The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-03-20
LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR

To The Times-News,
Mr.. Editor:
Can you allow me space to
speak again of a matter the I'M
portance of which cannot, is |
believe, be exaggerated?
The Indifference Of men to
their most vital concerns is ap-
palling. In mad pursuit of pres
ent want or hobby, no matter how
trivial, we count nothing import
ant enough to divert attention
from our chase.
The horrors of the World war
arc still vivid in the memories Of
two generations; its living wrecks
are still visible; the world is still
lettering under the crushing
weight of it's senscless cost. And
now, in less than two decades, af-
ter years Of faltering, wavering,
fumbling diplomacy, Ostensibly in
the cause Of peace-by the repre-
sentatives Of fifty or more gov
crnmcnts-thc fumes of national
suspicion and jealousy seem again
ready to catch fire and start an
other awful, perhaps worldwide,
conflagatiOn.
And here in this country, GER
tainly, the rank and file, the more
than one hundred millions, VINO
in every war are those called cut
to be butchered, who must sustain
wars incaiculablc losses, must
sweat and work for generations
under it's frightful COSTS, DO not
stir themselves to avert it.
Can any danger, any duty, any
call of humanity or God rouse
them from their lcthargy, distract
them from playing each his own
little game?
Once before a great and glOr-
ious opportunity to serve the
world in the cause Of peace the
people Of these United States
threw to the winds. When Mr.. |
Wilson devoted all his best and
in the end sacrificed his life in |
trying to mobilize and unity the |
peoples of the earth to secure and |
maintain lasting peace, we peo-
pie Of the United States suffered
all he did to be undonc by a blind, |
spiteful partiSanship by the organ !
lied hordes Of greed, who let their I
own picayuncc political or person
al triumph above the happiness Of |
mankind.
And so we continue to do. |
We have allowed the politicians
and the S0-called wizards of fl
nance to run the country to suit
themselves so long as they could
bait us to follow by promises Of
prosperity until they have brought
us into this blissful state of pros
pcrity which we now enjoy.
Whatever efforts have hitherto
been made to promote peace by
doing away with the threat and
waste of the worlds increasing
ornaments, VIC have permitted the
war lords, the munitions makers,
and whoever else made profit out
Of war and preparations for war,
TO bring to naught.
At this present moment there is
sitting at Geneva long-heralded
conference to bring about world
disarmament. There is everywhere
manifest fear that the confer
ence is on the verge of collapse.
The few heroic leaders who truly
love their fellowmen, who long
and labor for peace, see the dam
ger of failure and the oyerwhelm-
ing disaster that would follow.
They have sounded the warning.
Diplomats, politicians, war-mon-
gers are still, as always, the I'M
doing, disintegrating factors.
Is the world helpless in their
hands? Only because the indif-
ferent masses of mankind are be-
numbed and inert from preoccu-
patton with comparatively frivOl-
Gus concerns. Let these masses
once rise up and with one voice
demand disarmament, complete
disarmament, and the little cotcrie
of wire-pullers and self-seekers
would be swept aside like broom
corn before tidal wave. Nothing
human can withstand the consoli-
dated might Of the united popular
will.
Do we want war? Can Europe
again be embroiled in war and
we not be sucked into the whirl-
pool and share in the general ca
tastrophe?