The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-05-05
WORLD ENERGY
IS BEING Slapped
Producing Without Re-
gard to Utility, Says
Henri Dumay
HENRI DUMAY
Noted French Publicist)

Noted French Publicist)
PARIS.-Produce produce! is the
; cry of the moment. Produce no mat
ter what happens. Produce without
regard to the utility you make, with
out thought. without plan. but for
Gods sake, produce!
No matter If the laborer's back is
scorched by torrid sun, whether
children and women grow weak and
anemic in monstrous mills and fac
tories, whether men emerge from the
mines too tired even to wash, pro-
vided they produce and again pro-
duce!
What a mess man has made of civ
ilization! How he's lowered It,,
4 shown himself incapable of distin-
gushing betWeen real and artifi-
cial values! IN iaD0rMaiQns miners,
glassblowers, mechanics, hotel watt
ers, stagehands, jockeys are all on
an equal footing, as though their
work were of equal Importance to
society! And yet it is because there
are so many hotel walters, jockeys,
stagehands, superfluous professions
monopolizing a mans time that we
haven't enough masons to build our
houses, enough farmers to raise our
wheat, enough weavers to make our
clothes.
Threefourths of our activity is
consumed in the mad rush to salts
| fly artificial needs. 1t devours most
of our energy, prevents us from en-
joying the real things of life.
The craving for cocaine is very
real one for some individuals. But
officially it is not countenanced, be-
cause the use OF the drug is harm
full to the community in general.
Why is not this standard applied
to other phases of life? The mad de-
sire to manufacture, buy, sell, i'm
port, export anything whatsoever,
without regard to it's utility, is as
harmful Ito the worlds equilibrium
as the use of drugs. All over the
world millions of people are ground
to the earth because of the CONNER
cial and industrial epilepsy of those
in power.
A distinction should be made be-
tween that which is useful, profit
able to civilization and that which is
sheer superfluity. Far be it from
me to wish to Danish luxury, but if it
is to exist, it must net be at the ex-
pense of necessities. Thousands
must not starve and suffer in order
to provide few with superfluities.
Weighted down by stone, men
dive to the bottom of the sea. Once
in a while they rise to the surface
with an oyster shell containing a
pearl Not always.
The life of the pearl diver is pit
fully short. Every day some are
smothered to death, others cut in
two by shark. Those who escape
accidents die at an early age, owing
to the privation of air, the abuse Of
their bodies,
And why do these men lose their
best years, undergo torture, suffer-
ing? For the sake of the pearl whose
costliness consists precisely in the
death and misery it causes. And
yet this pearl may be initiated so
that even experts can hardly distin-
gniesh between the real and the ar
tificial. Why have human beings to
die for bauble which may be had
almost equally beautiful-with-
out suffering, and which at best is
but vain luxury?
Have you seen how they live, the
who create those
frightful artificial plants which help
make our houses ugly and ruin the
taste of the people? How they are
packed eight or nine in room,
dying from tuberculosis,
for lack of a ray of the life-giving
sun? And why do these people suf-
fer? Who profits by their misery?
They are obeying the criminal law
producing, producing anything, any
hing whatever-it doesn't matter,
provided they produce.
A radical change of view is need
3D. The object should not be to
produce, but to produce what is
worth while. If we could rid our
selves of the idea that activity is the
,nly goal in life, consider it as
means instead of an end, cure this
Industrial and commercial fever, how
much profitable leisure time for
hought and instructive reading we
Gould have! How many happy walks
md pleasant conversations, beauti-
'ul moments for all of us If only So
,iety would consent to regulate the
shameful abuse of human activity!
-.t-
ANOTHER FRIEND OF JOHN