Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-08-07
Keep Your Head.

War brought the United States to a posi-.
ton of admitted leadership financially, indus.
triaIly and otherwise. From the standpoint
of military resources this country is at the
top. 1t has just given convincing demon
stration of its moderation its sound common
sense, it's resourcefulness in an emergency
and its unseIfshness in refusing to take what
many consider it has earned and what it would
be so easy for it to secure by force.
But just at the moment when we have the
world by the tail with a downhiu pull and
beginning to brag a little about our superio-
rity somebody starts throwing rocks at
neighbor, others take up the quarrel, and in
moment confusion roigns, attention is diverted
from our effort and we are in danger of losing
all that we gained and a good part of what we
previously had, into the bargain.
After glance at a daily newspaper now
adays one wonders if anybody anywhere is
still plodding along in contentment working
full time and honestly trying to give full value
for what he receives Black type shrieks of
strikes and iockouts, actual or threatened, &C
cusations Of profteering, plots and counter
plots and proposals of remedies that are so
radical as to be revolutionary Every class.
every interest seems to be trying to make it
self audible above the tumult to get hearing
for its cause Everybody seems to have be-
come suddenly obsessed with pity for himself
and to be mortally AFRAID that his neighbors
may not realize how badly off he really is.
The country is fast working itself up into a
hystericaI state-over what?
Frankly no one has yet offered an ade-
quate answer History does not throw much
light on the situation. In other times people
seldom have become so agitated except when
they were laboring under definite and easily
distingu1shable wrongs. Oftenest they were
starving Sometimes they were suffering from
oppression. Again it was lack of an opportu-
nifty to work. Always even the most igno-
rant among them had a fairly clear idea of
what it was all about.
Nothing of the sort exists in the United
States today Hunger may be here, but it is
not widespread On the whole probably the
average individual has more Of the various
commodities than ever before. There is work
for everybody who wants it. AS for political
wrongs there are none for which the ballot
box, open to every man and to most women,
does not offer a remedy. Even the wisest is
puzzled by the symptoms, while the less in
formed offer wild guesses as divergent as the
points OF the compass.
What, then is all the agitation about? Is
II for more gasoline for the automobile or new
records for the talking machine, or for pair
of silk hose for the wife or daughter? Is it
for anything that man can eat wear or other
wise use for physical enjoyment?
Some think so, but probably they are wrong.
The cause goes much deeper than creature
comforts. Time will make it clear to every
body what is at the bottom Of the unrest.
For the present forbearance should be the
national watchword. Voicing minor grfev-
ances now is decidedly out Of order Things
already are coming along too fast for the pop
ular mind to assimilate them. A score or ques-
tons, each big enough to form the central is
sue in presidential campaign, already are
clamoring for an answer. Better bear our
little inequities quietly for the time being than
to add to the turmoil. The machinery for the
adjustment OF relations between men is over