The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-02-27
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
In Europe Follow the Great
World War?
GREAT NEED is PRODUCTION
Men Must sc Given lnduccment to
Work and Guaranteed Fair Deal
Ing In the Distribution OF
the Result.
Article VI.
Ry FRANk coMEREoRp.

Il Inc WOriu lives Dy TWO KINDS OF
work, the work on the soil and the la
Dor spent in making things. In this
way we get the things we eat and
wear, We have eaten up our surplus.
The worlds reserve is gone. We are
literally living from hand to mouth. TO
overcome the food shortage we must
put every inch Of available ground into
production. Only by doing this can we
live and gradually get back the sur
plus which stood as protection
against crop failures.
! Production is not automatic, 1t is the
work of man. There Is not anything
complex about 1t. You can't use
magic To grow things men must
pillow and gather. The will to work
is our greatest need. The land Is
available, God furnishes the sunshine
and the rain. TO get the plows, trac-
tors and farm tools we must look to
the industrial arm of life. Here again
Is the call for man. We are short of
man power. Men were killed and
crippled in the war; The men who
survived The war must help do the
work that would have been done by
those who did not come back. In
their present frame of mind they do
not will TO work, at least under the
old conditions obtaining before the
war. 1t Is necessary to furnish them
with an inducement to work. There
was little inducement for men to work
before the war. The discontinued are
not kicking at work. Their objection
goes to the unfalrness shown In dis
tributing the result. 1t isn't any se-
cret. They are shouting 1t from the
housetops OF Europe, they demand q
larger share of the things they pro-
duce, or they refuse to work. There is
good deal Of human nature In 1t, too.
II Is only human nature to think of
self. There isn't anything unnatural
In the workingman looking for reward.
Willingness to work Is largely based
on the thought Of working for oneself.
Five things are necessary to start
and keep production going. In other
words. to get the clothes, shoes,
stockings, coal and comforts of life, to
give the farmer the tools he needs for
agricultural production, so that we may
eat; to provide the transportation
necessary to collection and distribu-
ton, to bring the city to the coantry
and the country to the market we must
do five essential things.
Productions First Need.
First we must have plants. and I
use the word In the most general
sense. These plants must be equipped
with machinery and tools, they must
! be ready for work.
y Second plant is useless and
j stands idle unless we provide raw ma
/. terlal, the thing furnished by nature
i that man and machine work into the
| finished product.
v Third, We must have coal, Coal runs
. the machine and keeps warm the home
|. Of the man who runs the machine. The
' helplessness of the world without coal
q Is brought home to me while am writ.
A ing these articles. The miners have
d left the pit. The government, through
|. the courts, has tried to force them
/ back The effort Is failure. The
/. streets are dark at night. The houses
q are cold, Business is crying out
!. against necessary restrictions imposed
because of the coal shortage. realize
as never have before how dependent
we are on the men who pick and dis
' the coal. All Of the intelligence and
A culture, the courts, the gold, are but
symbols of power. When the Goa
: miners folded their hands and set theil
teeth things stopped, 49,.
Fourth, transportation is necessary
to the gathering, collecting and dellv
ering of raw material and the distribu
J ton OF the finished product
Fifth, and last, but first in impor
|, lance, is man power. The purpose Of
production is man. He is master of Il
at every Stage, in every department
Without him production Is impossible
!. The business men who proceed on The
q theory that men could not live withou
y their business, its pay roll, forget tht
!, first and greater truth that there woulC
!. be no business without the workers
s Man cuts, digs, gathers and hauls tn,
raw material. He hews the wood
" builds the plant. He mines the ore, h,
o makes the tools, the machinery. II,
v oils 1t, sets II in motion. He runs ii
:. He makes the furnace and the boiler
He digs and shoyels the coal whicl
makes the power He iefies the hea
Of the furnace. He builds the locomo
tive and pulls Its throttle, He make
the freight car and stands In the slice
IN the dangerous railroad yard wit
: the signal of safety.
q Railroads All Worn Out.
t. Transportation In Europe is partl
= paralyzed, During the war railroa
l. tracks and roadbeds were allowed I
+ deteriorate. 1t could not be helped
but the fact that IL was unayoiiabl
doesn't alter the situation. Roadbe
!, and rails have fallen TO pieces. Their
y = terrible shortage Of cars. Ever,