Show A VOICE FROM THE COUNTRY U S dollars can t halt cataclysm facing world editors note this Is the third in A series of articles on current problems by louis bromfield one of americas america leading writers by LOUIS BROMFIELD released by features feature there are times when some of the men in positions 0 of power or influence in this country seem like pitiful ant like figures confronted by a vast wave about to overwhelm them which like canute they are commanding to stand still their voices loud out of all proportion to the roar of the oncoming wave because we all are standing near them still seem puny and insignificant what they are crying out to the wave them is we will to subside we win will give you billions of dollars and raw materials and manufactured commodities if you will simply subside and behave yourself they are trying to buy off what Is a world cataclysm the world Is far worse off than even the loudest calamity howlers bowlers ol of the state department have implied the two world wars the vast increase ol of w 0 r id population during the century the industrial I 1 revolution with its evil social results the dire shortage of food in the world the demoralization and chaos ot of most bromfield governments t the h e intrigues of russia in a disintegrating world are not merely incidents of comparative historical insignificance to be repaired overnight by a few billion dollars recalls past history together and they are inseparable with many other intimations of disaster they form a great wave of history such as destroyed carthage and brought about the fall of rome they represent a revolutionary change in world society as great as the disappearance of feudalism or the inauguration of the industrial age and the rise of the british emre P pire e there Is no way of dissipating the wave confining it or order ing in it to cease the best we can do Is to put out stout anchors against the storm adjust our selves and hope to survive as people do in a hurricane the wave Is everywhere evident in the orient the near east russia and europe to fling ourselves against it it to think that we can buy off or even postpone its approach Is simply a tolly folly by which we weaken our own forces unfortunately perhaps tragically the responsibilities for our defense are largely in the hands of men who still are thinking in the idiom of an age which Is already past and will not return withstanding Withstand ine the wave it Is possible that we as a nation may be able to stand as a rock in the path of that oncoming wave surviving it as rome survived the wave which swept her world as barbaric carthage challenged her power and security we shall not do so if we deliberately weaken ourselves in insignificant picayune efforts to halt the wave I 1 mean by picayune efforts four billions loaned to england and dissipated quickly 20 billions poured into europe to vanish perhaps without result overnight or even billions and billions more waves of history like earthquakes and hurricanes are not to be bought off they are simply not in the market the unrest the perpetual strikes the unwillingness of british coal miners to produce more the despair of absurd and destructive nihilist philosophies like existentialism the inertia and the despair of whole peoples the prevalent philosophy of living from day to day the evil tactics of russia in exploiting all these elements and many more are all a part of that wave of history money will not cure the despair of a twice defeated germany it will not get more work out of the british coal miners who constantly seek more and more pay tor for less and less work in a desperate nation on the verge of bankruptcy it will only permit pem dt the miner to relax a little more before the final catastrophe which may engulf us as well it is significant that the abler and more honest european leaders leader are showing some recognition of this tact purge Is necessary to soar into the realms of philosophical history there come times when a purge of men and nations seems necessary and inevitable when man is forced to depend upon himself alone and to develop ingenuity energy leadership and indeed a whole hole new soul in order to save p anz j money aloney wilt will not get more work out of the british coat coal miners eners who constantly seek more and more pay for less and less work in iii a desperate nation on the verge of bankruptcy himself and his country A europe which is unwilling to give up artificially fici ally pegged currencies complicated customs barriers a britain which still seeks to reestablish establish re cartels and century closed trade areas has not yet reached the catharsis out of which new strength new character new hope is bom forced into socialism on the one hand by poverty and disaster britain still clutches with the other the decaying remnants of the century imperialism which brought her in another age great power and wealth that imperialism lies behind the advancing wave of history gone forever the humanitarian responsibility for food lies almost wholly upon our shoulders and so long as civilization exists and christian morality has any weight cannot be avoided we I 1 cannot look for humanitarianism in in the moral and ethical vacuum represented by soviet russia the men in moscow in themselves a horrible manifestation of the wave will use their wheat politically they will even sell it at a high price demanding in turn american dollars because their own pegged currency has no real value in the world russia overestimated despite its ruthlessness and realism soviet russia is not a power comparable to this nation As AB walter lippmann has pointed out the satellites and the nations russia has swallowed allowed w up are in their present state liabilities rather than sources of strength essentially russia Is only a potential power which can fall fail into disintegration quickly in the face of another war it Is not impossible that the balkans and central europe can tall fail within a generation into the desolation of the thirty years war that possibility too is a part of the wave of history we shall not stop the wave by pouring out billions and billions carelessly or perhaps generously or under any other circumstances we can however perhaps keep intact inta ct a citadel about which world claw civilization za can rebuild itself we shall not do so by economically weakening ourselves the quickest route to the destruction of democracy is that of i economic depression to weaken j ourselves in a futile attempt to halt the wave of history Is the surest way to death of democracy and in the e end of western civilization |