The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-12-06

1t is merely statement of the newt |
able No nation is going to disarm as
long as the world is full of things
and situations that are capable Of
causing international wars. Disarm-
ament will be possible when cause for
international war has been abolished
everywhere as completely Cor example
as cause for war between the United
States and Canada has been abolished.
And these causes for international
war will be abolished when the com
mon man refuses to fight and pay
taxes.
A good many common men in the
world are in revolt against bloodshed
and taxes now. Tina. is the real
reason for all of its bumcombe about
peace and fraternity, and for what
sincere efforts ii is making to estab-
fish in the Far East some sort of an
arrangement that will be less i'm
mediately and obviously productive of
conflict than the present one.
But in the main the causes of inter
national war will not even be touched
by the conference. The causes Of in
ternatiOnal wars are the quarTels of
investors of different nati0naities
over concessions of trade and natural
resources in countries not strong
enough to defend themselves. Every
international war SINNERS down 10
that in the long run. The late World
War was fought for a large number
of high ideals as We all know. And
we all know that none of them were
realized and that when the dust Of
battle settled the yictOrs were to be
seen dividing up, among their respec-
tive investors, oil wells, iron deposits,
spheres of influence and little things
like that The United States Went
into the war with no selfish interes0,
but she came out of it with the fin
ancial mastery of the world in her lett
pants pocket,
What Benefits by Victory
/ Yet how this financial mastery Of
the world has benefited the man who
works for wages or a salary in this
country, it is hard to discover. He
either fought or paid for that mastery,
but if called upon to produce mis- share
of the benefit he would have q hard
time doing il.
: So it always is. The common man
never shares in the material benefits
Of a war. except in a temporary and
accidental way Those 90 to few
financiers What the common man
, gets is the fun of fighting and paying
taxes and the emotional eXaltation of
engaging in a great patriotic enter
prise.
That these things are worth some
thing to him is evident from the
amount he pays for them It is futile
to pretend that war has no appeal 10
the common man. If it didn't have
there wouldn't be any war. The com
mon man life is apt to be a mOnOtOn
Gus restricted affair. War may sud
denly make it exciting, intense, Wal
brings to a people an enormous
. amount of misery, but it also brings
. an enormous amount of excitement, OF
the JOY of primitive impulse unleashed
5 and Of a great emotional debauch. 1t can
i scarcely be disputed that there is some
p human need which war satisfies. Mod
2 ern International war is the spectacle
Of certain interested parties working
) to satisfy that need and in so doing t
promote certain profitable purpose
5 of their own.
The flaw in the system is that evo.
since the Middle Ages war has beer
/ becoming less and less satisfactory K
the common man as a means of satis
. flying his craving for combat, adven