Grainger County news. (Rutledge, Tenn.) 1917-current, 1920-01-01
"WHILE AMERICA SLEEPS"
By Noble Foster HoggsOn, Member of the American
Industrial Commission to France

trial point of view, the war, in
spite of the tremendous sacrifice
of men and material and money
is not yet won. America and the
other nations which helped to
stop the German hordes and die
tated the peace terms have enter
ed the era of reconstruction with
a great advantage over those ma
tions whose representatives signed
on the dotted line, but unless we
and Il former allies duplicate
our victories on the field of bat
tie with just as decisive victories
in the fields of commerce and
trade, there is danger that some
day we shall look back on the
years that followed the war with
a realization that we won nothing
hut glory.
Theoretically, nearly every ma
ton and individual is awake to
the opportunities of the hour.
There rae few people who do ont
realize that the countries which
are the first to take advantage
of the new order of things and
get down to work in earnest will
reap the largest harvest in world
trade and domestic prosperity.
But America, which ought to be
the most alert of the allies, seems
to be tagging behind the rest.
Great Britain and France and Bel
GUM each appears to making bet
ter progress than America, not in
spite of their handicaps but be-
cause of them. They realize that
hard work will be required to
bring their countries back to pros
perity they enjoyed before the
war, but their realization of the
need is more intense than ours
In England, where nearly every
family was represented on the
casualty lists, the average wage
Garner knows that he must help
make up for his country's great
losses in man power. In France,
where the losses in men were even
greater, the people are awake to
the same ned for action, and in
addition they see on every side
concrete evidences of the destruc-
tiveness of war along material
lines. They know that debates will
not cultivate shell-torn fields nor
good intentions rebuild pillaged
factories.
The French have started to work
in earnest and have surprised
the world with the progress they
have been able to make.
Eugene Schneider, chairman of
the French Mission to the Inter-
national trade Conference, recent
ly held at Atlantic City, and head
of the famous Creusot works in
France which supplied the French
British and American armies
with seventy-fives and other guns
during the war, told the confer
encea at, one Of its sessions that
the reconstruction of their devas-
tated regions is today in full
sway. "At the time of the armis-
tice," he continued, I'VE had 1400
miles of railroads to rebuild, and
by September / Of this year we
had completed 1850 of the total.
We had 1f60 bridges, tunnels and
viaducts of one sort and another
to rebuild, and by September f,
we had completed 588. of the $40
miles of Manageable waterways to
be repaired we had already fin
ished $50 miles at that same date.
Out of $4,000 buildings destroyed
or damaged by war, we had re-
paired $4,000 by the beginning of
September, put up over 5000
huts and begun the construction
of over $4,000 new homes. We
have cleared up shells over an
area of 1900 square miles and
have filled in nearly S0,O0O,00
cubic yards of trenches. We have
sent back 100000 refugees, open.
ed 5000 schools and reorganized
1872 civic communities"
In this country, because the loss
of life was comparatively small
and the cities and countryside
were undisturbed by shellfire, the
majority of the people see no dan.
ger in relaxing from the strain OF
war, thinking that their country
lost almost nothing and can af'
ford to rest awhile. But Americas
losses in material wealth during
the war were very great, though
less tangible than some of the
~ c EN,o-o- 1oA;o~c III.