| Show A are AWL ow e 01 43 F I 1 by GENERAL JOHN J PERSHING V h 0 R i X S A N 4 h W F q q al 1 1 av vy ait A g here s a stirring call to arms that summons the spirit of those half forgotten days of resolute marching men article I 1 years ago an army of two iwo million american citizens wis was gathering in france they had left their homes and families and businesses they had traveled three thousand miles across aaros s submarine infested seas and now they yere were ready to lay down their lives it if need be for their country millions more in america were prepared to follow them and do likewise today the nation faces another crisis in which the en enemies amies allied against us are more insidious but not less dangerous pervasive self seeking and corruption which the chosen officers acers of the law seem powerless to suppress the sinister growth of the underworld whose tentacles reach out to touch us all the ever increasing extravagance of government and the mysterious paralysis of our economic system these are the enemies which now confront us they have been allowed to encroach upon us largely through ugh our own carelessness and neglect of duty as citizens in the battle against them the average citizen is at a disadvantage van tage because he is unprepared he is willing enough but he is bewildered H he yet realize that he himself is primarily to blame hence he is taking no serious part in the conflict by average citizen I 1 mean a great many men to whom we should look for leadership as well as aa the larger number who possess no qualifications for it in fact too often do citizens of all classes assume that politics and crime and even economies economics are no business of theirs it does not occur to them that they are every one individually responsible why Is it that patriotism burns so brightly aly in times of war so dimly in times of pence peace it la is just IL as 8 necessary la in meeting the complex obligations of peace but these obligations tin do nut stir the imagination like the primitive emotions of war the average citizen feels that somehow the problems of p peace bace will be solved for him and falls to realize the possibility lity that calamity may result from his own indifference still can be proud we nave have as much reason now as we had fourteen years ago to feel proud of our country and to love it we be aleve with some justice that it Is the greatest republic in the history of the world under no flag in the world I 1 does a people enjoy more aref freedom dom or find greater happl happiness nem we boast of public education universal suir suffrage rage liberty of speech and the press we enjoy rights undreamed of in ancient greece and rome yet even with tho the sounder principles upon which to base the hope of permanence of our institutions tut ions we too may some day go town down as did these older republics unless we recognize and live up to our civic obligations ligat ions tons it cannot be too strongly impressed upon every citizen in a democracy that it is his duty to help actively help in the task of government the other day I 1 was waa talking to a substantial business man from new york we were discussing an issue of increased taxation then up before the house of representatives by the way I 1 said who Is the representative from yur district ile he grinned sheepishly 1 I dont know he be said my friend pays a goodly share of taxes to support the government a and nd yet he know who votes for him on the tax question he relies on en a substitute and even know who the substitute this IB something of a retrogression from an earlier period when our government was founded our forefathers did not let unknowns represent them they made it their business to know all about the character and achievements of the men they elected to public office then the outstanding men in the country took part td lo politics and most of the high positions were held by them political leaders then were chosen by the voters now through the apathy of the voters they are often chosen by other politicians changing social life this change Is partly due to our changing social life many of us do not even know our next door neighbors put dut it Is a manifestation of a deeper deever and more sinister change the tendency of the average citizen to let somebody else do his thinking for him that tendency threatens thre atena the very foundations of democracy let some come one else do the thinking that easy doctrine Is injuring us not only in politics but in other fields under it crime nourishes and business languishes some international bankers since the war have been careless in lending other peoples money miley on foreign securities others have been charged with something worse than carelessness but the citizens who against sound business principles put up the money were wera not without blame in their eagerness for gain they too often refused to think for themselves they preferred to delegate that task to some one else it was well known to all who read the newspapers that tb at certain governments had already defaulted on debts to their own people greedy investors did not balk because of that hut but cheerfully put up billions billion a to loan to st states ancs municipalities and industries of those same govern ments this la Is not an essay on econom economics im I 1 am not an economist I 1 did not foresee the depression nor do I 1 know when it Is going to end though past part pert ence teaches me the upturn Is bound to come perhaps slowly perhaps suddenly when we least expect it no matter how sure you tire are of victory never fall to make fun full provision for a reverse rule la Is axiomatic with