The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1920-03-25
PROBLEMS facing
STRICKEN WORLD
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction in
Europe Follow the Great
World War?
HOPE FOR PERMANENT PEACE
Those Who Fought, and Those Who
Suffered at Home, Alike Favor
Some Form of a League
Of Nations.
Article X.
HOPE FOR PERMANENT PEACE
Article X.
BY FRANK

uon When the war came to an end.
The terrible waste was telling. En-
durance 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 loude>t.
I'm glad | had a chance to do my
part-I wouldn't have missed the
show for a million dollars, and l
wouldn't take a million dollars to go
through 1t again." is the way they
put 1t. Everywhere in Europe l heard,
1T 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 a terrible mean
ing, new agencies had been intro
duced to kill and MAIN men, liquid
fire, mustard gas, high explosives,
bombs from the clouds, t%orpedoes from
the sea depths. The world was hor-
ritied. The length of the war, the
number of dead and crippled, the raid
'hS WV ''tilJiilS VI utlcilSGIcSS. CIllSS
taught the world that an end must
be put to war If civilization was t
live.
SO the people, particularly the work.
ing people, took heart when a League
of Nations was suggested as a means
Of enforcing peace. They placed their
hopes in it.. They had suffered most
from the war. The dead were large
~ their dead. The returning cripples
were blood of their blood. AS they
put It, they were from their class.
OF course the sons of the other class
fought. shared the hardShipS, paid the
price. but they were few. The group
from which they came is small. while
the toll of casualties from labor's
ranks was large.
All men know that controversies
between nations are inevitable. In
the absence OF some scheme of arbi-
tration there is but one way that these
controversies can be settled. 1t is
fUrce-War.
1t 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 a
peaceful determination of these dis
putes, the ~Iitigants would he cOm-
pelled 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 it's proceedings intrigue was dis
covered at work. Wrangling, 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
ulen 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 tc
.heir respective countries. 1t was no
ticed that the territories over which
they uuarreled were rich in minerals
pr some other thing of great CONNIE
clal advantage. They squabbled ovel
spoils. Then, too. these men VIII
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
snectiye countries needed these from
tiers to make them secure in future
wars. What future wars and why The
discussion of future wars at a confer
II the object of which was future
peace?
Working men watched, listened ant
thought. They construed these blck
e,in"s and %wranSlings as evidence Of
the fact that there is an interest II
tbe world which does not believe II
giving up force. I am only reporting
. the truth when I add they suspect thl:
, interest is Capital.
IF he League Of Nations fails TN:
suspicion will he confirmed. Ih'
movement toward an internationallsn
of the workers will he given grea'
imnetus. The League Of Nations rail-
inc. they argue there is only one otite'
+, means of preventing war. 1t is TO-
tho mon who make up the rank ant
file of the armies in time OF war, TN
millions recruited from shops rae
4a.ios and folds. to get tOGether am