The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-03-05
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
In Europe Follow the Great
World WARP
DANGER IN GENERAL UNREST
Practically Universal Feeling OF Dis
content VIII Grow Unless the
Causes Which Gave IL Birth
Are Removed.
Article VII.
sy FRANK coMERFoRD.


thing. but never from direct expert
ence with 1t, nor did I 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 IN
rest and marshal it under the banner
of Revolution. | passed by the place
hunting, time-serving politician. I was
not interested In platitudes and prom
iSes.
! sought knowledge of unrest from
those who knew it from contact with 1t,
those who were part and parcel of it.
/ 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. l listened to the rough
speech Of the teamster. i went to fac
tories and talked with men between
the two whistles which mark the time
Of the noon meal. They munched at
black bread, ate cheese or sausage.
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 it. They talked 1t, but never
as unrest. always protest.
. Unrest Must Be Quieted
Their state of mind is the problem.
Unrest is epidemic; 1t is militant
There Is little of pacifism in it. 1t is
real, 1t Is not without cause. To get
close to the cause of this disease which
threatens revolution, one must know
and understand what is going on In
the minds Of the men we are looking
to and depending upon to do the
worlds work. 1t doesn't take a
prophet to understand that if heed is
not given to the things irritating them
and a remedy is not found for the irri
tation. serious trouble will follow
While war is hell, it has at leas
the restraint of discipline. A revolu
ton growing out of unrest would NEAR
mob madness, terrorism, fanatical
brutal, cruel and merciless. Once
| started, it would spread like wildfire
The world would be swept from it.
| senses. The fire would run It's course
until stopped because there was moth
| ing left to burn. Who dares picture thu
| state in which it would leave thu
world? In this day, when the nerve:
Of the world are on edge. when colo
and hunger irritate, one shudders wheI
he thinks Of the fate of civilizat iOI
IL unrest is not checked before it ex
| plodes In passion and wrath.
Unrest existed before the war. 1t wa
| an acorn then, 1t is an oak now. Be
fore the war. men were complaining
and justly complaining, about their lot
| The difference now is that four years
| In the trenches have caused them t.
stop complaining and act. Soldierin,
taught them much. They learned O
| the greatness Of force.
Back of their present tendency t
I act Is the grown grievance and tn
war lesson. Before the war they com
| planned; today they demand. 1t is In
tereStfng to examine unrest In tn
| complaint stage, as these men knew
before 1914.
These plain, ordinary average mel
have always been intensely human
They loved their wives and children
they lived for their homes, they fel
keenly their responsibility for the hap
piness oftheir loved ones. They hav
but one thing to give. Before the wa
they gave it unsparingly-.it was thei
labor. Their one source of income wa
the pay envelope. With their wage
they had to buy shoes, clothes, food
and provide shelter for the lives the
brought into the world. and for tn
women they had chosen to be the moth
ers Of those children.
"Home" Before All.
national anthem. 1t is the heart son
Of the average man. The club play
no part I'm his life. From his home h
goes to work, and from work he goe
home. Shanties and tenements ar
not homes These men have Away
protested against the ugly shacks i
which they were compelled to hous
their loved ones. They bit their lip
In jobless days when their childre
} went to bed hungry. Resentmer
grew In their hearts when they sa7
} how poorly dressed their wives an
children were. They muttered curse
} when their children were forced to g
to work. They wanted to give the
children a better education than the
had had, a better chance in life, an
they laughed at laws prohibiting chill
labor. while conditions compelled Chi
dren to work or starve. As thes
men grew older their families grew /
Size and demand, while their abilit
10 earn decreased. The tragedy rel
istered In their pay envelopes. The
were being ground between CROWN
needs and diminishing wages. TIL
grinding not only hurt their bodies,
durrowed their brain.
/ They lived In dread of poverty.
had been their nurse. they feared
would be their pallbearer Povert
had taken its revenge upon then
/ They were resolving that if they couI
help 1t 1t would not put its lash upo
I their children. They knew povert