The Wrangell sentinel., 1920-04-22
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.
Article X.
By FRANK coMERFoRD.

ton when the war came to an end. The terrible waste was telling. En- durance 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 1t loudest.
 ''I'm glad l had a chance to do my part-I wouldn't have missed the show for million dollars. and wouldn't take million dollars to go through 1t again." is the way they put 1t. Everywhere in Europe I heard, Tt is over, it is finished. thank God"
 The first thought of reconstruction was plan to make peace permanent
 The laboratory and the machine shop gave to this war a terrible mean ing, new agencies had been intro duced to kill and maim men, liquid fire, mustard gas. high explosives, bombs from the clouds. torpedoes from the sea depths. The world was hor- rified. 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 If civilization was to live.
 So the people, particularly the work ing people. took heart when League of Nations was suggested as means of enforcing peace. They placed their hopes In it. They had suffered most from the war. The dead were large ly their dead. The returning cripples were blood of their blood. AS they put 1t. they were from their class. Of course the sons of the other class fought shared the hardships. paid the price, hut 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. It Is fOrce-War.
 It Is 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 a difference of opinion. If 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 pelled to resort to force. Until some scheme of arbitration is created. to talk peace Is to waste words. to hope for 1t is idle dreaming.
 Peace Conference Fell Short.
 The peace conference met in Paris. Labor watched it. At an early stage In its proceedings intrigue was dis covered at work. Wrangling. picker ing, bargaining and trading for con- mercial advantage occupied the time and thought that the world expected would be devoted to the building up of 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 req 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. It was no- ticed that the territories over which they quarreled were rich in minerals or some other thing of great cOmmer- cial advantage. They squabbled over spells. 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 wars. What future wars and why the discussion of future wars at a confer ence. the object of which was future peace?
 Working men watched, listened and thought. They construed these bick- erings 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 the truth when add they suspect this interest Is Capital
 If the League of Nations fails this suspicion will be confirmed. The movement toward an internatiOnalism of the workers will be given great impetus. The League of Nations fail ing they argue there Is only one other means of preventing war. It Is for the men who make up the rank and file of the armies in time of war. the millions recruited from shops. fac tories and fields. to get together and organize an international labor au- thority to save the working men from war. Such movement would take away from governments an important and necessary function and give to