 The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents James Craig with Bula Bondi in Joe Dyer Ends a War. Nowadays, many of DuPont's peacetime better things for better living are vital materials of war, for instance, fire retardants. Engine coverings, life preservers, and the clothes of workers in war plants are made safer with chemical fire retardants manufactured by DuPont. Tonight, Cavalcade brings you a story of America, a story that foreshadows the fulfillment of an ancient promise, peace on earth. Will the promise at last be kept? Will men of alien lands and creeds now learn at last to live and work together and settle their disputes and solve their problems in goodwill and in peace? It happened once here in our own country, so perhaps it can happen for all the world. What happened here once in America is the background and inspiration for tonight's original radio drama, written by Victor Wolfson. James Craig will soon be seen in Metro Golden Mayor's Lost Angel. Cavalcade presents James Craig as Joe Dyer and Bula Bondi as Joe's mother. In Joe Dyer Ends a War. In the little town of Lebanon, Connecticut, Joe Dyer and his mother ran a farm. It is spring, morning spring of the year 1782. You finished your chores early this morning, son. Joe, I'm talking to you. Huh? Oh, what'd you say more? Joe, what in the world would matter with you? You've been moping around this past week like a stick calf. Now, what is it? Ma, do you figure you could manage your farm with young Sy? Hmm, your brother's only 14, but I suppose we could manage? Why? Ma, I'm going away. Oh, you don't say, Joe Dyer. Have you got time to eat your pancakes first? I guess so. Sure. And where do you think you're going? If you don't mind my asking. Oh, Connecticut's opening up some new land down Pennsylvania way. Tain't far and they tell me it's good rich land. Oh, do they now? Mm-hmm. Pass me a shirt, Ma. Joe, there are folks that say that land along the Susquehanna don't belong to Connecticut. It belongs to Pennsylvania. There are people down at the state capital at Hartford say to belong to us. Joe, don't go. I don't care what anyone says. There's got to be trouble down there over that land sooner or later. Well, maybe. Maybe there ought to be trouble. Joe. Ma, there's only one way to get land, and that's to take it. That's how we got this whole country. That's what this revolution was all about. There'll always be that kind of trouble. Not between neighbors, Joe. Not unless somebody goes out and makes it. I'm sorry, Ma. But I'm going down there to the Susquehanna to get us a farm. So that's the way it was with Joe Dyer and a lot of other Connecticut men. They went down there to the Susquehanna to get them a farm, to stake out new living room, to clear the land, to cut the timber. Stand back, Si. Here she comes. Yep. Timber. That's the way it was along the Susquehanna. The men from Connecticut clearing the land, cutting the timber, building new homes. The men of Pennsylvania are watching the new arrivals and wondering, questioning themselves, questioning the men from Connecticut. That's a real solid house you're building there, stranger. Yep. Aimed to live in it quite some time. How many more of you fellas coming down from Connecticut? No, no. Many's got gumption, I guess. You got a deed to this land, have you? Sure. Sure I got a deed. Got my rifle. Guess that's about as good a deed as any. As the way it was along the Susquehanna, the Connecticut men clearing the land and building, the men of Pennsylvania watching and mistrusting, and the long frontier rifles standing ready by the cabin door. There, Ma. There she is. Land-sake, seems like you built it in no time. Come on in. I'll show you around. Pretty, ain't it? It's a wonderful house, Joe. A good, strong house around us, and we'll be ready for anything. In case anything happens. What do you mean, Joe? In case anything happens. Oh, you hear that? Thunder. It could blow up a storm, Ma. A man needs a good, strong house when it blows up a storm. Well, someone's at the door, Ma. Well, I'll go. No. Come here, Si. Joe, Dyer, whatever's the matter with you? You'd think we were out in Indian country. You're so jumpy. Never you mind, Ma. And you stay here, Si. I'll sneak around the back door and see who it is first. Have you heard anything down at the trading post? What's Joe Acton's a strange for? I don't know, Ma. There's a sign down there says for all settlers to be on the lookout. The lookout? What for? Just me, Joe. Come on, Josh Higgins. It's all right, Ma. You can open up. It's only Josh Higgins. Come for a friendly visit. In all this thunder and lightning? Josh Higgins, I'm glad to see a living soul beside my own two boys. Come on in. Thank you, ma'am. That thing's over at your place, Josh. Well, the funniest thing. Night before last, a brush fire started up. Any damage, Josh? No, it didn't get the house or nothing. That was two days ago. Well, this storm had just broke. Put out another fire. Only this evening. Oh, I see. What do you see, Joe? What's the matter? Ma'am, I can't figure out how two fires just got started like that same hour a day and all. If it wasn't for this rain, this last fire would have got the house sure. Looks like it's high time we got together on this, Josh. I kind of thought I'd go down to the trading post and see what the others can make of it, if you know what I mean. I know what you mean. Yeah. Want to come along? Yeah. Yeah, I sure do want to come along. Go on, Joe. Now tell us. It's about these brush fires. They're happening awful regularly and at awful