every capable military leader but it was ignored by most of our business lead ero em during the boom years few in made ade plans tor for anything except triumphant advance from one objective to aloth er many burned their theft bridges be behind hind them then the advance was halted and the recession began it cann cannot ot be said that they were to blame for that recession for apparently our puny human minds have not yet solved the riddle of the business cycle they weri were to blame for having made no plans to keep the retreat from turning into a rout business might ably write that military axiom into its books for the years to come we have made two other military blunders we began by underestimating the strength of tho the enemy and progressed from that to overestimating it the cry we are just turning taming the corner of 30 was the equivalent of we will have the boys out ol of the trenches by christmas of and our this country Is going to the dogs of 1032 Is the equivalent of the central powers are invincible of march ad 1918 18 1 I have heard leading men given over to io fear prate of nations 1 failure bankruptcy and pa W V 1 af 4 X 1 I mv Y V f sa w j V J 4 I 1 f A I 1 I 1 A A I 1 1 1 IL tilted lulled nto ihlo complacency by prosperity our citizens passively accepted this poisonous noua growth with small concern bolshevism this la is no time for traven m cringing looking out of my window I 1 see bee the shaft abaft of the monn monument ment to washington I 1 think of valley forge dod and wonder how those who now lament and wring their hands would have enjoyed that winter this Is bicentennial it la Is time for a new reckoning a new responsibility a new courage during the winter past many a good man willing and able to work has gone through a bell of unemployment and uncertainty remembering that we may also find that some come good along with the evil comes out of all depressions I 1 am not a stranger to depressions economists tell us that the panic of 1873 was waa the closest analogy whick which history furnishes to our present troubles my father a well to do business man and farmer in missouri was waa caught in that general disaster I 1 was just thirteen years old one day my father told me the whole story john he said everything I 1 own has been swept away except the farm which to Is covered by a heavy heary mortgage we finally lost it 1 I must try to make some money by traveling as a salesman while I 1 am away you must take care of the family and manage the farm during the next three years my brother and I 1 ran ma the farm we plowed sowed bowed and reaped we took our produce to market those days were not so different from these tor for the farmer I 1 remember we bad a field of timothy hay bay which was particularly nicular ticul arly y fine I 1 baled I 1 it t up op carload of it and sent it by rall rail to st louis hoping to receive a top price but it did not bring enough to cover the freight charges during those years my attendance at school was limited and I 1 bad to do the best I 1 could to keep up with my classes by studying at night those were certainly hard bard timm times yet sweet are the uses of at adversity and it was waa the best thing that ever happened to me it taught me more gave me greater confidence and a keener sense of responsibility than anything else could have done unsuspected powers 1 I cite my own experience merely to show how men and women actually gala gain a new strength and courage when thrown upon their own resources and responsibility in times of crisis the they find in themselves vea powers they never suspected the life of a military man furnishes another example valuable abla la in times flad alk the present in every army career there come occasional times of dull ness the officer stationed at some remote army post has his routine du ties to perform when these are am completed he finds the temptation almost overwhelming to give over tits his leisure to cards light reading social evenin evenings gt painless time wasting it Is the officer who resists that temptation who spends hard hours each day studying the latest advances in artillery tech nIr lr ir transport in tactics it Is this officer who receives recognition when the opportunity for active service comes so it Is in business in this ume time of extreme dullness many nave have sunk back into a kind of lethargy but the wise business man like the conscientious officer Is using h his is present leisure to prepare for the battles to come ile he Is devising new economies of production and distribution he Is studying the problem of how his product way may be varied or made more attractive he Is bettl getting ng ready to take advantage of the upturn when it com comes es ile he to Is not accepting gloomy defeatism he Is thinking for himself I 1 have touched at some length on the depression because it has so glaringly shown us the folly of carelessly del delegating e our thinking to others it has baa also thrown a bright cold light on the flaws in our political methods and on our crime problem during the years of prosperity following the war an underworld of gangsters and racketeers unparalleled in any other civilized nation grew up and flourished in our cities the criminal who manned this underworld were of a n new e w type they were not the masked and shabby plug who filled the jails in earlier years they were expensively dressed they owned machine guns high powered cars and speed boats they had money in the bank with this money they were able to establish a relation with corrupt officials and pollee police which seemed to make them immune from 0 1932 sell wm service lc to be concluded next week |
