The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-07-18

ReVleWS.)
/ went to Europe on the Lapland,
sailing at the end of January. That
ship was loaded with American man.
ufacturers and representatives of
American manufacturers, who were
going over to sell goods, who felt
that the war had probably so helped
European industry that they were CO.
ing to have to face sharper conditions
of competition than they had ever
known. These men had no more con-
ception of the Europe they were GO
ing to than had.
You believe | may have something
to tell about the most remarkable sit
uation the world has ever seen. | be-
lieve ! have, and ! am going to tell
you straight. | am going to tell you
some of the things ! have seen, some
of the conclusions that have reached,
and think you will be shocked. | was
shocked when | learned, as did with
in twenty-four hours after | got on
the other side, that most of my pre-
conceived notions of what had hap
pened to Europe should be thrown in
to the waste basket and that | should
have to start over again to find out
what had happened to Europe.
Now it is fair for you to know some
thing of what / have done in Europe,
where | have been, whom have seen,
before / begin to give you some of
my conclusions.
| was in Europe from the first of
February to the ninth Of May. !
spent some time in England first;
then went to France, to Switzerland,
to Italy, to Spain, back to Paris again;
then to Belgium and Holland, and
back to London. 1t is fair state
ment to say that | saw the leading
men in those countries. | met every
finance minister; | met many of the
Prime Ministers. | met the leading
financiers and bankers, great en-
ployers of labor, labor leaders. And
what | have to tell you is not just an
opinion of my own snatched out of the
blue sky. 1t is a reflection, perhaps
composite, of the opinions of the first
minds in Europe. If it were not,
would not dare stand before you and
tell you some of the things that | am
going to tell you.
/ believe it would be possible, too,
for one to take exactly the trip that |
took, to see the cities that saw, and |
nJul TeIufH u LHlS country WIFI I'LL |
ferent conclusions than have Of Eu-
rope.
Americas interest
want to say right at the begin
ming that however black background
/ paint-and it will be dark would
not paint it, would not tell the story,
except that ! believe America must
know it, must comprehend it, that we
must get it into our hearts and minds,
because we must act. And if we do
act, we can save Europe from a cat
astrophc, catastrophe that will in
volve us. That is why feel moved to
tell such an assemblage as this some
thing of the conditions that saw ov-
err there, something Of some of the
Consequences that may flow from
those conditions. | believe that it is
possible that there may be let loose in
Europe forces that will be more ter
ribly destructive than have been the
forces of the Great War. / believe
we can probably save the situation
from anything occurring as fearful as
that. If / did not believe it, should
hesitate to say what | shall about
conditions.
1tu ihuupty
If were to try to put in two words
what | sum up as the most essential
thing to grasp about the situation in
Europe, the two words would be "par-
alyzed industry. There is idleness,
there is lack of production through
out Europe and, indeed, in England,
that you can hardly comprehend. There
is difficulty about resumption of
work on ordinary peace affairs that,
/ think, nobody could be made to COM
prehend who did not see it on the
ground.
Now, of course, there is a great
scar across Europe where there has
been devastation. | hardly need to
speak of that. You have been told
that story. have seen it from the
German border to Zeebrugge, and no
words can make you comprehend the
awfulness of the scar. The complete
destruction, the insane destruction,
the destruction that went far beyond
military necessity, destruction that
despoiled factories for the purpose of
destroying commercial competition
there was a great deal of that. But
after all that is only a scar across
Northern France and Belgium, de-
stroying a considerable part of the in
dustry of those two countries, it is
true, but it is not that devastated dis
trict that speak of. 1t is the idle
ness throughout all countries where
there has been nothing of the hand
of war laid upon industry, only the
hurt of this after-war situation that
has in it promise of being a more ter
rible hurt than the war itself. Now,
why should factory unframed by war
in the midst of continent wanting
everything insistently. be idle? Why
should there be million people in
England receiving an unemployment
dole? Why should there be in little
Belgium 100000 people receiving a
weekly unemployment wage?
How Can Raw Materials be Paid For?
Let me try to give you~some pic
ture of the difficulties that a manu-
facturer is under in Europe today in
an attempt to start up his factory. In
the first place, his labor has been dis
sipated and he faces a very difficult |