peculiar times. And I don't think they're happening by accident. They want trouble. I say give them trouble. That's the ever man stand by his rifle from tonight on. And if we catch any Pennsylvania men sneaking around our cabins, I say shoot. And shoot straight. And keep on shooting. Down along the Susquehanna, the rifles weren't standing by the door anymore. They were carried to the fields and to the trading post. They were always ready at the hands of watchful men, Connecticut men. But that same night in a tavern in eastern Pennsylvania, there were other men meeting. Other men with rifles at their hands, anger in their voices. The men from Pennsylvania. No, no, listen to me. Listen to you Maxwell and see our land. Good Pennsylvania land taken over by settlers from Connecticut? No. We can't let that happen. That's not our land. Listen to me. Dear Hill. What do you mean? That land is our land. We didn't clear it. We didn't build on it. They did. The Connecticut men. These 13 states of ours are going to be a big country someday. And that's the way they're going to get that way. But men of every state clear in the land. Building on it. Not by fighting each other the way you fellas want it. When are we listening to him for? I've been up in that region over the Poconos. More Connecticut men are clearing the land, building houses. They'll be putting in seed before long. And we'll never be able to root them out. Once they're settled, I say we go up there now and burn them out. That's such a thing as law, men. There's no such law to cover steel in a land of one state from another, Maxwell. You, being law-wise, should know it. I'm in favor of going up there now. Tonight. Yeah. Come on. The storm clears. It's a warm night. The men from Pennsylvania come up along the Susquehanna on horseback. 30 men from Pennsylvania galloping in the spring moonlight. They turn north suddenly away from the river. Up to the new lands, the men from Connecticut are settling. They come to the woods just outside Joe Dyer's place. I'm glad to stop raining. It's drying off quick. Now, all right, men. After you start over there to the northwest, and the others go down the creek there, closing on either side, see? William and me will go right up to the house. You understand? Yeah, we'll wait five minutes. Come on, let's go. Come on, William. The two men start for Joe Dyer's house across the moonlight clearing. The others separate and surround the place from the woods, starting a brush fire. They started that fire too soon. We've got to hurry. Hey, there's a fire back of your house. Who's there? Get the boy over the head, Jimmy, strong as an ox. I got the woman, come on. Now we'll take him to Eastern and hold him for a few days. That'll teach him to steal other folks' land. All through the moonlight night, the men from Pennsylvania go from place to place, cleared and settled by the men from Connecticut, burning their places to the ground, kidnapping any settlers they can find, taking them back to Eastern. All through the night, the burning went on. In the morning, the settlers from Connecticut looked over the smoking ruins, charred forests. Well, nothing's left of it at all, Joe. They say this land belongs to them. And we say this land belongs to us. There are people down in Philadelphia that tell them they're right. And there are people in Hartford that tell us we're right. What are we going to do about it? My house has burned the ground too, Joe. And mine. What are we going to do about it? They got my mower and brother. They burned my godfrey. Have we a government at home to protect our rights and stand behind us? Or haven't we? It's war. That's what it is. Right, Joe. Then let's make our government stand behind us. And if the people of Pennsylvania want war, let the people of Connecticut give it to them. The affidavits sent by our settlers explaining the situation, and very well too. I pass these down the tables so the others can read them. Has there been any bloodshed, Your Excellency? The affidavits mention none. But there's been destruction, serious destruction. The lives of our settlers have been threatened. Some of them have been thrown in jail. The question we have to decide, gentlemen, is whether to send a regiment of our soldiers to the Susquehanna. Pennsylvania, of course, will answer by sending a regiment of her own. There will be bloodshed. I realize that. That's what makes the situation so serious. Your Excellency, I've been in favor of bloodshed. This issue must be decided once and for all. Now, just a minute, Mr. Curtis. Let's not be hasty. No, Your Excellency. Mr. Curtis is right. Our claims to that territory are perfectly clear. Our sovereignty as a state has been threatened by Pennsylvania. We must take decisive action. I agree. Yes, immediate action. Send our regiments. Gentlemen, gentlemen, please. Yes, come in. Oh, what have you got there, Willis? It's just arrived by courier, Your Excellency. A communication from the state of Pennsylvania. Excuse me, gentlemen. Gentlemen, I have here a communication from the governor of Pennsylvania, who's sent with a full approval of his legislature. I beg you to consider it with an open mind. What is it? Let's hear it. Gentlemen, the governor of Pennsylvania requests that we submit our dispute to a court of law. A court of law? He suggests that instead of resorting to our regiments, which, as he says, will determine nothing but who is the strongest, he suggests instead that we hold a trial to decide which state is the rightful owner of the land near the Susquehanna. A trial? Certainly an