The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-12-07
Frederick Haskin's Letter
Who Is Going To DisorTl?

real reason why the conference ..
sembled. That is the reason -
all its buneombC about paaea ~
fraternity, and for what sines,s.
efforts it is making to establish \
the far east some sort Of an =.
rangement that will be less inn.
diately and obviously productive y
conflict than the present one.
But in the main the causes az "a
ternational war will not even 4.
touched by the conference. Tss
causes of international wars -
the quarrels of investors OF diFo,
ent nationalities over coueessiors
of. trade and natural resources T.
countries not strong enough 10 a.
fend themselves. Every intern,
tional war SINNERS down to thai 4.
the long run. The late World wsr
was fought for a large number ~
high ideals. as we all know. All
we all know that none of them va
realized and that when the dust ~
battle settled the victors were r.
be seen dividing up, among their
respective investors, oil wells iron
deposits. spheres of influence and
little things like that. The United
States went into the war with ma
selfish interest, but she came on
of it with the financial mastery Of
the world in her left pants pocket
What Benefits by VictOryl
Yet how this financial masterv
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 Tor that
mastery, but If called upon 20 pro
duce his share CT the beneht be
would have hard time doing it.
So it always is The common
man never shares in the material
benefits Of a mar, except in q tenn
pcrary and accidental way. Those
go to a few tinanCiers. What the
common man gets is the fun G.
fighting and paying taxes and The
emotional exaltation Of engaging in
a great patriotic enterprise.
That these things are worth
something to him is evident from
the amount he pays for them. It is
futile to pretend that war has no
appeal to the common man. If it
didn't have, there wouldn't be any
war. The common mans life is
apt to be a mOnot0nOus, restricted
affair War may suddenly make it
exciting, intense. Var brings to
people an enormous amount Of eI-
citement, of the joy of primitive
impulse unleashed, and Of a great
emotional debauch. 1t can scarce
" be disputed that there is some
human need which war satisfies
Modern international war is the
spectacle of certain interested par
ties working to satisfy that need
and in so doing to promote certain
profitable purposes of their own.
The flaw in the system is that
ever since the middle ages var has
been becoming less and less salts
factory to the common man as a
means of satisfying his craving for
combat, adventure and emotional
explosion. In the middle ages wal
was a sort of great free-for-au
fight in which men engaged in cast
iron banged at each other With
long sticks. Nearly everybody had
a good time and not SO many were
killed. A war could, and did, 90
on for a hundred years without do
ing any great harm. And then
there were the Crusades. Who
wouldn't like to go on a junket
sAch as those?
Then came the great age Of dis
covery and colonization Here again
war became a delightful adventure
From Cortez's sUbjugation OF Mex
leo down to Clusters last stand, the
conquest of the American wilder
ness was an heroic adventure TINT
rivalIed the Odyssey.
Those wars had appeal to the in
agination, they gave the commph
man a real thrill, and they did not
exhaust nations or peoples.
Modern war is an adventure LOT
comparatively few and hara'
miserable affair for many, and Il
does exhaust both nations and
peoples. Ii even sometimes de-
stroys the men who expected 10
benefit by it, Even men OF finance
concede that the last war cost 700
much. Some of them went broke
And the common man Is dlsilla-
stoned. That is the great polnI
Compare the feeling in this coun--
try now with that which existed
after the Spanish-American val
and you see where the real nope Oh
peace lies.