The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-05-04
Howe About:
How War Starts
A Typical American
Family Quarrels
q. Bell wNU Service.
RY ED HOWE


slight provOcatiOn. but ! have not
seen two men tight In years. won
der where the war spirit comes from.
Surely not from ordinary citizens who
get along reasonably well with each
other. Does IL come from the pr0fes-
sional soldiers we support from gener'
alton TO generation by means of pub
lie taxationi Ii man devotes his
life TO soldering, of course he must
believe In war. He must invent new
methods of attack and destruction, and
tell how effectively they will work
In practice. He writes In the free
spaces of the newspapers about his
trade. and of his Inventions: How he
will d. over an enemy country, and
destroy cities with a special kind OF
bomb he has thought up; how ne will
place germs In special shell to De
fired al the enemy, and cause the
women and children. as well as the
men. to die of plague. Then the
soldiers of other countries make reply
by telling what they have thought up
In the way of destruction. Finally we
hate the Germans because of what
their military men are willing to do
to us, and the Germans hate Us be-
cause of the terrible things our mill
tary men are willing to do to them. A
dispute between nations arises, and as
the professional soldiers want chance
to use their new maneuvers and shells.
they swagger around and boast, in
stead of getting together" as sensible
men should Then some one steps on
a cat, and millions who never had a
fight In their lives spend years In kill
ing men they do not hate, and have no
wish to harm.
A man who wanted loan was
asked: ''How do you spend your in
Gomez" And he replied:
"Oh, about half for the car and the
house: another half for food and
clothing, and a third for miscellaneous
things"
But that means your outgo is
third more than your income"
That's right-that's what l spend"
In Quarrels between husband and
wife the main trouble usually is that
one party to the quarrel is d man, and
the other a woman. Partners In bust
ness frequently quarrel, and tell hard
tales on each other. but the details
of marriage are more complicated than
selling butter and eggs; its disgusts
more difficult to get over.
One of the oldest incidents related
in history is that the gold Of rich
man was melted and poured down his
throat. The essence of every party
platform Is hatred OF rich men. and
our religion teaches that the heaven
W. nope to achieve finally will not be
polluted by the presence of such offal
have never known anyone asked
to give his philosophy of life. who did
not mention the unequal distribution
OF wealth as great wrong. Yet
it is unequal distribution of wealth
we are indebted to for civilization.
II Is not wrong for man to
work hard, save his money, and
build a house with three chimneys al
though a neighbor may be willing to
nunt and fish. or play games, and carry
off his smoke with one.
A fair consideration of history seems
to indicate THAT II was hatred OF the
- hof ,iroA 10
structiop of human progress In the
past Ii was poor and unprOgressive
barbarians warming themselves al
camptires, who looked with hate on
beautiful Athens and destroyed arr
work that has never been equaled and
never will be.
One of the old men who frequently
annoy me with memoirs once wrote:
"The history of the human race has
been shamei" What have we
just cause to be ashamed Off So far
as | am concerned blush most be.
cause of opportunities neglected. !
have annoyed and harmed more peo-
pie than | should have. I could have
been more comfortable and prosper.
Gus myself had | behaved better to
others began In poor rural sec
ton and thus learned slowly. but, ip
the must modest surroundings. finally
learned the great lesson: that men
must better support the civilization
their ancestors found an Improvement
on savagery from which they
sprang.
II has been charged against me that
have peculiar notions One of them
is that during times like the present.
it is more important to feed the hun.
CRY than II is to buy memberships for
young men In the Y NJ G. A. so
told solicitor today. No doubt he
went away thinking Ill of me.
My next caller was ragged old man
with a wooden leg. This solicitor did
better with me: he said provided for
his necessities for a week.
More than half the men grumble al
religion; millions have so little regard
for women they refuse to marry, but
there never was man who could not
be interested In promising scheme to
rob the rich. II is the universal hu-
man passion.
Men have always been slow to enlist
as soldiers. II is usually necessary to
draft them TO fight for their firesides
and churches. but all of them will
spring TO arms II word is sent ont that
q rich carauan with slirhf nrnfaofin1,