The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1920-03-11
PROBLEMS FACING
STRICKEN WORLD
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
10 Europe Follow the Great
World War;
DANGER IN GENERAL UNREST
Practically Universal Feeling Of Dis
esntent viii Gre" Unless the
Causes Which Gave II Birth
Are Removed.
Article VII.
e. FRANk coMEREoRp.

BY FRANK coMERFoRD.
specter haUnts Europe. It Is the
ghost OF unrest. When started out
to interview unrest in Europe I did
not give my ear TO the idle theorist
vino always knows all about every
thing, but never from direct expert
ence with 1t. nor did go to the agita-
| tor who breaches unrest In red words
Neither did ] seek out the type Of IA
uaticaI labor leader. who is eager for
trouble. who is trying to mobilize IN
rest and marshal IL under the banner
| Of Revolution. passed by the place
hunting, time-serving politician. was
| not interested In platitudes and prom
Ises.
/ sought knowledge of unrest from
those who knew It from contact with It,
those who were part and parcel Of it.
I went to the man In the street, the
average man. talked with the
sweaty, dirty coal miner at the mouth
| of the shaft. He had just come from
/ his day In the darkness deep in the
/ ground. I visited the man who works
in the mills. l listened to the rough
| speech OF the teamster. I went TO fac
| tories and talked with men between
| the two whistles which mark the time
! of the noon meal. They munched at
| black bread, ate cheese or sausage,
| guIped tea, coffee or cheap, diluted red
| wine. l spent time with the idle, the
| idle by choice as well as those without
! work through no fault OF their own.
| Only yesterday many, yes. most Of
these men were in khaki; now. back
| on the job in oYeralls. they were think
| ing. Their speech was troubled. Dis
/ content looked out from their eyes.
could feel it. They talked 1t, but never
/ as unrest, always protest.
Unrest Must Sc ouieted.
Their state Of mind is the problem.
| Unrest is epidemic; 1t Is militant.
There is little of pacifism in it. It is
real, it is not without cause. To get
| close to the cause of this disease which
! threatens revolution, one must know
and understand what Is going on in
| the minds Of the men we are looking
| to and depending upon to do the
worlds work. It doesn't take a
| prophet to understand that II heed IS
not given to the things Irritating them
/ and a remedy is not found for the irri-
/ tation, serious trouble will follow.
While war is hell, 1t has at least
! the restraint OF discipline. A revolu-
! ton growing out of unrest would mean
mob madness, terrorism, fanatical,
| brutal, cruel and mercilesS. Once
! started, it would spread like wildfire.
| The world would be swept from its
! senses. The fire would run Its course
until stopped because there was moth
/ ing left to burn. Who dares picture the
state In which it would leave the
world? In this day. when the nerves
! Of the world are on edge, when cold
/ and hunger irritate, one shudders when
he thinks of the fate of civilization
! IL unrest is not checked before 1t ex-
| plodes in passion and wrath.
Unrest existed before the war. It was
! an acorn then, 1t is an oak now. Be
fore the war men were complaining,
and Justly complaining, about their lot.
| The difference now is that four years
in the trenches have caused them to
stop complaining and act Soldering
| taught them much. They learned OF
| the greatness OF force.
Back of their present tendency to
/ act is the grown grievance and the
war lesson. Before the war they COM
planned; today they demand. 1t is in
teresting to examine unrest in the
complaint stage, as these men knew 1t
before 1914.
These plain, ordinary average men
have always been intensely human.
They loved their wives and children,
they lived for their homes. they felt
! stoE- vrr,,onril,glgf~- To- %I,a hor
piness oftheir loved ones. They have
but one thing to give. Before the war
they gave it unsparingiy-it was their
labor. Their one source OF income was
the pay envelope. With their wages
they had to buy shoes, clothes, food,
and provide shelter for the lives they
brought into the world. and for the
women they had chosen to be the moth
ers Of those children.
"Hsrse" Before All.
Home, Sweet Home" Is the inter-
national anthem. It Is the heart song
Of the average man. The club plays
no part In his life. From his home he
goes to work. and from work he goes
| home. Shanties and tenements are
not homes. These men have always
protested against the ugly shacks in
which they we're compelled to house
their loved ones. They bit their lips
In 1Obless days when their children
went to bed hungry. Resentment
grew in their hearts when they saw
how poorly dressed their wives and
children were. They muttered curses
when their children were forced to 20
to work. They wanted to give their
had had, q better chance IN life. and
they laughed at laws prohibiting child
labor. while conditions compelled chill