THE CHRISTMAS MONTH "PEACE on earth" is still something to hope and strive for, rather than to greet and enjoy. But "good will among men" begins to look more like a fact than it has for several years. As the year went into its last quarter, millions of men were still engaged in warfare. If the number seems placed too high, remember that during the autumn there was fighting in China; Greece and Turkey had large armies in the field; Spain was waging war on the Moors; and the Balkan States were in anything but a peaceful mood. Jugoslavia was jealous of Italy; Bulgaria was watching Greece like a hawk ready to swoop. The Allies had troops in Silesia. Uncle Sam's boys were still keeping the "Watch on the Rhine." And England and Ireland were in a state of truce. On the other side of the account, these facts had to be placed: England and Ireland were trying to find a way to end the oldest quarrel in the world; the League of Nations was offering its suggestion for the establishment of peaceful relations between Poland and Germany in Silesia; England, France, and Italy, China and Japan, were planning their policies for the great international conference at Washington-and in all the lands, millions of people were longing for the success of all endeavors to hasten the world's recovery from the consequences of the war "made in Germany.' This Christmas season has one advantage over last Christmas: it sees us one year nearer to the good times that are coming. THE EMPLOYMENT CONFERENCE It was generally spoken of as the Unemployment Conference, because its purpose was to find ways to check the increase of that unpleasant condition; but to us that seems a very A Review of Current Events By EDWARD N. TEALL good reason to change the name as we have done in the head-line. The way to fight unemployment is to increase the number of persons who are employed, and the positive word is stronger than the negative. The convention that held sessions at Washington in October, under the presidency of Mr. Hoover, was a conference to devise ways to increase employment. That does It was a successful conference. not mean that when it broke up there were no men without jobs; that would have been too much to expect. It does mean that representatives of different occupations and students of social conditions had got together and exchanged experiences and ideas, so that each went back to his or her own work with a broader outlook, a better knowledge of what others were doing, and a more complete understanding of conditions and the best methods to meet them. From the members of the conference, that broadened understanding spread through the various occupations they represented; it was something like a conference of school superintendents, whose members would carry back the new ideas to the school principals, so that they in their turn might pass them on to the teachers. In this way a unity of purpose is obtained that could not be brought about in any other way. The conference found that the problem of unemployment is one that can best be dealt with by communities. The manufacturers and dealers in a city, for example, can get together and map out a campaign that will distribute the work so that the greatest possible number of persons may profit by it all the time, instead of having some overworked while others are idle, or driven hard part of the time and unengaged the rest of it. It was urged that those who were planning new building and other enterprises should start at once, SECRETARY HOOVER AND HIS HELPERS IN SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT the law of supply and demand can not be wiped system developed. Now, with one region out by a law of man's making. THE RAILROAD STRIKE PERHAPS, THE WATCH-TOWER man thought as he began to write this article, perhaps the story to write for December would be "The Strike That Did n't Happen." As prophecy is not one of his "accomplishments," he was in a quandary: should he write about the strike as though it had been certain to come about, or should he take a chance on its being forestalled? And then he saw that there was no need for either kind of article; the threat to strike had been made, some of the railroad unions had actually been ordered to stop work November 1-and in December all the boys and girls who read THE WATCH TOWER would know the whole history of the fight between the railroad managements and the men who work for them. given up to farming and another to manufacturing, the railroads, carrying raw materials to the factories and finished goods to the markets, are indispensable to the life of the nation. If the railroads were to stop running, trade would be paralyzed, the cities would be like ports blockaded in war time; the wheels of industry would stop turning, the mills would be idle, millions of workers would lose their employment, and there would be countrywide suffering. A natural disaster that put the railroads out of commission-if you can imagine such a thing-would be worse than fire and flood and earthquake; it would seem like hopeless ruin and the end of civilization. But the railroad men proposed to inflict upon the country just such a disaster. When the strike was ordered, late in October, people acknowledged that the railroad workers might have a reasonable grievance; they felt also that the railroad managements were not entirely blameless. Furthermore, the Government at Washington had made concessions in war time, when it was running the railroads, that had perhaps led the men of the railroad unions to think their power greater than it really is. But this one thing was made clear in every newspaper in the land: that the Wide World Photos the military authorities were making plans for the use of troops, if that should become necessary for keeping order. Civil authorities of the cities and States were arranging for special means of transportation to keep food supplies moving. Some governors announced that if the strike order should be executed, their States would be put under martial law. It was a most amazing situation for America. The one thing sure was that this Yankee nation was not going to permit a reign of terror to take the place of the rule of reason. The "return to normalcy" meant that wages and prices had to get back to pre-war levels; and the burden had to be shared by all the people. The railroad men were not exempt; if they were not being treated fairly, the Government at Washington would see justice done. There was just a chance that the unions were "throwing a bluff" -the fact that they allowed two weeks between the order and the stopping of work might have indicated that they were willing to do some bargaining. Perhaps it was only a "show in force," as military men say, to "throw a scare" into the rest of the country. By the time this number reaches you, you will know the facts. CROWN PRINCE HIROHITO OF JAPAN AND HIS THREE BROTHERS nation was not going to permit the railroad unions to ruin its business and destroy its welfare. The Railroad Board had made one reduction in wages. The railroad executives wanted another and rejected a suggestion that wages be left as they were and rates reduced; they said the roads could not be kept going if they reduced their income without reducing their operating expenses. They have to earn money before they can spend it. The matter of rates is under control of the Interstate Commerce Commission; that of wages is supervised by