The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-05-26
OPTIMISTS ARE NEEDED

mean that the country is going to
the dogs or that business is going to
be halted. They are the natural
outcome of the spirit of uncertainty
and turmoil and nerve tension
through which the world has been
passing for the last six years. But
they should not be taken as a sign
of national decay or of any break
down of business.
For the last five years or more
the seeds of discomfort have been
sown throughout the land. Germany
did it's utmost to turn America into
hell in order that we might not be a
power for good against its evil de-
signs. Pro-Germanism in all its
vilest forms did its utmost to give
aid to the devil in his work, and the
devil was probably never so active
in human history as he has been
for the last five years, in coopera-
ton with the ablest agent he has
ever had, namely, Germany.
Bolshevism with all its accur5-
ed doctrines, has Aeen preached to
almost every workman in the land.
Million of aliens, foreign to Am
ericanism in thought as in birth,
lave fallen an easy prey to radical
labor teachings, and American
business men, preachers and teach
ers have fallen short of their duty
in working to counteract these
evil teachings.
We should not be surprised,
therefore, that out of all these
conditions there has come spirit
Of unrest and Of strikes. Men have
been made to believe by the Gov
ernment itself and by many publi-
cations, secular and religious, and
hy some ministers, that all the
business interests of the country
were engaged in great proflteer-
ing campaign seeking to rob each
other and everybody else. The eff
feet Of this campaign of evil has
been widespread, but it has not de-
stroyed the genuine Americanism
of the genuine working people of
the country. Many of them have
been misled, and at this we need
rot be surprised. ihey have seen
tne mounting cost of living, and
have been made to believe that it
was due to the work of highway
robbers, known as profiteers, in
stead of being mostly due to a
growing scarcity of foodstuffsand |
of other things which enter into
life and to the world initiation
which alone would have created a
large part of the high prices now !
prevailing.
Thre years ago the editor of the
Manufacturers Record begged |
President Wilson to use his official
authority to impress upon the coun-
try the danger of great food |
shortage, and the consequent high
prices, saying to Mr.. Wilson that if |
he did not do so there would cer>
tainlv come socialistic and anar-
chistic unrest, by people being
a;sled and made to believe lie.
But President Wilson, while recog,
nizing the facts we gave him as to i
the food supply, preferred that
they should not be made public, be-
licveing that they would cause
food panic.
The socialistic and anarchistic
unrest of the hour is the natural
outcome of the suppression of the
truth in the past. But the unrest !
does not spell disaster. Sooner or
later men will learn the facts for
themselves and then and there will
be a return to sanity and to safety
for the country.
With all our boundless resources
with a country more richly endow-
ed than any other land in the /
world; with a population of more
han 1OO,0Oo,0OO, unvexed by diff
fering languages and the arbitrary
dividing lines or Europe; with
arge degree of homegeneity
among our people; with more ac-
i've, virile population than any