Show eaf at wa r X by GENERAL JOHN J PERSHING 1 g N M x 4 U N X M here s a stirring call to arms that summons the spirit of those half forgotten of resolute marching men article I 1 i years ago an army of two million american citizens was gathering in france they had left their r homes and families and businesses they had traveled three thousand miles across submarine infested seas and now they were ready to lay down their lives if need be j for their country millions more in america were prepared to follow them and do likewise today the nation faces another crisis in which tile the enemies allied against us are more insidious but not less dangerous pervasive self seeking and corruption which tile the chosen officers 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 our own carelessness and neglect of duty as citizens in the battle against them the average citizen is at a disadvantage because lie he is unprepared he is willing enough but he is bewildered 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 hill as well as the larger number w alio ho possess no qualifications for it in fact too often do citizens of all classes assume that politics and crime and even economics are no business of theirs it does not occur to them that they are every one indi virtually responsible why Is it that patriotism burns so brightly in times of war ar so BO dimly in times limes of peace it Is just as necessary in meeting the complex obligations of peace but these obligations ito do not stir the imagination like the primitive e emotions in lotions of war the average cl citizen t lz en feels that s somehow mellow 0 the problems of peace will be solved for him arid add falls to realize the pos sib lity that calamity may result from ills own indifference still can be proud we have as much reason now as we e had fourteen years ago to feel proud of our country and to love it we be level with some justice that it Is the greatest republic in the history of the world under no lag flag in the world does a people enjoy more moie freedom or find greater happiness we boast of public education universal suffrage liberty of speech and the press we enjoy rights undreamed of in ancient urence and yet even with the sounder principles upon which to base the hope of permanence of our institutions tut tIt ions we too may some day go down ns as did these older republics unless we rl recognize cognize and live up tip to our alle oil ob 3 it cannot ile be too strongly impressed upon every citizen in a democracy that it Is ills his duty to help actively help hell in the task of government the other lay day I 1 was vas talking to a sub business man from new york we were discussing an all issue of increased taxation then up before the house of representatives dy by the way nay I 1 said who Is the representative from yu y u district ile he grinned sheepishly 1 I dont know be said my friend pays a goodly share of taxes to support the government and yet he know who votes for him on the tax question lie ile relies on a substitute and even know who the substitute this Is something of a retrogression from an earlier period when our government govern merit was founded our arefa did not let unknowns represent them they made it their to know all about the character and achievements of the men they elected to public office then the ing men in the country took part in 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 clans changing social life this change Is partly due to our changing social life many of 0 f us do n not 0 t even know our next door neighbors but it Is a manifestation of a deeper and more sinister change the tendency of the average citizen to let somebody else do ilia his thinking for him that tendency threatens the very foundations of democracy let some one else do the thinking that easy doctrine la Is injuring us s not only in politics but in other fields under it crime flourishes and business languishes some international bankers since the war have been careless in lending other peoples money on oil foreign securities others have been charged with something worse than carelessness nut but the citizens who against sound business principles put up tip the money were 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 certain governments had already defaulted on debts to their own people greedy investors did not halk balk because of that but cheerfully put up tip billions to loan to states municipalities and industries of those same governments this Is not un tin essny essay on economics 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 experience teaches me the upturn Is bound to come perhaps slowly perhaps suddenly whon when we least expect it no matter how flow sure you are of victory never fall to make full provision for a reverse tills this rule Is axiomatic with every capable military leader but it was ignored by most of our business lead ers during the boom years few made plans for anything except triumphant advance from one objective to another many burned their bridges behind them then the advance was h bulled a cited and the recession began it cannot 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 were to blame for having made no plans to keep the retreat from turning into a rout business might profit 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 the enemy and progressed from that to over overestimating estimate it the cry we are just turning the corner of 1920 1020 30 was the equivalent of we will have the boys out of the trenches by christmas of t and our this country is going to the dogs of 1932 Is the equivalent of the file central lowers tire are invincible of march 1018 1918 1 I have heard leading men given over to tear fear prate of national na tlona failure bankruptcy and 4 x V alk Z 0 t X Y 0 X V eky 4 I 1 11 41 g 7 0 V OR A N N lulled into complacency by prosperity our citizens passively accepted this poisonous growth with small concern bolshevism this Is no time for craven cringing looking out of my window I 1 see the shaft of the monument to washington I 1 think of valley forge and wonder how those who now lament and wring their hands w would uld have enjoyed that winter this Is washington 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 hell of unemployment and incerta uncertainty anty remembering that wo we may also find that some go good d along with the evil comes out of all depressions I 1 am not a stranger to depressions economists econome a ts tell us that the panic of 1873 was the closest analogy which ch history furnishes to our present troubles my father a well to do business man and farmer in missouri was caught in that general disaster I 1 was just thirteen years old one day my father told me the whole story john he said every everything thin g I 1 own has been swept away except the farm which Is covered by a heavy mortgage we finally lost it 1 I 1 must try to make some money by traveling as a salesman while I 1 am away you yon must take care of the family and manage the farm 11 during the next three years my brother and I 1 ran the farm we plowed sowed bowed and reaped we took our produce e to market those days were not so different from these for the farmer I 1 remember we had a field of timothy hay which was particularly ticul arly fine I 1 baled it up carload of it and sent it by 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 had bad to do the best I 1 could to keep up with my classes by studying at night those were certainly hard times yet sweet are cheuse the uses of adversity and it was the best thing that ever happened to me it ta taught u me more gave me greater condid confidence ence and a keener sense sensa of responsibility than anything else could have done unsuspected powers I 1 cite my illy own experience merely to show how men and women actually gain a new strength and courage when thrown upon their own resources and responsibility in times of crisis they find in themselves powers they never suspected the life of a military man furnishes another example valuable abla in times like the present in every army career there come occasional times of dullness the officer stationed at some remote army post has his routine duties to perform when these are completed he finds the temptation almost overwhelming to give over his leisure to cards car cli light reading social evenings painless time wasting it Is the officer who resists that temptation who spends hard hours each day studying the latest advances in artillery 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 time of extreme dullness many have sunk back into a kind of lethargy but the wise business man like the conscientious of officer fleer Is using his present leisure to prepare pr for tile the battles to come he Is devising new economies ot of production and distribution he Is studying the problem of how his product may be varied or made more attractive ne be Is getting ready to take advantage of the upturn when it comes ne be Is not accepting gloomy defeats defeatism s m ne he Is thinking g tor for himself 1 I have touched at some length on the depression because it has so glaringly shown us the folly of carelessly delegating our thinking to others it has also thrown a bright cold tight light on the flaws in our political methods and on our crime problem during the years of prosperity following the war an un underworld der world of gangsters and racketeers unparalleled in any other civilized nation grew up and flourished in our cities the criminals who manned this underworld were of a new type they were not the masked and shabby plug who filled the jails in earlier years they were expensively dressed they owned machino machine chine 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 police which seemed to make them immune from prosecution 0 13 2932 bell service Eer vic to do ba concluded next week |