The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-07-24


and moral damage in the war itself.
This big and awkward fact shows
up in every community and upon
all sorts of occasions and under all
or almost all circumstances. There
is marked interrelation. Formerly
considered as separate matters, the
body, mind and soul are delicately
but formidably meshed. War does
things to everybody, ard sometimes
we think the civilian side incurs the
worst of the penalties.
Penalties of Peace
The fact that these vital consider
ations cannot be disassociated is IL
Illustrated through some Of the fore
most topics of our time. What We
hear most about now is not the cure
of bodies, broken in the war OF
about the exposures of the soldiers
and sailors abroad, but the weak
neSses here at home, three thousand
miles or more away from any mar
tial ground and thousand miles
or so from the great coast and sub
marine hunting grounds. Our eX-
posures are physical as well as
moral and mental. From worrying
about shell-shocked soldiers and
cripples we will see after the war
we have come to considering closely
and practically, the mental obSes-
sions of the young, the moral laXity
which shows up through the tangled
scene of the war.
The fact is much OF our present
trouble, which we glibly charged to
the war, came from weaknesses and
lapses and exurberance in everyday
life before the war. The penalties
Of war and peace now converge, and
that is what makes us jaundiced and
disposed to charge everything up
to war.
Broken homes and lax parenthood
are the major factors in juvenile
delinquency and consequently in the
whole problem of juvenile errancy
and mental and moral decay. In
Washington, D. c., there is a gen.
uine alarm over report that many
Washington for war work had be-
come psychopathic cases; they suffer
from bcr5doin and isolation and
mobilization all at the same time.
They, like the men in the Army,
suffer, sincere penalties for the
breakdown of normal human rela-
tionships.
Now all this is brokn down on
account of the suffering of the SOL
diers abroad or the horrible nature
of the war itself, or the excitement
of the war news or the uncertainties
and complexities of civilian life in
the United States. No. Much OF the
trouble is of prior origin; it comes
from soft living, and loose conduct
before the war as well as from the
false prosperity of war time and
the more hectic and irresponsible
emotionalism that goes with war
conditions and big proportions OF
soldiers, sailors and marines. Our
civilization built up to or leveled
down to its present distress; the
war exposed the evils about which
we now cry out aloud. We had too
much speed, too much luxury, too
little regard for the worth of money,
too much easy living off the fat OF
the land, little regard for our fellow
men and women, too low concept OF
life and morals.
Service Connected
The Army itself and other branches
of service have the mental problem
in acute form. A surprisingly large
number of men are rejected because
they are either mentally unstable or
are moronic. Even after that
screening, many mental cases de-
velop in the service. Hardship and
battle develop more naturally in the
service. The dangers of soldiers sud-
denly going wild or caving in; COW
ardice or strain is always present in
war. But, back of all that, there Is
often wrongness back home, i'll prep
aration for either civilian or military
life.
The mind is supposed to domi-
nate the body, and moral conscience
is supposed to supervise everything.
But these things have been dis
torted.
1t is plain that broken homes -
broken by fast life and ready re-
course to divorce courts - has added
immensely to the misery of the time.
That leads right into the problem
of juvenile delinquency, the preVa-
lence of boys and girls on the streets
and in the joints. That, again
hooks right into the terrific evil OF
venereal disea ses aud contamination
of the race for the future. Also,
this very loose situation leads right
into the problem of the mind dis
eased, the certainty of vastly more
cases of suicide or retort to the
asylumns when the war is over.
Children are certainly corrupted
by the example of fast living, the
current prosperity of war workers,
for instance, is bringing surely and
swiftly bad moral conditions and
mental settings. 1t all reflects upon
the war program and the welfare
of the boys abroad or those who are
to go. Military camps are in a
steady fight against civilian evils
assailing young men. Who Is so
brash as to say that ordinary day
by day and night by night conduct
in any town is not to be considered
as a part of the war program.
Adults of Tomorrow
After the war the returned SOL
diers and the people who are here
now will be in charge of things Tor
a rather short period. The children
of today will be the adults of to-
morrow - and that tomorrow comes
terribly fast. What is their prepara-
ton? Are they being carefully
grounded in Patriotism and are they
being sent to church and to Sunday
school? Are they encouraged to
read worthwhile books, magazines,
and newspapers? Are they taught
the value of dollar? Are they given
the nroper coaching in their ultimate