Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1920-03-20
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
in Europe Follow the Great
World War?
GREAT NEED IS PRODUCTION
Men Must Be Given lnducement to
Work and Guaranteed Fair Deal
ing in the Distribution Of
the Result.
Article vi.
Nv FRANK CoMERFORD.

BY FRANK CoMERFoRD.
The world lives by two kinds OF
work, the work on the soil and the la
Dor spent in making things. In this
way We get the things we eat and
wear We have eaten up our surplus
The worlds reserve is gone. We are
literally living from hand TO mouth. To
overcome the food shortage we must
put every inch Of available ground into
production Only by doing this can we
live and gradually get back the sur
plus which stood as protection
against crop failures.
Production is not automatic, 1t is the
work OF man. There is not anything
complex about IL. You can't use
magic, To grow things men must
pillow and gather. The will to work
Is our greatest need. The land is
available. God furnishes the sunshine
and the rain. To get the plows, trac-
tors and farm tools we must look to
the industrial arm of life. Here again
is the call for men. We are short of
man power. Men were killed and
crippled IN the war. The men who
survived the war must help do the
work that would have been done by
those who did not come back. In
their present frame Of mind they do
not will 10 work, at least un0er the
old conditions obtaining before the
war. 1t Is necessary to furnish them
with an inducement to work. There
was little inducement for men to work
before the war. The discontinued are
not kicking at work. Their objection
goes to the unfairness shown in dis
tributing the result. 1t isn't any Sc
cret They are shouting 1t from the
housetops Of Europe. they demand a
larger share of the things they pro-
duce, or they refuse to work. There is
a good deal of human nature In 1t, too.
II is only human nature to think Of
self. There isn't anything unnatural
In the workingman looking for reward.
Willingness to work is largely based
on the thought of working for oneself.
Five things are necessary to start
and keep production going. In other
words, to get the clothes, shoes,
stockings, coal and comforts of life, to
give the farmer the tools he needs for
agricultural production, so that we may
eat; to provide the transportation
necessary to collection and distribu-
ton. to Ibri<zg the city to 4ke-eeestEy
and the country to the market we must
do five essential things.
Productions First Need.
First. we must have plants. and I
use the word In the most general
sense. These plants must be equipped
with machinery and tools, they must
be ready for work.
Second, a plant is useless and
stands idle unless we provide raw ma
terial. the thing furnished by nature
that man and machine work into the
finished product.
Third. we must have coal. Coal runs
the machine and keeps warm the home
of the man who runs the machine. The
helplessness of the world without coal
Is brought home to me while l am writ
ing these articles. The miners have
left the pit. The government, through
the courts, has tried to force them
back. The effort is a failure. The
streets are dark at night. The houses
are cold. Business is crying out
against necessary restrictions imposed
because of the coal shortage realize
as never have before how dependent
we are on the men who pick and dig
the coal. All of the intelligence and
culture. the courts, the gold. are but
symbols of power. When the coal
miners folded their hands and set their
teeth things stopped.
Fourth. transportation is necessary
to the gathering. collecting and deliy-
ering of raw material and the distribu-
ton of the finished product.
Fifth, and last, but first in impor-
lance. is man power. The purpose Of
production is man. He is master Of il
at every stage, in every department.
Without him production is impossible.
The business men who proceed on the
theory that men could not live without
their business, its pay roll, forget the
first and greater truth that there would
be no business without the workers.
Man cuts, digs, gathers and hauls the
raw material. He hews the wood.
builds the plant. He mines the ore, he
makes the tools. the machinery. He
oils it, sets it in motion. He runs it.
He makes the furnace and the boiler.
He digs and shoveis the coal which
makes the power. He defies the heat
Of the furnace. He builds the I0corno.
tive and pulls its throttle. He makes
the freight car and stands in the sleet
In the dangerous railroad yard with
the signal of safety.
Railroads All Worn Out.
Transportation in Europe is nartIv
parafyzed. During the war railroad
tracks and roadbeds were allowed 70
deteriorate. II could not be beInad
but the fact that ii was unavoidable
doesn't alter the situation. Roadhed
and rails have fallen to pieces. There
Is terrible shortage of cars. Every.
where on tie Continent this ,s Fol,