers for a terrible ac- by
uniting. the
That we may have a better idea of Mr.
nat this initial era of peace may be.
us go back to the ranic of 1898. ert
It us take from history one startling ma!
sential fact. The consumption of far
leat in 1898 was largely reduced.
Think what it means to have a large out
ri of the normal amount OF wheat seN
cad taken from the millions. the
ndred milliOnsi Bread is the last tuI
ing which a human being denies Wa
nself. If the people are buying her
IS than their ordinary amount of
cad, how much less do you imagine S
~ will purchase of automobiles or
IS or diamonds? If people are on
ced to buy less than their normal c
pply of bread, what becomes of the wit
el industry, what becomes of the suf
Il mines, what becomes of the thou
IDS OF factories manufacturing ev-
conceivable kind of material.
at happens to the transportation
ilities that convey the freights ar5
ich are composed of these mater 1ia1
5; what happens to the banks who 4
1ply the credit which supplies the Nv
ney to meet the pay-rolls of these ~
ustries, of these factories, of these ne me
importation systems? @ s
What happens in such a condition 80
the farmer when he looks for a mar L.
for his crops a id finds that the ~,
TX, having contracted its credit. tori
contracted every phase of indus r