the Labor Board. The Government at once started trying to get the two bodies together, to see what arrangement might be made as to rates and wages, and the heads of the unions were summoned to attend a conference at Chicago to discuss ways and means. And there the matter stood when this WATCH TOWER was written. What we have tried to do here is simply to review the situation so that THE WATCHTOWER family would have a better idea of what the facts mean. They mean that America must be governed for all the people all the time, and that no minority can rule the nation. CROWN PRINCE HIROHITO THAT picture of the Japanese crown prince with his three brothers, Sumi-No-Miya, Takamatsu-No-Miya and Atsu-No-Miya (will some of THE WATCH-TOWER young folks who have been in Japan tell us what that "No-Miya means?), is attractive and interesting. It shows that the royal family of Japan is in no Except for one thing: all over the country great danger of dying out. Hirohito's European trip probably gave him some new ideas about foreign lands and what the Western nations think of Japan. When he comes to the throne he will have more personal knowledge of the rest of the world, no doubt, than his predecessors in the emperorship have had. In October, the Japanese delegates to the Armament Conference were on the sea, on their way to Washington. Japan had expressed its approval, or at least acceptance, of the program submitted by Secretary Hughes. It was a fascinating thing to look forward to, this visit from representatives of the Japanese Govern friendship of the two great English-speaking powers, the British Empire and the United States. And the picture of General Pershing fastening the medal on the cushion at the foot Wide World Photos GENERAL PERSHING DECORATES FRANCE'S UNKNOWN WARRIOR ment and people, and to try to imagine what their part in the conference would be. OUR ENVOY OF FRIENDSHIP GENERAL PERSHING placed the Congressional Medal of Honor on the grave of England's Unknown Soldier, and England conferred the Victoria Cross on ours. These are the highest military honors in the two countries. Such an exchange of honors emphasizes pleasantly the firmness and permanence of the of the French soldier's grave under the Arc de Triomphe, Paris, has well caught the expression of deep feeling with which we should expect John J. Pershing to represent his country in such a ceremony. OCTOBER 27 was the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt, and the anniversary was recognized by people and communities all over the country. National-Commander Emery of the Legion, asking the posts to remember the day, said: "The American army in France and in camps at home never had a better friend than Theodore Roosevelt." Coming just at a time when the minds of people were interested by the railroad-strike excitement, the anniversary took on special interest to those who recalled how President Roosevelt stopped the coal strike in 1902. Boy Scouts were interested also, because of their plans to contribute to the Roosevelt Memorial Park a reproduction of Mr. Roosevelt's ranch-house in North Dakota, where he lived in his hunting days. Old Bill Sewell, Mr. Roosevelt's friend and guide at that time, was chosen to direct the work, so as to make the reproduction as exact as possible. It was proposed, also, that the corner-stones of the original house be carried from Elkhorn to Oyster Bay by relays of Scouts. CHILDREN WHO WORK IN THE FACTORIES THE National Child Labor Committee reports that there are two million children of sixteen or under who are employed in shops and factories. This has a considerable effect on the unemployment situation. A man loses his job as the factory has less business to keep it going. Then he looks, perhaps, to his children to go to work and bring some money into the home. The factory can afford to hire a number of children at low wages. So the thing works in a circle: unemployment sends the children into industrial employment, and that helps keep men out of work. Every WATCH-TOWER reader will wish the committee success in its endeavors to lessen the number of children in mills and factories, and correspondingly to increase the number in school. THROUGH THE WATCH TOWER'S NEXT to the armistice days, the greatest days of the war were those that began with the turning back of the German tide at ChâteauThierry; and next to those, the days when Italy, after serious reverses, found herself, and forced the Austrians in headlong rout back over the Piave. The Italian commander was General Diaz-and when he landed at New York, in October, he got a welcome that showed how truly Italy and America are related in the spirit of international friendship. AMBASSADOR BRYCE-it will always be natural for Americans to call him that-on returning to England after his visit here, told his countrymen that in America he had observed general suspicion of the Anglo-Japanese treaty. He urged them to let us see that the relations between Great Britain and Japan could never stand between England and America; that England's interests in the Far East are in line with our own, and that the treaty does not bind Great Britain to take sides with Japan against us if there should ever be a war between the United States and Japan. Viscount Bryce does not see any reason why there ever should be such a war-and he is an extremely keen student of such matters. Up to the time when this paragraph was written, the British-Irish negotiations had proceeded pretty smoothly. They had not yet reached the most difficult points to be settled, but the fact that they were advancing without serious difficulties gave reason to continue hoping for a peaceful settlement. The British offer of dominion government appeared to have been made in perfect good faith and to have the support of the British public. The greatest obstacle to adjustment seemed to be the unwillingness of Ulster to fall in line with the Valera people. THE peace treaties, previously ratified by Germany and Austria, were voted on favorably by the United States Senate in October; and so the war came to an end, late, but welcome. The treaty with Hungary was also ratified, though Hungary had not yet acted on it. Whether or not it would have been better if the League had not been associated with the Treaty of Versailles by President Wilson, the fact remains that so long as we did not sign that treaty, it was highly advantageous to have the separate treaties executed as quickly as might be. The treaties with Germany and Austria refer to many clauses in the treaty of Versailles, and that bothers some critics; but it is just the same as if those clauses had been embodied in the new treaties, and there is no reason at all to object to it. The signing of the treaties prepared the way for orderly management of affairs between the three late enemy countries and America. THE tariff bill was put over, by the House, for final vote in February. It seemed likely that the Senate would vote for this also; otherwise the emergency tariff act would have expired November 27 and the new legislation would have had to be enacted by that date. It would have been better if the Fordney Bill could have been put into shape and passed before the temporary schedules expired, but the Congress was not willing to railroad it through-and it surely is better to have such legislation come late and come right than to pass it in haste and regret it at leisure. |