The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-01-30
THE UNITED sTATEs-A GOING CONCERN.


There passing uneasiness in the public mind in the
United States which manifesing itself in various ways.
The has shaken individuals out Of their former easy
habits Of thinkingOr not thnkingand the acquisition
Of knowledge is proving acutey painful to many kinds
of brains Some Of them are unequal to the strain Of
absorbing truth. They turning sour, pessmistic or
boshevst according to the temperament Of the ndivd
ua One type Of mind that seems to be increasing in
numbers is that which would throw away all the good that
has been acquired through century Of effort to
brace notions that cannot stand ten minutes of quiet
analysis This kind Of har-tgger American is reveling
row in the chaotic state Of affairs, hoping to
pee Overturn in which he cannot hope acquire in hon
est competition with his fellows.
The fault, however does not lie with the shallow
pated the merely unpe inteect Some of the strong
est business in the country behaving though
their brains had deserted them Instead Of concentrat
ing upon ways and means to cooperate on a sensible
of action they throwing fuel upon the boshe-
vik bonfres by -considered speech and unwise acts
Other have drawn into their shells, refusing to loosen
their minds their pocketbOoks for the sake of keeping
the wheels turning. They excuse this turtleke
by asserting that no knows what is coming and
I'VE must wait to see what the peace conference will
do or similar nonsense
Of course no one knows what is coming But it is not
active and most dependetny nation in the world
will continue the map? Surely that is not violent
assumption although strictly speaking it is no more cap
able Of demonstration than any other future proposition
1t is sufficient however for the ordinary American if he
will but stop to think that he and his fate bound up
the fate of the country If the United States to go
down. the average American would just soon go down
with it, and if the United States is to go forward the
average citizen satisfied to go along rather than seek
his fortune in other countries.
The banks are bulgng with money The people Of this
country rich Their government borrowed billions
but it borrowed from the people who have recovered
Of the money in business and at the same time hold tn
bonds which drawing interest The bankers of the
country cauonsa good trait in bankers, if it does
not degenerate into sheepish timidty. Would it
not be well for the bankers to examine themselves and
the country and ask wether they not bit too cautious
States depend the peace conference after a2 Is it
rather fact that the United States has ben held back
too long in its normal domestic development until it is
too cramped? The OO,o0OOOO individuals Of this
try want railroads, buildings, homes,
more schools churches, more suburbs, FARMS
gardens more of everything that brings comfort
Why shouldn't the people have what they want when they
have the money to buy it?
With all due respect to the strength Of the late Ger
man empire, it to that many Americans
cedng too much to the prowess Of the enemy when they
afraid go forward in business because Of unsete
conditions" Are they afraid that Germany will come
back and start another war? Not chance! Nor will
anybody else start that need bother the United
States. This mighty, eager nation suffering from
its people. They have been shaken and uneasy
Let them think twice and they will preceve that the old
United States is intact bigger and richer than ever with
greater prestige abroad and greater markets both home
not hurt the United States however terribly it wounded
Germany. The free nations will give us better market
than Germany wreamed Of giving. All the Ameri-
need to do now if they wish prosperity to cut out
foreign notions Of government throw away their worry
the peace conference and the settlement of foreign
questions roll up their sleeves and get busy-Washing
ton Post