| Show New Era Ela Era Seen in 1918 Fails to Guarantee Peace Pe ce Editors Editor's note Twenty years ago this month the world went 1 mad with joy Peace had come after f four ur years of strife On the eve of Armis Armistice ice day 1938 the world is taking stock and wondering wondering wondering won won- dering what h has s happened to those hose hopes of peace of 2 20 2 years ago This is the first of five articles articles arti artl- cles des on WHAT H HAS A S HAPPENED HAPPENED HAP HAP- TO US By WI WILLIS LIS THORNTON Written for The Telegram Twenty years ago a weary bloody world orld was staggering to the close of four years of World war People were told it was the end of an era the beginning of a Brave New Sew World And it was the end of an era But Butic the ic new era that began then was not ot the w world by the muddy muddy mud- mud dy y bloody men in the trenches Three million victims of 20 years rot ot in their graves since the war warto waro to o end war The league of nations which was waso to o bring a new world rea rca son on and peace drifts like a leaky and nd abandoned ship Democracy is s on n the defensive in a world which was never less safe for it Haunting Fear Prevails Everywhere the haunting fear of Insecurity sends men swarming after after af- af ter er strange causes economic and political Children born since 1918 have lave never known many never know mow the independence of Americans Ameri- Ameri cans ans who used to say Shucks I L Ian can an get a job anywhere Force has become the prime criterion cri- cri tenon erion and might makes right in international affairs In personal affairs the idea that the end justifies justifies justi- justi fies es the means is more and more generally acc accepted Nevertheless In the 20 years since Cease Firing sounded across Flanders landers fields a a. new world has arisen risen Every country in the world would already seem a strange land lando to o a man who died in that war if ifie he ie could come back and see it r Populations Increase In 20 years the population of early nearly every country in the world as increased by millions What to toc toc Ic c with surplus population is the cute acute problem of every government The he United States alone has people to contrast to the time war But while population has been Increasing increasing in- in creasing the world itself has been shrunk by mans man's inventive genius One can pick up tip the telephone and talk alk to a person on board a ship in ocean mid-ocean or to a friend in Europe Transcontinental and t trans trans- r ran a a s a oceanic airplane service has reduced journeys that formerly took weeks to o days From New York to Rio ISa is isa a mere five day flight San Francisco Francisco Franisco Fran- Fran cisco isco to Hong Kong can be made maden in n eight days London to Darwin Australia is the same time New Industries Arise Anise While new industries As industrial factors these things did lid not exist before 1918 Radio receivers electric refrigerators airplanes airplanes air air- planes color and candid cameras talkies alkies house insulation plastics electric razors rayon home homo movies air conditioning apparatus photoelectric photo electric eyes auto trailers cellophane cellophane cello- cello phane hane zippers electric clocks shatterproof shatterproof shat- shat and polaroid glass thousands thousands thousands thou thou- sands of new metal alloys and engines engines enines en en- gines ines soy beans and their industrial industria products quick-frozen quick foods Women have come into their own du during rig that year 20 period Betor the World war a woman earning her tier living livinS at anything but teaching school was almost a curiosity Today Today Today To To- day there are nearly women wage-earners wage in the United States more than one woman in five And they vote Before th the war they did not More Old Folks' Folks There are m more more re old people fewer young people Before the World Worl war there were about I Americans over 65 years old I In 1936 there were and by 1960 I it is expected that there will be 15 15 Great Creat strides made in public health and nd disease prevention ar are partly responsible Despite depression depression depres sion slon years the people are this year than at any time in his tory v d' d Unless an u unforeseen foreseen epidemic comes omes 1938 will see the lowest death I rate ate ever known below the 1937 rate ate which was only 11 for every 1000 persons Influenza pneumonia auto uto traffic deaths and the social diseases are being successfully at- at tacked Back to the Farm The rush of people from farms to o the cities has practically reversed itself self in the United States By 1935 for or instance more people were farmers than in 1930 The growth of great cities formerly formerly for- for merly taken as inevitable has been checked Faster transportation is causing ausing such cities to spread out and nd spill over Into suburbs and rual rural rural ru- ru ral al sections The era of the great skyscrapers came to its peak and it has passed But more important the country has las grown up mentally People are re bright and hard instead of mellow mellow mel- mel low ow and sentimental National Viewpoint Changes This course is traced by the transit transit tran- tran sit it from the Hesitation Waltz to the Shag hag from May Irwin to Dwight Fiske from Way Down East to It It Happened One Night from Romberg lomberg to Gershwin from Puck to tl o Ballyhoo from front O. O Henry to Erest Ernest Ernest Er- Er nest est Hemingway The war left spiritual scars unhealed un- un healed long after the physicaL wounds had knit A great moral I letdown swept across the world In Inthe Inthe the he United States it became apparent apparent ent nt in the scandals of the Harding administration It was seen in 10 years ears of prohibition and the violent corruption and cynical law avoid- avoid ance nce Racket Era Flourishes The racket era sprung from this root It was seen in the Ku Klux Klans Klan's bid for a secret unofficial government It flowered in n the lax financial morals of the Loom oom era And its fruit was harvested har- har vested ested in the increasingly bitter cJ lass cities ss conflicts that came with the depression The day before Woodrow Wilson was vas to go before congress in 1917 1911 and nd ask that it declare a state of war with Germany he talked long and nd earnestly with Frank Cobb editorial writer for the New York World 0 In the agony of the decision Wll- Wll Wilson son on said these words reported later by y Cobb Once lead this people into war and nd they'll forget there ever was such uch sucha a thing as tolerance To fight you must be brutal anc and ruthless and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber iber of our national life infecting congress the courts the policeman on n the beat the man in the street The thing Wilson foresaw even as he made his decision for war has las happened not only to his own country but to the world NEXT The war post 20 years brings forth a a. new conception of government opposed to democracy democracy democracy demo demo- cracy which finds' finds itself challenged challenged chal chal- and on the defensive after years of leadership in the worlds world's parade of progress |
