The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1920-04-01
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction in
Europe Follow the Great
World War?
HOPE FOR PERMANENT PEACE
These WhO Fought. and Those Who
Suffered at HSme, Alike Favor
Some Form Of League
ct Nations.
Article x.
By FRANK coMERFoRD.

Europe was SuccumDinS to eXhauS-
tiOn 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 nc
more war. The men who did the fight
ing said it loudest.
''Tm glad 1 had a chance to do my
partI wouldn't have missed the
show for a million dollars, and ]
wouldn't take a million dollars to go
through it again." is the way they
put 1t. Everywhere in Europe heard
1T is over, it is finished, thank God
The first thought of reconstruction
was a 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 MAIN men, liquid
fire, mustard gas, high explosives,
bombs from the clouds, torpedoes from
the sea depths. The world was hor-
rif1ed. 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 a League
Of Nations was suggested as a 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, but 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.
1t 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 g difference of opinion. If
we did not have courts providing a
peaceful determination of these dis
putes, the litigants would be COM
PEELED 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
PEELED to resort to force. Until some
scheme Of arbitration is created, to
talk peace is to waste words, to hope
for it 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, bicker-
Ing, bargaining and trading for COM
mercfal advantage occupied the time
and thought that the world expected
would be devoted to the building up of
a 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 rea-
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. 1t was no.
tced that the territories over which
they quarreled were rich in minerals
or some other thing Of great CONNER
cial advantage. They squabbled over
spoils. 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
peace7
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. I 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. 1t 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 a movement would take
away from governments an important
and necessary function and give to