Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1920-02-12
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
in Europe Follow the Great
World War?
IMPERATIVE NEED FOR ACTION
Twelve Months Since the Signing OF
the Arnistiee Practically Wasted
Call for Aid From America
Must Be Needed.
Article v.
BY FRANK coMERFoRD.


The signing Of the armistice ended
the fighting. The signing of the peace
treaty brought peace, but neither OF
these acts restored devastated Europe
The great job ahead is the work of re
construction, and when / write the
word reconstruction" | have not in
mind the mere rebuilding of the war
stricken areas Of france, Belgium,
Italy, Poland and Russia. Gigantic
and important as this task is, neces-
sary as 1t is, 1t is only small part OF
the work Of real reconstruction. Hun
dreds of thousands of square miles
make up the actual war zone, the
ground marched over, the territory un-
der shell fire. Millions of acres of land
that once yielded food in response to
the touch of the plOw have for the
past four years been titled by high eX-
plosives.
Belgium was literally looted, pill
laged and ravished. Almost the en-
tire state was violated. Nearly one
eighth of France, her industrial sec
tion, was crushed. Buildings were de-
stroyed, factories dismantled. Sixty
thousand square miles in Poland were
laid waste. Italy suffered terribly
The ground Is filed with high explo-
siyes, undischarged mines and shells.
Every day since re work Of recovery
Snd Rns4uf atIels Eegan fllaz wReEflEle
In this zone have been blown to pieces.
Billions of feet of barbed wire and
millions OF tons of metal make dan
gerOus wilderness out of what was
once highly productive area.
Cities and villages are jungles OF
twisted, broken, torn wood, iron, brick
and stone. 1 have walked through
these villages and have stood stunned
by the completeness Of the destruc-
ton. The streets are uneven and
lumpy with brick and stone and plas-
ter and glass, aisles of wreckage. Roof
less houses with walls gutted and torn,
heaps and piles Of broken building ma
terial jagged, ragged pinnacles, masses
Of debris meet the eve. Had not known
of the war and come upon one of these
unslghtly, shapeless masses of materi-
al. 7 chnuld have thought nature had
entered into a mad conspiracy, com
bining and concentrating all of the
powers OF cyclone, a tornado 'nd
an earthquake, and spilled their tufy
on these mangled. dead villages.
Sights to Wr.ng the Heart.
Picture the refugees returning to
these vlllages-cOming back home.
What the sight must have meant to
them. l have seen them, their faces
gray as the gray ruins, standing in the
midst of their destroyed homes.
have seen them picking their way over
piles of stone and brick through great
openings made In the broken walls. l
saw in their eyes homeslckness, a hurt
of heart never shall forget. Old men
and old women and little bare-legged
children; now and again boy with
worn, soiled uniform, some limping
on crutches, others wearing an empty
sleeve. One thought surged through
my mind until 1t almost sickened me
War. The land of the war zone
must be reclaimed. These acres are
needed now more than they were be-
fore the war. The worlds food sup
ply is low. Hundreds Of miles of
trenches must be filled up. Trees
must be planted, the ground must be
cleaned of shells, cleared of barbed
wire; villages, cities, must be rebuilt;
sewer systems must be installed. The
mess must be moved. 1t is a big job.
One great misfortune Is that al
though IL months have come and gone
since the signing Of the armistice, no
general comprehensive plan OF recon
struction has been started. Here ana
there small sections of the devastated
regions are being partly reconstructed.
Temporary provision is being made
for the homeless. This Is all we'll and
good, but intelligent, economical, efli-
cIcnt and speedy reconstruction de-
nlands general plan and an organiza'
tIon big enough TO put 1t over. The
doing of this work requires vision ana
capacity for doing big things well. If
the physical reconstruction Is left to
Europe II will not be finished In 80
wears. Here is chance for America.
we have faculty of doing things on
a big scale and In short period Of
time. Europe needs our help. II we
are to give II eventually, why not now?
But the clearing up Of the wreckage