Cleveland County herald., 1919-08-14

we must lace the tact that unless we help Europe to get back to her normal life and production chaos will ensue there which will inevitably be communi eated to this country. For the present, ii is manifest, we must quicken, not slacken, our own production.
 U. S. Must Hold World Steady.
 We and we almost alone, now hold the world steady. Upon our steadfastness and selt-possession depend the affairs of na tons everywhere It is in this supreme crisis-this crisis for all mankind-that American must prove her mettle.
 In the presence of a world confused, dis tracted she must show herself self-pos sessed. 'self-contained, capable of sober and effective action. She saved Europe by her action in arms; she must now save 1t by her action in peace
 In saving Europe she will save herself, as she did upon the battleiields of the war. The calmness and capacity with which she deals with and masters the problems of peace will be the final test and proof of her place among the peoples of the world
 And, if only in our own interest. we must help the people overseas Europe is our biggest customer. We must keep her gong or thousands of our shops and scores of our mines must close. There is no such thing as letting her go to ruin without ourselves sharing in the disaster.
 In such circumstances, face to face with such tests, passion must be discard ed. Passion and disregard for the rights of others have no place In the counsels of free people. We need light, not heat in these solemn times of self examination and saving action
 Must Be No Threats.
 There must be no threats. Let there be only intelligent counsel, and let the best reasons win, not the strongest brute force. The world has just destroyed the arbitrary force of a military junta. It will live under no other. All that is ar bltrary and coercive is in the discard. Those who seek to employ it only prepare their own destruction
 We cannot hastily and overnight revo- lutionize all the processes of our eco- homie life. We shall not attempt to do so. These are days of deep excitement and of extravagant speech. but with us these are things of the surface
 Everyone who is in real touch with the silent masses of our great people knows that the old strong fiber and steady self control are still there, firm against vio- lence or any distempered action that would throw their affairs into confusion.
 l am serenely confident that they will readily find themselves, no matter what
 
 dress themselves to the tasks of peace with the same devotion and the same stalwart preference for what is right that they displayed to the admiration of the whole world in the midst of war
 Sinister Influences at Work.
 And l enter another confident hope ] have spoken today chiefly of measures Of imperative regulation and legal com nnlGinn of nd correction of selfish processes; and these no doubt are necessary
 But there are other forces that we may count on besides those resident in the department of justice. We have just fully awakened to what has been going on and to the influences, many of them very selfish and sinister that have been producing high prices and imposing intolerable burden on the mass of our people.
 To have brought it all into the open will accomplish the greater part of the result we seek.
 I appeal with entire confidence to our producers, our middlemen and our merchants to deal fairly with the peo- pie. It is their opportunity to show that they comprehend, that they in tend to act justly, and that they have the public interest sincerely al heart.
 And l have no doubt that house keepers all over the country, and ev- eryone who buys the things he daily stands in need of will presently exer- else greater vigilance. more economy, a more discrimi- hating care as to the market in which he buys or the merchant with whom he traded than he has hitherto exer- cised.
 Labor Must Consider.
 
 believe. too, that the more ex- treme leaders of organized labor will presently yield to sober second thought. and like the great mass of their associates. think and act like true Americans They will see that strikes undertaken at this critical time are certain to make matters worse, not better-worse for them and for everybody else.
 The worst thing. the most fatal can be done now is to stop or interrupt production. or to interfere with the distribution of goods by the railways and the shipping Of the 
 We are all involved in the dis tressing results of the high cost of living and we must unite, not divide. to correct it.
 There are many things that ought to be corrected in the relations be- tween capital and labor in respect of wages and conditions of labor and other things even more far-reaching, and l. for one, am ready to go into about these matter with any group of my fellow eountrymen who know what they are talking about and are willing to remedy existing conditions by frank counsel rather than by violent contest.
 General Interest First.
 No remedy is possible while men are in a temper, and there can be no set clement which does not have as it's motive and standard the general in- terest.
 Must All Work Together.
 Threats and undue insistence upon the interest of a single class. make set tlement impossible I believe. as l have hitherto had occasion to say to the congress that the industry and life -sf our people and of the world will suffer irreparable damage if employers and workmen are to go on In perpet ual contest, as antagonists. They must, on one plan or another be effec- lively associated. Have we not stead mess and possession and business sense enough to work out that result?
 Ip the meantime-now and in the