The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-03-12
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
in Europe Follow the Great
World War;
DANGER IN GENERAL UNREST
Practically Universal Feeling of Dis
content Will Grow Unless the
Causes Which Gave II Birth
Are Removed.
Article VII.
BY FRANK comERFoRo.


A specter haunts Europe. 1t Is the
ghost of unrest. When l started out
| to interview unrest in Europe | did
| not give my ear to the idle theorist
who always knows all about every
thing, but never from direct expert
| ence with 1t, nor did go to the agita-
tor who breaches unrest in red words
| Neither did | seek out the type of IA
natical labor leader, who Is eager for
| trouble, who Is trying to mobilize I'M
rest and marshal 1t under the banner
of Revolution. passed by the place
hunting, time-serving politician. was
not interested in platitudes and prom
Uses.
| sought knowledge of unrest from
those who knew it from contact with it.
those who were part and parcel of 1t.
went to the man in the street, the
average man. talked with the
sweaty, dirty coal miner at the mouth
of the shaft. He had just come from
his day in the darkness deep in the
ground. | visited the man who works
in the mills. listened to the rough
speech of the teamster. went to fac
tories and talked with men between
the two whistles which mark the time
of the noon meal. They munched at
gulped tea, coffee or cheap, diluted red
wine. | spent time with the idle, the
idle by choice as well as those without
work through no fault of their own.
; Only yesterday many, yes. most of
, these men were in khaki; now, back
on the job in overalls, they were think
: ing. Their speech was troubled. Dis
content looked out from their eyes.
could feel 1t. They talked 1t, but never
as unrest, always protest.
Unrest Must Be Quoted.
Their state of mind is the problem
Unrest Is epidemic; 1t Is militant
There is little Of pacifism In 1t 1t Is
real, 1t is not without cause. To gel
close to the cause Of this disease which
threatens revolution, one must know
and understand what is going on II
the minds of the men we are looking
to and depending upon to do thu
worlds work. 1t doesn't take
J. prophet to understand that If heed Is
not given TO the things Irritating them
> and remedy is not found for the irri
y tation, serious trouble will follow
= While war Is hell, it has at leas
the restraint of discipline. A revolu
g ton growing out of unrest would NEAR
d mob madness. terrorism fanatical
l. brutal, cruel and merclless. Once
IS started, 1t would spread like wildtire
e The world would be swept from III
e senses. The fire would run its cours'
= until stopped because there was moth
- ing left to burn. Who dares picture TIL
N state in which IL would leave TIL
# world? In this day, when the nerve
lie Icf the world are on edge. when colt
= and hunger irritate, one shudders whei
,r he thinks Of the fate of civilization
e, If unrest is not checked before 1t ex
a. plodes In passion and wrath.
Unrest existed before the war. II wa
w an acorn then, 1t is an oak now. BE
v, fore the war men were complaining
A. and Justly complaining, about their lo
It. The difference now is that four year
y, in the trenches have caused them t
81 stop complaining and act. Soldierin
ree taught them much. They learned Q
the greatness OF force.
~ Back of their present tendency
act is the grown grievance and tn
war lesson. BEFORE the war they con
he planned; today they demand. 1t is II
", teresting to examine unrest In I'll
y, complaint stage. as these men knew
(, before 1914.
X. These plain. ordinary average me
have always been intensely huma
They loved their wives and childrel
they lived for their homes. they fe
IE keenly their responsibility for the hal
RS piness oftheir loved ones. They ha'
ry but one thing to give. Before the WI
IT. they gave 1t unsparingly--it was the
lte labor. Their one source Of income W;
'uu the pay envelope. With their wag'
they had to buy shoes, clothes, foo
,et and provide shelter for the lives tn,
M brought into the world. and for Il
~
III women they had chosen to be the mot
lid ers of those children.
,m "Home" Before All.
~ ~ "Home. Sweet Home" Is the int
~ national anthem. 1t Is the heart sol
M of the average man. The club pia
no part In his life. From his home
goes to work, and from work he go
M home. Shanties and tenements a
not homes. These men have alwa
,as protested against the ugly shacks
ny which they were compelled to hou
- their loved ones. They bit their Ii
"a in jobless days when their childr
cal went to bed hungry. Resentme
Law grew In their hearts when they 81
how poorly dressed their wives q
children were They muttered ours
srk when their children were forced to
to work. They wanted to give TIL
children better education than th
had had. better chance In life, a
eS they laughed at laws prohibiting CHI
- labor. while conditions compelled Ct
i