The Raymer enterprise., 1920-03-25
Shall Chaos Or Reconstruction in
Europe Follow the Great
World War;
HOPE FOR PERMANENT PEACE
Those Who Fought, and Those Who
Suffered at Home, Alike Favor
Some Form Of League
Of Nations.
sy FRANK coMEaFoRD.

Dy FRANK CoMERFoRD. :
Europe was succumbing to exhaus-
tf0n when the war came to an end
The terrible waste was telling. En-.
turance had reached the breaking
point. With peace one thought ran
around the world There must be no
more war The men who did the fight
ing said II loudest.
I'm glad ] had chance to do my
part-I wouldn't have missed the
show for million dollars, and
wouldn't take a million dollars TO 20
through II again." Is the way they
put 1t. Everywhere In Europe l heard.
~It Is over, 1t is finished. thank God"
The first thought Of reconstruction
was a plan to make peace permanent.
The laboratory and the machine
shop gave to this war terrible mean.
ing. new agencies had been intro
duced to kill and main men, liquid
Are. mustard gas, high explosives,
bombs from the clouds, torpedoes from
the sea depths. The world was hor-
rifed. The length Of the war. the
number Of dead and crippled. the raid
ing and bombing Of defenseless cities
taught the world that an end must
be put to war II civilization was to
live.
So the people. particularly the work.
ins people took heart when League
OF Nations was suggested as a means
OF enforcing peace. They placed their
hopes In Il. They had suffered most
from the war. The dead were large
" their dead. The returning crippIes
were blood Of their blood. As they
put 4. they were from their class.
or course the sons Of the other class
fought, shared the hardships. paid the
price. but they were few. The group
from which they came is small, while
the toll Of casualties from labor's
ranks was large.
All men know that controversies
between nations are inevitable. In
the absence Of some scheme Of arbi-
tration there Is but one way that these
controversies can be settled. II Is
f0rce-War.
II Il not uncommon for individuals
to have serious differences of opinion.
Every lawsuit. and there are thousands
Of them In every city Of every country,
represents difference Of opinion. II
We did not have courts providing
peaceful determination of these dis
putes, the lItigants would be COM
pelled to settle their differences by
force. Assault and battery would
succeed orderly procedure. Nations
have been without a peaceful means
Of adjusting their difficulties. and as
consequence they have been com
PEELED to resort to force. Until some
scheme OF arbitration Is created. to
talk peaee Is to waste words, to hope
for II Is idle dreaming.
Peace Conference Fell Short.
The peace conference met In Paris.
Labor watched 1t. Al an early stage
In Its proceedings intrigue was dis
covered at work. Wrangling. bicker-
Ing. bargaining and trading for com.
mercial advantage occupied the time
and thought that the world expected
would be devoted to the building up Of
q league that would at least decrease
the chances Of future wars. States.
men In their blind devotion to ex.
pediency lost sight OF the great rca.
son for the conference. They talked
Of boundary lines, discussed frontiers,
and always from the point Of view of
financial and military advantage to
their respective countries. II was no
ticed that the territories over which
they quarreled were rich In minerals
or some other thing Of great CONNER.
cial advantage. They squabbled over
SpoIls. Then. too, these men who
were supposed to be concerned In the
future peace OF the world, In arguing
over frontiers urged their respective
claims on the grounds that their re-
spective countries needed these from.
tiers to make them secure In future
war. What future wars and why the
discussion Of future wars at confer
ence. the object Of which was future
peacei
Working men watched, listened and
thought. They construed these bick-
srings and wranglings as evidence Of
the fact that there Is an interest In
the world which does not believe In
giving up force. am only reporting
~ truth when l add they suspect this