The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-09-21
Facing the Facts
With PHILIP PEARL

IIopdSdHud anu pTOIlCS are Jnc
chief carriers of the most virulent
disease known to man-war. The
disease has broken out again in
Europe in epidemic proportions. Only
twenty-five years ago the same thing
happened and this country was too
thoughtless to prevent its spread, so
we were hit too. Certainly we should
be enlightened enough by now to set
up a quarantine against the disease
and isolate it to the other side of the
Atlantic.
Already, however, the propaganda
machine is blasting away at us and
American business is flirting with the
alluring charmer known as easy
Profits" The United States is "on the
spot" We are officially neutral but
powerful forces are at work to involve
us in the conflict sooner or later.
Remember they told us that we
fought the last war to "make the
world safe for democracy" Now they
are telling US that the United States
cannot afford to let democracy in
Europe be crushed under Hitler's heel
We admit it is a persuasive argument
An overwhelming majority Of Ameri-
cans hate Hitler. They hate every
thing he stands for. They feel Hitler
must be stopped. Therefore, they SYM
pathize deeply with Great Britain and
France But, brothers and sisters,
Great Britain and France created Hit
ler. They are responsible for his rise
to power. If it had not been for the
selfish and short-sighted settlement"
of the last war engineered by Eng
land and France, the German people
never would have been in the mood
to listen to Hitler. Now it is up to
England and France to destroy the
hateful creature they created. It is
their job. We wish them luck. We
believe they can do it. But we are not
going to do their dirty work for them
again.
The Boom Boys
We must also watch out for the
boom boys. They ars at it again. And
they are very dangerous. Because to
a nation which has suffered from busi-
ness stagnation and unemployment
for so many years the prospect of
busy factories and regular pay checks
is great temptation.
But we should remember what we
learned after the last war. The Con-
gressional hearings which exposed
the Vaccinations of munitions makers
who foment war to make fat profits
opened our eyes. We should not close
them now to the facts. We have
real neutrality law which forbids us
to sell munitions to any belligrent. 1t
is a good law for America. 1t is a
bad law for the munitions makers.
Suppose we change the law and
substitute a "cash-and-carry" law
which many well-meaning statesmen
favor. What will happen? Well, Eng
land and France, controlling the seas,
\ will send their ships here and buy
armament, planes and guns in huge
amounts. Business will boom. Labor
will benefit. But suppose our GUS
toners, nevertheless, get the worst of
it in the war. Will we be able to stay
neutral and see our customers get
licked? Not chance. The minute we
depend on any of the belligrents for
our domestic prosperity we are in
extricably involved in the conflict our
selves and our actual entry into the
war is foredoomed
Let us not be beguiled by high
pressure craftsmanship to the effect
that we can benefit out of this war.
The everlasting truth is that war
diseases and corrodes everything it
touches. Americas policy should be
to keep hands off the war and fingers
out of the war pie.
Stalin's Role
Only the short-sighted see in the
war situation merely the danger of a
Hitler victory. That would be ter
rible enough. But watch out for
Stain. The strategy behind the Sta
lin-Hitler pact is now beginning to re-
veal itself. The Soviet dictator is sit
ting on the sidelines helping Hitler all
he can against the stronger combin-
alton of the Allies. Why? Because
he wants a more equal struggle. He
wants Hitler and the Allies to fight
each other to a standstill and kill
each other off so he can march in and
take over the whole works We don't
believe it's possible for Hitler to win
the war. But Stain can by sitting on
the sidelines. And that is the real
threat in the European picture.
And what are our Connie friends
on this side of the Atlantic doing
about it? Are they repudiating Sta
lin for entering into an alliance with
Nazism? Not bit of it. Earl Brow
der, head of the Communist Party in
this country, declares from the witness
stand before the Dies Committee that
criticism of the Nazi-Soviet pact by a
party member constitutes grounds for
expulsion from the party. The squirm-
ing Soviet agent gave fine exhibition
of Jonah swallowing the whale when
he tried to justify the pact.
In the light of Comrade Browder's
testimony, is it not significant that not
a single c. l. o. orator on Labor Day