Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1920-04-15
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
in Europe Follow the Great
World War;
DANGER IN GENERAL UNREST
Practically Universal Feeling OF Die.
content Will Grow Unless the
Causes Which Gave IL Birth
Are Removed.
Article VII.
BY FRANK coMERFoRp.

A specter haunts Europe. 1t Is the
ghost OF unrest When I started out
to interview unrest in Europe did
not give my ear to the idle theorist
who always knows all about every
thing, but never from direct expert
ence with 1t, nor did go to the agita-
tor who breaches unrest In red words
Neither did I seek out the type OF IA
natical labor leader, who is eager for
trouble, who is trying to mobilize I'M
rest and marshal it under the banner
Of Revolution. l passed by the place
hunting, time-serving politician. was
not interested in platitudes and prom
Uses.
l sought knowledge Of unrest from
those who knew it from contact with 1t,
those who were part and parcel OF 1t.
/ went to the man in the street, the
average man. / talked with the
sweaty, dirty coal miner at the mouth
of the shaft. He had just come from
his day in the darkness deep In the
ground. I visited the man who works
in the mills. l listened to the rough
speech of the teamster. / went to fac
tories and talked with men between
the two whistles which mark the time
of the noon meal. They munched at
black bread, ate cheese or sausage,
gulped tea, coffee or cheap, diluted red
wine. / spent time with the idle, the
idle by choice as well as those without
work through no fault of their own.
Only yesterday many, yes, most OF
these men were in khaki; now, back
on the job in overalls, they were think
ing. Their speech was troubled. Dis
content looked out from their eyes.
could feel it, They talked it, but never
as unrest, always protest.
Unrest Must Be Quieted.
Their state OF mind is the problem.
Unrest Is epidemic; 1t IS militant.
THERE'S little Of pacfism in 1t. 1t Is
real, 1t Is not without cause. To get
close to the cause of this disease which
threatens revolution, one must know
and understand what is going on In
the minds of the men we are looking
to and depending upon to do the
worlds work. 1t doesn't take q
prophet to understand that il heed Is
not given to the things irritating them
and a remedy is not found for the irri-
tation, serious trouble will follow.
While war is hell, 1t has at least
the restraint of discipline. A revolu-
ton growing out of unrest would mean
mob madness. terrorism, fanatical,
brutal, cruel and merciless. Once
. started, 1t would spread like wildfire.
The world would be swept from Its
senses. The fire would run its course
until stopped> because there was moth
ing left to burn. who dares picture the
state in which 1t would leave the
world? In this day, when the nerves
Of the world are on edge, when cold
and hunger irritate, one shudders when
he thinks of the fate of civilization
If unrest is not checked before it ex-
plodes in passion and wrath.
Unrest existed before the war. 1t was
an acorn then, 1t is an oak now. Be
fore the war men were complaining,
and Justly complaining, about their lot.
The difference now is that four years
In the trenches have caused them to
stop complaining and act. Soldering
taught them much. They learned OF
the greatness Of force.
Back of their present tendency to
act is the grown grievance and the
war lesson. Before the war they COM
planned; today they demand. 1t is In
teresting to examine unrest in the
complaint stage, as these men knew 1t
before 1914.
These plain, ordinary average men
have always been intensely human.
They loved their wives and children,
they lived for their homes, they felt
keenly their responsibility for the hap
piness oftheir loved ones. They have
but one thing to give. Before the war
they gave it unsparingly-it was their
labor. Their one source Of income was
the pay envelope. With their wages
they had to buy shoes, clothes, food,
and provide shelter for the lives they
brought into the world, and for the
women they had chosen to be the moth
erS Oh CnOSe culluTcus
"Home" Before All.
"Home, Sweet Home" is the inter-
national anthem. 1t is the heart song
of the average man. The club plays
no part in his life. From his home he
goes to work, and from work he goes
home. Shanties and tenements are
not homes. These men have always
protested against the ugly shacks In
which they were compelled to house
their loved ones. They bit their lips
In jobless days when their children
went to bed hungry. Resentment
grew In their hearts when they saw
how poorly dressed their wives and
children were. They muttered curses
when their. children were forced to 60
to work. They wanted to give their
children better education than they
had had, a better chance In life, and
they laughed at laws prohibiting child
labor. while conditions compelled chill
'dren to work or starve. AS these
men grew older their families grew IN
size and demand, while their ability
to earn decreased. The tragedy reg
istered in their pay envelopes. They
were being ground between growing
needs and diminishing wages. The
grinding not only hurt their bodies, It
furrowed their brain.