Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1920-03-20

ton Of life. The war-deYastated ana
disordered the life Of the world It
threw everything into confusion; Il
left the scheme out of balance.
only Road to Prosperity.
We live by work. Prosperity means
production. Poverty Is underproduc-
ton. Stripping economics Of all its
high-sounding jargOn. the simple truth
that everyone knows is that the world
has only the things it works to pro-
duce.
1t may not be amiss to state few
facts known by everyone which ex-
plain the meaning Of production: We
live on the earth. It is land and wa
ter. In the ground are minerals. The
land grows crops. We need the min
erals that are in the ground. We need
the crops, but minerals in the ground,
as well as the fertile soil, mean moth
ing until man by his work brings the
mineral from the ground and makes
the soil yield. We must have food, we
must have clothing, we must have shell
ter, and the only way we can get these
things is by working. If little work Is
done we have a shortage. There isn't
enough food to go around, there aren't
enough clothes, enough coal, and as a
result the prices Of all these neces-
saries go way up But this is not so
important as the fact that when there
is not enough to feed the world some
go hungry, others must Starve. When
there isn't enough coal, some are cold,
others freeze. When there aren't
enough clothes for everyone, some
must be ragged and half-naked. Ev-
erything by which we live is the re-
suit Of work. Stop work, and poverty
follows. Work, and plenty results.
Work is responsible for everything that
goes to make life worth living.
To understand Europe's condition
today, one must stop and realize that
the war stopped production. The re-
suit is a shortage of everything. There
isn't enough food. there isn't enough
raw material, there isn't enough coal.
The whole story is told in the word
Poverty.
Only Cure Is in Work.
There is a cure; the prescription can
be written in a single word. Every
one knows that word, but knowing the
word and adopting the word are differ
ent matters. Before we can get back
to normal life this word must find
root in the consciousness of the peO-
pie. We must realize that the world
will continue sick and grow sicker I'M
less this prescription is taken. Fur
Their, we must know that if we delay
taking this remedy it viii be longer
time before we get well. The pre-
scription is work. Every effort should
be made to make every man will to
work. Every employer must not con-
tribute to unrest and provoke idle
ness by refusing to negotiate with his
men, and into this negotiation he
should go with friendly spirit and
willingness to compromise. The en-
ployer who meets labor with the
thought in his mind that he is better
equipped to fight than labor, because
he has a surplus and can eat and be
warm, while labor has been living from
hand to mouth and will starve, is
shortsighted. He had better get the
idea out of his head that you can
starve men into submission. There
was a day when that was true, but
that day has passed, never to come.
The man who depends upon his abil-
lty to turn a key in the factory door
and go of on a vacation, imposing
his will on his workmen, will discover
that these men stopped a certain
gent" late Of POttsdam now of HOl-
land, from doing this very thing to the
world. he may wake up some morn
ing to learn a new definition Of the
word flight"
One thing that people do not realize
is that the men who fought the worlds
fight for freedom are the men who are
now complaining that they are not
getting a square deal. Who made up
the fighting men Of the war, the rank
and file Of the armies that stopped the
Prussian Push? Who were the great
majority of the volunteers and the
conscripted men numbering millions
who went to the front for the allies?
The teamsters, the shophands, the mill
workers, the factory hands, the coal
miners. These are the same men
who are the center of the labor prob
lem.
Mr.. Employer, you are dealing with
ex-soldiers. Please don't forget 1t.
They fought for you. You wouldn't
have any business today If 1t hadn't
been for them. and when you think of
the bond you bought, remember the
blood they gave.