Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1920-02-21
claim on our hearts and heads the
Aa...e - rs.nvn IL Is NOW
o.. nou.n..s.i,.. pl.n.u

our Comparative Plenty,
In our house things are well. We
have been saved the devastation Of
war. Our acres are ample, our yield
has been plentiful. We have an album
dance OF material. Our man power
has only been lightly touched by the
war. 1t is true that we gave nearly
seventy thousand lives that the Prus-
slams might not pass; that autocracy
might not shackle the world. II was
our best blood. Europe gave for four
years, and she gave OF her youth un-
til her man power was almost ex-
hausted.
We cannot sacrifice Europe with
out being sacrificed. If Europe falls
America will totter. The storm Of UNI
rest that rocks Europe to ruin will
shake America. We must work and
give-Ioan, II you please.
The heart Of labor Is warm. It's
sympathy is born of suffering. The
gospel Of the brotherhood Of man is
the message that labor has always
taught. / am sure that II could pic
ture the poverty of the children and
women and men of Europe-if I could
only make people see what have seen
in Europe, our differences would seem
trivial by comparison with their suf-
ferings. Men would will to work and
find joy in the working. What greater
compensation can come to conscience
than working to feed the hungry, to
clothe the naked, to comfort the lOwly?
IF the heart of capital is stone and
cannot feel the message which comes
over the seas, let labor show that its
heart is humane and that 1t will suffer
injustice, If need be, a little longer to
save flesh and blood, brother and sis
ter workers, on the other side of the
ocean It's a crime against God and
man to stop production at this mo-
ment-and extravaganza n this hour
is a greater immortality than prostitu-
ton.
did not stop with the gathering Of
figures, because l knew that while
figures are important they frequently
fail to tell the full truth. Official re-
ports and statistics, granting that they
are accurate, are at best only photo
graphic. The photograph records with
mathematical exactness the exterior Of
things 1t seldom gets to the heart
The photograph is the still picture
the picture of the motionless fact. I'm
pressions are more like oil paintings.
They possess the human touch. They
reach the heart within. Back of the
daubs of paint on the canvas are the
throbs of a heart. The film is only SEN
sitized. Mans brain is sensitive. The
photograph reproduces the outline; the
painting, the substance.
Plain Record of Facts.
In reporting to you the things saw
and heard, l want to give you photo
graphs-the figures and facts as l
learned them, and the impressions
gathered from the speech and life
of Europe I have tried to keep my
eyes free from prejudice so that the
lenses would be unbiased.
In the June Of 1914 Europe had a
place in the sunlight Of peace. The
fields were filled with peasants, bend
ing their backs to toll. Villagers we're
happy in the common routine of their
simple lives. Factories, mills, mines
and shops were filed with men.
Wheels hummed, smoke streamed from
chimneys, industry was singing. In
the cities traffic roared, trains ratified.
1t was the story of busy, working
world.
Problems there were, of course the
problems normal to the growth and
progress Of the world. There was
some unrest, too, but children scam
pered to school, patient women sang
grooming songs to their babies. Men
carrying dinner buckets whistled on
their way to work There were shad-
ows-the unlighted side Of the worlds
street.-the slums and the tenements |;
but men and women were planning
and fighting the black ugliness, and
everyone had faith in the tomorrow.
The world was making headway-it
was growing better; its conscience was
awakened. We were becoming our
brothers keeper. 1t was a normal,
sane, good old world. It was good
to be alive.
Then came the day, the day tina
will never be forgotten-the day that
changed the world; the day of four
years, at the end of which civilization
was almost hunchbacked.
Copyright. 1890, Western Newspaper Union)
RepIant Your Lost Teeth.