Vernon Parish Democrat., 1920-04-03
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.
ny FRANK coMEREoRp.

BY FRANK CoMERFoRD.
A specter haunts Europe. 1t is the
ghost of unrest. When started out
to Interview unrest in Europe did
not give my ear to the idle theorist
who always knows all about every
thing, but never from direct expert
ence with it, nor did go to the agita-
tor who breaches unrest in red words
Neither did seek out the type of fa-
natical labor leader, who is eager for
trouble. who is trying to mobilize lun-
rest and marshal it under the banner
of Revolution. l 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.
/ 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. 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 munched at
black bread, ate cheese or sausage,
gulped tea. coffee or cheap. diluted red
wine. spent time with the idle, the
idle by choice as we'll 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 Overalls, they were think
ing. Their speech was troubled. Dis
content looked out from their eyes. l
could feel it. They talked it. but never
as unrest, always protest.
Unrest Must Be ouieted.
Their state of mind is the problem.
Unrest is epidemic; it is militant.
There is little of paclfism in it. It is
real, 1t 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. II doesn't take
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 it's
senses. The fire would run it's 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
If unrest is not checked before it ex-
Dlodes in passion and wrath.
Unrest existed before the war. It was
an acorn then. it is an oak now. Be
fore the war men were complaining.
and justly complaining, about their lot
The difference now is that four years
n the trenches have caused them to
stop complaining and act. Soldering
-aught them much. They learned of
he greatness of force.
Back of their present tendency to
act Is the grown grievance and the
war lesson. Before the war they COM
today they demand. 1t is in
Leresting to examine unrest in the
stage, as these men knew it
before 1914
These plain. ordinary average men
lave always been intensely human.
They loved their wives and children,
hey lived for their homes. they felt
,eenly their responsibility for the hap
,iness oftheir loved ones. They have
'ut one thing to give. Before the war
hey gave it unsparingly--it was their
abor. Their one source of income was
he pay envelope. With their wages
hey had to buy shoes. clothes. food.
md provide slelter for the lives they
brought into the world. and for the
women they had chosen to be the moth
RS Of those children.
aHome" Before Ali.
Home, Sweet Home" is the inter-
iational anthem. It is the heart song
# the average man. The club PLAYS