Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1936-03-19

Wnlcn were printed IN the flen-
tywood Herald the two previous
weeks.
Unused Power
IF only the American people were
awake to their power, what might be
he splendid deeds of our government
There are those who insist that our
form of government is such that il
fails to afford response to the interests
and the needs of the masses of people,
that our government is not truly rep
resentative of these wishes and inter-
ests. Oh, friends of America, our form
Of government is not at fault! If our
government has not responded as the
great majority feels it should, hone are
to blame but those people who have
failed to utilize their power under that
form and make their interests and
their wishes known to their represent
alive government. Representatives in
congress strive earnestly to represent
truly those who elected them, but it
those who elect them fail to indicate
their desires and interests, while the
few are constantly fighting selfishly
for their w interests, is it to be won
dered that congress fails to respond as
fully as the people of this land feel it
should respond, particularly in hours
of great emergency? We have among
us many who feel that our form OF
government should be abandoned and
those people that no form of govern
ment has yet been devised that can be
made to respond to the needs of the
people more readily than our existing
form. If people have failed to exercise
their right ard their power under the
existing form of government, by what
right shall any of us anticipate that
another form of government might be
made to respond?
The parade of preparedness for
war, the increasing production of
war needs by mills and factories,
the tremendously increasing bud
gets of governments to meet the
costs occasioned by these %activi-
ties. we are witnessing today. This
is the first muffled beat of the
drums of wharf.-the drums of
death! An intelligent and enlight-
ened people ought to be straining
every energy for the avoidance of
a repetition Of experiences which
W know to be invariably followed
by debt. restitution and heart
break. Why are We not all fighting
the challenge at our door?
81 have stated to you, even without
the support of the people of the coun-
try, that there are senators who will
attempt to block the roads to war so
that no leader, unable to solve his
nrnIIa~,r IN L1~1o ,.;n L. Ill - 4.~.
the attention of his people abroad.
These senators may not win, but we
will try to win and, as time goes on,
it is possible that the people of this
country will others to support US
provided, of course, that enough re-
mains for them to do that. None OF
those senators feels that he can claim
that, by blocking these particular
roads to war, the roads we travelled
before, that this nation or any nation
can be kept from war. Simply stated,
it will make it much harder for US to
enter upon war, if we have incurred
no economic and financial involve
merits with any particular side.
"You have gathered that I feel
strongly that the impulses driving
European and Asiatic nations across
their frontiers are the fears that COME
in part from economic causes and in
part from the decisions of grandeur,
of conquest, held out to them by their
military dictators. There are, however,
other causes which should of course be
considered far more deliberately than
/ am able to do today.
What are those factors upon which
oil vnsoIt ov-o oc oo,e+sf,+,n o,,r
of warehouses which might be
brought under some if not complete
controlP l shall dare to enumerate.
The Causes of War
There is the desire for territories,
for colonies+the alleged desire for
outlets for over-populated nations.
There is the element of commercial ri
valry. These are causes not easy to
control. But may we not be ascribing
to much weight to them? Can we ov-
erlook he fact, when nations have won
territory to serve as an outlet for ov-
er-population that the people of the
over-populated nation use the outlet
in such utterly insignificant numbers:
Another cause is the alleged desire
of mad leaders of nations to cover up
uleu OWil ldauICS, uleu DluIlutIulS
and weakness at home by causing an
entire people to concentrate their en-
ergies and their thought upon the COM
mon cause of war against other peo-
pie.
"We find also and agree, that secret
diplomacy, secret treaties, have en-
tered in a large way as breeders OF
the fear and suspicion that contributes
to the making of war.
Likewise, we find militaristic bluff
ing, bullying, and public demonstra-
ton of preparedness, muscle-driving
and frightening other countries into
like demonstrations and ch~allengings.
"Too, we see repeated failures of in
ternational disarmament conferences
building in minds Throughout the world
the suspicion that some nation other
than their own is responsible and must
be defeated, thus provoking a spirit OF
war. What the world has not clearly
seen is that these conferences are at
|tendeed too often by delegates whose
Interests are the same as those Of the
munitions plants which would lose
business however small the degree of
disarmament, or by delegates in gold
braid, admirals and generals trained in
the business of war and armament, not