Lawrence High School - Lawrencian Yearbook (Falmouth, MA)

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Lawrence High School 9 ing between different nations that our trade with foreign regions has been built up. It is through our trade with foreign countries that we have become sufficiently provided ’with most of life’s necessities. Com- modities originate in many regions, and each region provides us with one or more things essential to our com- fort, welfare, and happiness. If it were not for the contributions of these regions, we should not be liv- ing so comfortably as we are today. Examples of our dependency on ether countries can be found right in our own homes. No instrument is more important or more essential to the business world than the tele- phone. How little we think, as we pick up this instrument, of the far- off regions of the world which have made it possible for us to have it teday. This marvelous device can well be called a world production. Silk growers in Japan furnish silk to cover the telephone cord; men in Brazil furnish the rubber to make the telephone receiver; farmers in Ireland grow the flax for linen paper for the sensitive condenser in the telephone; a miner in far-off India produces mica for the insulation in the telephone; Chile and Spain pro- vide copper; our own southern states furnish cotton. Numerous other contributions come from all over the world. Without the aid of these various countries the telephone would not be in use today. Our clothes are made from the materials gathered from countries outside of the United States. Most of our useful inventions are the result of the thinking of scientists 1 in other countries; our arts, literature, and music are largely contributions from the countries abroad. There are hundreds of such examples il- lustrating our growing dependence on foreign countries. We depend on other nations, not only as contribu- tors to our American industries but also as markets for American goods. Our commerce has bound the world together as one nation. The nations of the world have become our neighbors, and in order not to sever these bonds, we should learn to deal with these countries as neighbors. Just as peace is desired among neighbors, so is it desired among nations. War, settling dis- putes with the loss of lives and the destruction of homes and industries, no longer has its place in this civil- ized world of ours. It is for us to unite with all nations to bring about the elimination of war and the peaceful settlement of all disputes. It is for America and the other en- lightened nations to work toward the establishment of such harmony and goodwill among nations as will bring a lasting peace to all man- kind and make wars to cease in all the earth. Elvira Jean Costa INTERNATIONAL DISARMAMENT! Today the world wants peace, but the nations want individual power; and the only way to have world peace is for each nation to forfeit its selfish desire for power. Nations should disarm by disbanding their excessive armies, by stopping their unnecessary naval competition, and by scrapping their powerful airships! Why should they? Because such arms insinuate war, they provoke war, and inevitably they cause war. Independent armies and navies are burdens to their countries — un- necessary expenses. And who pays for their upkeep? The common folk, the taxpayers, are supporting these huge extravagances. To cover ex-

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10 The Lawrencian penses for the United States army in 1935-1936, $348,000,000 was ap- propriated, and over $400,000,000 was appropriated for the United States navy. Even these enormous amounts are but a part of the annual ex- pense for the cost of war in times of peace. $2,500,000,000, or two- thirds of the total annual revenue of the United States pays for the army and navy, for pensions and hospitals for veterans, and for payments and interest on war debts. Not only is war expensive mater- ially, but it wastes the time, the energy, and the ideals of the peo- ple. Time that could be spent in improving human minds by educa- tion and culture is used for destroy- ing human lives. As our great Amer- ican poet, Longfellow, says in his poem, The Arsenal at Springfield: “Were half the power that fills the world with terror, Were half the wealth, be- stowed on camps and courts, Given to redeem the human mind from error, There were no need of arsen- als nor forts.” Energy that could be made to pro- duce results, to build a stronger people physically, is used for killing off these people and tearing down their nations. Ideals that bring out the best in humanity, that promote the spirit of democracy, brother- hood, and love, are completely shat- tered by war. A person broken by war, bereft of ideals, has nothing before him, nothing for which to hope, to strive, to live, or to die. He has lived in the pits of the world; he has been through dark caverns of agony — he has been through war. How can he ever again look at life as an adventure, as a challenge? Idealistically he is broken. And if the world is to progress, it must have idealists, people of vision, who trust, who see ahead. Of course, disarmament of the nations cannot take place overnight. It. must be thoroughly studied and prepared for in advance, or utter confusion and chaos will result. The possibility of revolutions and an- archy will have to be avoided by all means if such disarmament is to be successful. There are two ways in which the world can prepare for disarmament: The first method is self-govern- ment for each nation, either by a republic or by a democracy. Such a government the United States has today, and the few uprisings and riots that we do have are only trivial. The people run the govern- ment, electing their representatives and leaders; and they may put any of them out of office by the popu- lar voting power. By this means, dishonest politicians do not last long enough to cause much harm, and there is little chance for dictator- ship. There is no room for dicta- torial policies in a peace-loving world! We must outgrow them! The false patriots who submit to such extremes will discover their folly when the glamor wears off and the cold, dull reality of another war eats its way into their lives. Then will they realize the stark necessity of a sensible government by the peo- ple and for the people. The world needs republics and democracies to squelch dictators, to check present wars, and to prevent future wars. If the world as a whole should become educated to this system of self- government, there would be little necessity for the strong army or the large navy; there would be no urge for war. An educated people would not be led blindly on to war by a