The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-01-31
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
In Europe Follow the Great
World War?
CHANGE OF SOME SORT SURE
Returning Soldier Feels He Has at
Least Earned a Better Chance
Than He Has Hitherto Been
Granted.
Article Ill.
BY FRANK coMERFoRD.

BY FRANK CoMERFoRD.
Europe wears an anxious look. One
thought Is arousing her from the
stupor Of her misery. She opens her
eyes in wide amazement when she no.
tees and notes the striking change
that has come over her children. It Is
puzzling her, although she well knows
what they have gone through, how pa
tiently and uncomplainingly they suf-
fered. 1t isn't strange to her that they
have changed, when she remembers
| the peace Of the years before the war,
the quiet, sane lives they liyed, and the
| four years in which they lived in wet,
foul sewers called trenches, slept in
| tombs on the edge of a strip of hell
called No Mans Land, breathed the
smell Of burning flesh, saw their pals
| "go west" buried their dead, grinned
| at pain, laughed at death. Nerves of
| steel could not stand what they have
| gone through without being changed
by it.
| They have put on multi again. 1t
| Is strange to them. The quiet streets
are dull. The demobilized soldier feels
the letdown. The tenseness over de-
preston sets In. During the war he
didn't have time to think of anything
except the job ahead of him. Every
minute, every move was life or death
to him. Now he realizes for the first
time what he has gone through. won
ders why he Is alive. Two thoughts
possess his mind; one the memory of
every minute of the days and nights
of the war-the other, of what is
ahead Of him, what is he going to do
with his life He Is at a strange cross
roads. The word Job" doesn't mean
much to him. 1t isn't that he is lazy.
He has to pinch himself to realize that
1t Is over and that he is back from the
war.
Earned Right to Better Place.
Between the whizz of machine bull
let's and the shrek of shrapnel he
spent his time thinking, and his
thoughts were not all about the war.
He never got used TO the war but he
learned to forget Ii. He has brought
more than souvenirs and memories
from his experience. He has brought
home thoughts, ideas and ambitions
from the trenches. Many a night, look
Ing over No Mans Land, listening to
the "banshee" Of the war, he thought
and resolved that If he ever came
back he wanted, and would have, a
better chance in this queer thing called
Life. He feels that he has paid for
a place, and he has paid. He has
earned the right to decent place I'm
the world, for which he fought. He
helped save the world and he looks to
that world to save him from a mean
ingless machine existence. If 1t doesn't
he has made up his mind to use force.
He Is willing to work, wants to work,
but he insists on being part of his
work. rather than his work being all of
him. He sees. feels and measures
things from an intensely human angle.
He feels his humanness. The war
emphasized the value and meaning of
the human being. 1t was life or death.
He Is alive. He wants human inter.
est In his work.
Hundreds of demobilized soldiers In
different parts Of Europe, in different
words. In different languages, have
said to me: "If the world isn't going
to give US better chance than IT gave
US before the war, then the world
wasn't worth fighting for. When we
fought. they told us it was to make the
world safe for democracy and to make
life worth while. We thought this
meant us and ours. We have learned
that life isn't only question of Job
and enough TO eat, we want to be
treated like human beings. A man
wants to feel that his work means
more to him than just wages. He
spends most Of his time at work, the
rest Of 1t is spent with his family and
In sleeping so he will be able to work
the next day. Why shouldn't he have
an interest in the business, and why
4 shouldn't the business have an interest
In him? We don't want to run the
? business, all we ask is a say in II. a
e friendly say In 1t. Some people think
4 that to be fed Is to be free-it isn't
Being free means being treated like q
human being"
l have found many good honest men
and women who have lost interest in
work. They say, "We don't get fair
share Of what we make. We fight
among ourselves for jobs because we
have to or starve, and they paw us as
: little as they can" am not reasoning
or arguing this question. I am stating
fact which indicates the state of
mind of millions of men and women IN
d Europe who did their bit for ciyiliza.
: ton during the past four years.
Q Fair Hearing Must Be Granted.
n Calling these people bolshevists
i doesn't silence them nor solve the
: problem. Such tactics irritate and
deepen the unrest Their grievance
must be given a fair, patient hearing
Their attitude of mind must be reck,
oned with If we hope to get back to
> normal living. l have heard some say
; that these people must be given to un-