The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-02-07

lion of life. The war-devastated and /
disordered the life of the world. 1t /
threw everything into confusion; it /
left the scheme out of balance.
Only Road to Prosperity.
We live by work. Prosperity means |
production. Poverty is underproduc- |
ton. Stripping economics of all its |
high-sounding jargon, the simple truth |
that everyone knows is that the world |
has only the things 1t works to pro-
duce.
1t may not be amss to state q few
facts known by everyone which ex-
plain the meaning of production: We
live on the earth. 1t is land and wa
ter In the ground are minerals. The
land grows crops. We need the min
| erals that are in the ground. We need
the crops, but minerals in the ground,
as well. as the fertile soil, mean moth
ing until man by his work brings the
mineral from the ground and makes
the soil yield. We must have food, we
must have clothing, we must have shell
+ ter, and the only way we can get these
things is by working. II little work is
done we have a shortage. There isn't
enough food to go around, there aren't
enough clothes, enough coal, and as a
result the prices of all these neces-
sarieS go way up. But this is not so
important as the fact that when there
is not enough to feed the world some
so hungry, others must starve. When
there isn't enough coal, some are cold,
others freeze. When there aren't
enough clothes for everyone, some
must be ragged and half-naked. Ev-
crything by which we live is the re-
suit of work. Stop work, and poverty
follows. Work, and plenty results.
Work is responsible for everything that
goes to make life worth living.
To understand Europe's condition
today. one must stop and realize that
the war stopped production. The re-
suit is a shortage of everything. There
isn't enough food, there isn't enough
raw material. there isn't enough coal
The whole story is told in the word
Poverty.
Only Cure Is in Work.
There is a cure; the prescription can
be written in a single word. Every
one knows that word. but knowing the
word and adopting the word are differ
ent matters. Before we can get back
to normal life this word must find
root in the consciousness Of the pee
pie. We must realize that the world
viii continue sick and grow sicker TN
less this prescription is taken. Fur
Tier, we must know that if we delay
taking this remedy it will be n longer
time before we get well. The pre-
scription is work. Every effort should
BE made TO make every man will to
work. Every employer must not con
tribute to unrest and provoke idle
ness by refusing to negotiate with his
men and into this negotiation he
should 20 with friendly spirit and
willingness to compromise. The en-
nloyer who meets labor with the
thought in his mind that he is better
: equipped 70 fight than tabor, because
he has Il surplus and can eat and be
warm. While labor has been living from
: hand to mouth and will staryc, IS
, shor.sighted. He had better get the
| dea out of his head that you can
: slarve men into submission. There
was a day when that was true. but
that day has passed never to come,
The man who depends upon his abil-
ity to turn a key in the factory door
&nd 20 off on vacation, imposing
his Viii on his workmen, will discover
that these men stopped a certain
gent" late of Pottsdam now of Hol-
land, from doing this very thing to the
world He may wake up some morn
: ing 70 learn a new definition Of the
!. word fight"
: one thing that people do not realize
IS that the men who fought the worlds
= dght for freedom are the men who are
i now complaining that they are not
: getting a square deal Who made VI
! HE fighting men of the war, the rank
I ana file Of the armies that stopped The
s PrusSian Push? Who We're the great
majority of the volunteers and the
conscripted men numbering millions
who went to the front for the allies
:, The transfers, the shophands, the mill
I workers, the factory hands, the Goa
miners. These are the same mel
e who are the center of the labor prob
- lem.
Mr. Employer, you are dealing Wit
ie ex-soldiers. Please don't forget it
+, They fought for you. You wouldn'
4 have any business today if it hadn'
= been for them, and when you think 0
~ the bond you bought, remember tn
=, blood they gave.
"a Copyright. 1920, Western Newspaper Union
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