unusual suggestion. Are we to give up our sovereignty to a court? Why, what does he take us for? No, refuse the offer, I say. I say accept it. And so do I. I, for one, am unwilling to bear upon my conscience the responsibility of sending a hundred or a thousand young men to their deaths. While there remains the slightest hope that such a calamity might be prevented. With your permission, I shall so inform the governor of Pennsylvania and that we are ready to submit our case to trial. You are listening to Joe Dyer ends the war starring James Craig with Bula Bondi on the cavalcade of America sponsored by Dupont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. In our story, which took place just after the American Revolution, the threat of open war has flared between the states of Pennsylvania and Connecticut over a boundary dispute. And as our play continues, the governors of the two states have agreed to submit their differences to a court of law. And along the Susquehanna, among the Pennsylvania men, among the men of Connecticut, like Joe Dyer, news of the impending trial spreads like wildfire. If they decide against us, we all got muskets and shots, ain't we? Well, Tom's right. I say we go down there where they're holding that fool trial. We sit there facing the judge in the court. They don't dare decide against us if they can read what's in our minds. Now, wait a minute, men. Wait a minute. Don't, Joe. Don't, Rylan. They're like dry timber, and it won't take much to set them afire. Maybe that's what'll have to happen more. Now, listen, men. Listen, I've got a better plan. I want you to stay right here, right on this land of ours. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. You stay here in case the verdict at that trial goes against us. I want you to start in building a blockhouse. I want you to start in getting ammunition. I don't care where you get it from. Joe Dyer, what are you saying? I'm saying we're keeping that land no matter what the verdict is. That's right, Joe. Josh and me and a couple of others, we'll go down to that trial and keep our eyes on that court. If they decide against us, we'll let them know what we're going to do about it. I guess that's the judge coming in now. He looks like a fair-minded man. I don't matter how fair-minded he is, all matters as he decides the case in the favor of Connecticut. Joe, how can you say that when you know how much trouble there might be up there in the wilderness? That's how this country is going to be made, Ma. Folks like us starting trouble in the wilderness. I declare this court in session. First, I want to emphasize that this trial is of the utmost importance. The peace of two states, and consequently, the whole union, depends on the amicable and final settlement of this dispute. Your members of the court have an awful responsibility, not only to the states involved, but more than a month. The arguments, proofs, and testimony of witnesses go on. They have to do it. I submit an evidence the following charter in favor of one William Pan. I surveyed the lands along the Susquehanna under the terms of the original charter, and it is my consistency. All I know is we went down there and settled. I think Connecticut, they said it was our right. The aforementioned treaty with the aborigines at this area in question states most unequivocally that the land was ours. They knew it wasn't their land. They're not settlers. They're squatters. They're worse than that. They're thieves. That, sir, is a lie. And finally, the last of the evidence was in. Gentlemen, all testimony and evidence on behalf of both claimants having been duly submitted, I declare this trial concluded. You will retire to consider your verdict. The court is adjourned. Well, how do you think it looks for us, Joe? I don't know. But I'd better have a little talk with that judge. I've got an idea. Say, Judge. Yes, what can I do for you? Just wanted to have a little talk with you, Judge. Kind of private. Well, all right. Come right in here, please. Do you need your musket for this talk? Connecticut men generally keep them with them at all time, Judge. I see. Now, what is it you want to talk about? I want to talk about the verdict of this trial, Judge. I want to know how it's going to come out. Oh, great heavens, Lady. I don't know that. That's what's being decided now. You mean you don't have anything to do with it? I know. Those men that you saw at the trial are the only ones who'll render the verdict. And maybe they're the ones I want to talk to. What do you want to talk about, son? I want to tell them what's going to happen in case they decide wrong. Oh, I see. Um, tell me, son, did you fight in the revolution? I was in Valley Forge. I was no summer soldier if that's what you're driving at. Oh, what were you fighting for, Valley Forge? I was fighting for my farm, for my land up in Connecticut. Is that all? Well, maybe not. What else? Well, I was fighting so mean my neighbors could have a say in what was going to happen in this country. So nobody could come along and tell us what to do, just because he had soldiers in his back and a sword in his hand. I was fighting for that, too. Yes, but you wanted to go with a musket in your hand until that court had decided, is that right? I'm fighting for my land. That's all. Son, that isn't just a group of men that has some power of you that they don't deserve. Any power they have, you gave them. You even thought to give it them. The verdict it renders will be your verdict. And that is why it will be a true verdict. But, Judge, suppose they