Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1920-02-26
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
In Europe Follow the Great
World War;
DANGER IN GENERAL UNREST
Practically Universal Feeling of Dis
content viii Grow Unless the
Causes Which Gave It Birth
Are Removed.
Article VII.
RN ERANK coMEREoRp.

G A specter haunts Europe. 1t is tn,
ghost Of unrest. When l started ou
to interview unrest in Europe / die
not give my ear to the idle theorist
3 who always knows all about every.
thing, but never from direct expert
ence with it, nor did so to the agita-
: tor who breaches unrest In red words
! Neither did seek out the type of ia
=. natical labor leader. who is eager for
trouble. who is trying to mobilize un-
rest and marshal It under the banner
Of Revolution. passed by the place
hunting, ime-serving politician. was
not Interested IN platitudes and prom
ises.ss
l sought knowledge of unrest from
those who knew 1t from contact with it,
those who were part and parcel of it.
/ went to the man in the street, the
average man. I 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. / visited the man who works
In the mills / listened to the rough
speech of the teamster. / went to fac
tories and talked with men between
the two whistles which mark the time
of the noon meal. They nunched at
black bread, ate cheese or sausage,
gulped tea. Imap. diluted red
wine speI Mic !
VElly yeste siay mail zk isscsf w
these men 3were in KHAKI nom back 4
on the Job In overalls; they were think
ing. Their speech was troubled. Dis
content looked out from their eyes.
could feel it. They talked it. but never
as unrest, always protest.
Unrest Must Be Quieted.
Their state Of mind is the problem.
Unrest is epidemic; ii is militant
There is little of pacifsm in it. 1t 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
n. |
prophet TO understand that If heed is
not given to the things irritating them
and 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-
tion 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 1t 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
4 unrest is not checked before 1t ex- {
)lodes IN passion and wrath.
Unrest existed before the war. 1t was |
IN acorn then, II Is an oak now. Be 5
ore the war men were complaining, I
md justly complaining, about their lot. q
The difference now Is that four years q
n the trenches have caused them to {
top complaining and act. Soldering o
aught them much. They learned of I
he greatness of force. K
Back of their present tendency to U
lct is the grown grievance and the v
var lesson. Before the war they com q
,lained; today they demand. 1t is in u
eresting to examine unrest in the W
omplaint stage, as these men knew II c
efore 1914.
These plain. ordinary average men
ave always. been intensely human.
hey loved their wives and children,
hey lived for their homes, they felt
eenly their responsibility for the hap
mess oftheir loved ones. They have
ut one thing to give Before the war
ley gave 1t unsparingly--it was their
lbor. Their one source of income was
,e pay envelope. With their wages
,ey had to buy shoes. clothes, food
nd provide shelter for the lives they
rought into the world, and for the
omen they had chosen to be the moth.
IS Of those children.
"Home" Before All. .
"Home, Sweet Home" is the inter
ltional anthem. II IL the heart song
! the average man. The club plays
, part IN his life. From his home he
- A. x.orh ana f,ana xuorh ha Ooaa