The vidette. (Iuka, Tishomingo County, Miss.) 1912-1967, 1919-10-16
BLOCKING PROSPERITY

There is Chinese proverb which
says: IF there is one man idle, there
is another who is hungry" There are
going to be great many who are
hungry this winter if the strike fever
doesn't subside and men whose work
is needed continue to be idle AMI
force as many others to be idle as
they possibly can.
Times like the present, when EN-
pioyment for everyone can be found
who can work and will work, and
when wages are high, possibly higher
than they ever were before, have al.
WAYS been considered good times.
BIT il is a strange fact that labor was
never so disconnected. The cost OF
living is high, but no one is hungry
who works. In the early nineties,
period that a man doesn't have to be
old to remember, living was cheap.
Wheat sold as low as SO cents bush
Il. and cotton from cents to 7 cents
pound. Food of all kind, and cloth
ing, was cheap, but banks broke, mer-
chants failed, mills shut down and
large number of unemployed troubled
every community. Those were the
days when Coxey's army marched on
Washington, and when in every large
CITY men and women stood in line TO
get bread bestowed by charity. There
IS nothing of that kind now. Labor rs
in demand. The products of labor are
needed to supply the waste and de-
struction caused by the war. Ameri-
can products are wanted as they new
er we're before; the country's export
trade is greatly increased. There
should be a continued good demand
for all American products, those OF
the farms and of the factories and
mines. For these products labor is
required, and ample production would
bring plenty.
With this country the converse OF
the chinese proverb should be pre-
sented. With all men at work, no
man should be hungry. But thous-
auds of men who earn good wages are
quitting work in response to the APP
peais of agitators who persuade them
that they have grievances of some
sort, which, to many of them, are
vague complaints and resentment OF
something they don't fully compre-
bend.
The good times that should exist,
business activity and general indus
trial prosperity, are thwarted by this
prevalence of strikes and the marked
unrest that seems to have its source
in reflex of European radicalism and
the talk of socialistic revolution. No
body actually believes any such reyo-
luton imminent in America, but the
talk of such q thing that the strikes
encourage paralyzes all progress and
puts a check on production.
The idle man, according to the
Chinese proverb, infiict hunger on
others than himself. That is tie
trouble about the strikes. Many
people outside of the steel industry,
the country at large, to great de-
gree, will suffer because of idleness
of so many men, the product Of
whose work is needed in the general
scheme OF industry, and it is not
their idleness alone that will 90
harm. II the strikes are nrotract d
the e will likely be riots and tumult :
some of the agitators who have
fomented the strike desire to create
d sord.r. The ulltra-radicals of Il e
|. w. w. sort will glory in it, but
it will all tend to rapidly change
good times into hard times, and
many people will 60 hungry who
might otherwise be well fed. The
world needs peace and work. From
such sources the general good will
be better served than it ever can be
by the ehimeri i lplans Of tie All
tators who are persuading labor that
its day of glory has arrived and that
the way to sget it is for everybody
to quit work and raise sheol.-
Nashville Banner.