The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-11-23
The Cherry Tree
Where We Hdtchet Out
The Truth
@ FUTURE is DARK
9 SO SAYS I'll. G.. WELLS
q DEBTS FROM LAST WAR
. MORE DEBTS FOR THIS
ONE

Now comes our old friend, H. G.
Wells. "War of the Worlds" "Out-
line of History" Country of the
Blind" And all that.
Brother Wells proceeds to take the
notorious human race down the line.
According to him, this interesting Gre
ature is in about the same safe and
secure position as monkey in saw
MILL
Or that highly optimistic but brain
less pioneer goof who seized buffalo
by the tail with the design of climb
ing aboard and cutting its throat.
When the remains were sufficiently
assembled to afford an excuse for
obituaries, it was found that the late
optimist's tracks were nine miles
apart.
Others Of our old pal Wells ilk but
lacking his forthrightness, have been
limiting for long time, in diplomatic
and circular language, that the way
we have been conducting ourselves
was not just exactly cricket.
These admonitions have had some
effect. For example, the last gener-
alton would only be inveigled into the
previous world butchery by hifaulting
yodeling about "War to End War;
and "A War to Save Democracy" AT
| least, we had gotten so far that it
was necessary to do a swell job of
high pressure kidding to induce the
cannon fodder of that epoch to blith-
! ely face poison gas, trench feet, COO
ties, top sergeants, barrages, bayonet
charges, ladies from Armentieres and
other incidentals of an alleged Holy
Crusade.
In the interval, conspicuously tact
full writing and speaking gents have
been limiting that whatever this thing
is that we call civilization, it is not
going to survive the next mass aband-
onment of every decency.
But, now we have that dreaded
"next time" So far, postponment of
the debacle seems due to the fact that
the various psychopathic cases who
are running the show seem to have
trife more caution than the gent with
the buffalo bull. They have grabbed
something by the tail but they are
afraid to start the throat cutting.
x x x
Friend Wells cuts out the muffler.
| He reminds we lords of creation that
dinosaurs, nammoths and other form
erly highly successful rulers of the
universe were guilty of the same
blindness to facts and the same re-
fusal to realize that Sheriff Nature al
ways forecloses. SO now they con-
sist of a few fossils.
The mildest of the Wells school of
"viewers with alarm" are warning us
that, when this present war peters out
because the supply of cannon fodder
has all been butchered, or because of
some temporary emergence from the
international dope dream, "the world
will never be the same" Let's hope
they are right.
Here's this mess across the pond.
And here are we, chirping in a Utter
of hope that eve will keep out of it."
And, while doing so, building planes
by the hundred and battleships by the
score and talking about ''two ocean
navy" and the biggest defense pro-
gram in history. At the some time,
trying to forget that we are mired to
the ears in debts and other consequent
ces of the "last time"
4 X X
And all Of us, English, German,
French, Russians, Dutchmen, are liv-
ing in nerve racking terror that some
one of our fellow humans, with a
scientists brain and the ethics of a
gorilla, will invent some machine of
horror which will make Poland look
like an evening with the gashouse
gang
If we do not mend our ways, says
the outspoken Wells, it will not be a
different world-there just won't be
no world. Maybe old WelIsy is right.
A collection of goofs who starve be-
cause they are too rich in times of
peace and who decide under what gov
ernment people are going to live by
blowing them up does not seem toe
have what it takes to be tolerated as
permanent social problem.
Wells is probably right. But there
is still hope. If we all get scared
enough at the consequences of our
mass homicidal mania we may save
our hides by trying TO be decent in
stead of what we are.