Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1920-04-24
HOPE FOR PERMANENT PEACE
Those Who Fought, and Those Who
Suffered at Home, Alike Favor
Some Form Of a League
p of Nations.
Article X.
BY FRANK coMERFoRp.

duTance had reached the breaking
point. With peace one thought ran
around the world: There must be no
more war. The men who did the fight
ing said it lOudest.
- Pm glad l had a chance to do my
BART wouldn't have missed the
show for a million dollars, and l
wouldn't take a million dollars to go
through it again." is the way they
put it. Everywhere in Europe l heard,
at 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 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-
ritied. 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
ofaenfOrcing peace. They placed their
hopes in 1t. 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 h0rdships, paid the
price, but they were few. The group
g1rSm which they came is small, while
he toll of casualties from labor's
tanks was large.
All men know that controversies
between nations are inevitable. In
TIE absence of some scheme of arbi-
tratiOn there is but one way that these
controversies can be settled. 1t is
force-War.
It 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 a difference of opinion. If
we did not have courts providing
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
a 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. Wrangllng, bicker-
ing, bargaining and trading for com
mercial 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
ticed 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
4scussion of future wars at confer
ehce, the object of which was future
peace?
Working men watched, listened ant
thought. They construed these bick
erings and wranglings as evidence Of
the fact that there is an interest IL
the world which does not believe IL
giving up force. 1 am only reporting
the truth when 1 add they suspect thil
interest Is Capital.
If the League of Nations fails this
suspicion viii be confirmed. TIT
movement toward an internationalisn
of the workers will be given grea
impetus. The League Of Nations fail
ing. they argue there is only one othel
means of preventing war. 1t is fo
the men who make up the rank ant
file of the armies in time Of war, TIL
millions recruited from shops fac
tories and fields to get together ant
organize an international labor au
thorlty to save the working men from
war Such a movement would TAX
away from governments an importan
and necessary function and give z