decide against us. My boy, something has happened in this country that has never happened before in all history. For the first time, men have established a system of government of which their public and private problems can be solved by reason, not by superior force, in peace, not by the sword. And today, that system is on trial. And the whole world will watch to see whether it can succeed or whether it must fail. If it succeeds, perhaps someday the nations of all the world will follow us on that path toward peace. And if it fails, that will be your failure. For what those men decide today will affect us only for a little time. But what you decide will affect the future course of all mankind. Will the clerk please bring with the decision Monday, 30th of December, 1782. The members of this court are unanimously of the opinion that the state of Connecticut has no right to the lands in controversy. And that all the territory lying within that charter boundary of Pennsylvania, and now claimed by the settlers from Connecticut, do of right belong to the state of Pennsylvania. It was night when Joe Dyer arrived at the clearing where his new house had once stood. The men from Connecticut had been building the stockade feverishly all night long. They were men in arms. What's the verdict, Joe? You look glum enough so I can almost guess it. It's against us. We're standing on land that don't belong to us. Well, let them just try to put us off it. They'll get a charge, a lead that'll blow clear back to Philadelphia. We're ready for them, Joe. No, no, listen, men. We've got to abide by the decision of that court. Joe, what are you talking about? By nothing but the musket in our hand. No, no, listen, men. Future Americans are going to look back on us in the way we settle out disputes. And I don't want them to think we settlers from Connecticut didn't know how to live by the American idea. The brotherhood of man and all. We've got to abide by the court. No, by no means. No, now listen. You don't understand. That's what we've been fighting for in our revolution. That's what a lot of men died for. So we could decide things fair and free and equal. Every man the same as every other man. That's something the whole world has been trying to do ever since the beginning of things. And that's what we are going to stand by today. I'm going back to Connecticut. Who's going with me? I'll go with you. I'll go too. Sure, I will. I'll go. Come on, you go. That's good. And we'd better get started. Because we're in the wrong here. And that's the only way to make it right. And all that night along the rutted roads of Pennsylvania and New York, one could see the wagons of the settlers from Connecticut headed homeward from where they came from. In the lead were Joe Dyer and his mother. You're a good lad, Joe. Judge sure made a mighty impression on me, ma. You know, son, it takes a big man to start a war. But it takes a sight bigger man to end a war like you did. You know, I can't forget what that judge said. How someday maybe the whole world is going to be like us 13 states, living in peace, settling things peaceful like we did. Yes, son. I'd sure like to be there when that day comes. When that day comes, a wish which is echoed in the heart of every American. In presenting tonight's play, it is the hope of all that this lesson from America's past may help to set a better pattern for the future between the nations of the world. James Craig will return to the microphone in a few moments. Meanwhile, here is Gain Whitman speaking in behalf of DuPont to pay a tribute to the women of 1943 who, like the pioneer mother in our play, are gallantly serving America. More than 17 million women in the United States are now employed, according to the Bureau of Census, most of them in industry. By and large, women are carrying this great part of the load of wartime production out of patriotism. They were needed, and they answered the call. Many of them have husbands or brothers or sweethearts in the armed forces. They want to back their men in the fight, and they want to have some money saved when their men come home. They're buying war bonds. Many of these soldiers in slacks are in industry to stay. They like it, and the American industry likes them. They're proud of their work. They're careful and painstaking. Last but not least, they are good industrial housekeepers, keeping their machines and work benches as clean and orderly as they keep their homes. So far as the chemical industry is concerned, twice as many women are working for the DuPont company as there were a year ago. 36% of the employees of DuPont and its associate companies are now women. That's more than one in three. Women are making tests and analyses in DuPont laboratories. They're operating lathes and punch presses, even two-ton cranes in DuPont machine shops. There are women doctors, inspectors, janitors, blueprint file clerks, production line workers, still operators, truckers and textile operators. Fitting the job to women makes it unnecessary in many cases to fit women to the job. Platforms are raised, chairs are adjusted, overhead electric hoists do the heavy lifting. These women in wartime jobs wear safety goggles and safety shoes like men. They lay aside the frilly dress or piece of costume jewelry that might catch in a machine. But they want industry to treat them as women, and industry does. It took World War I to liberate women and gain recognition for them in the world of business. It has taken World War II to demonstrate that they have an important place in American industry as well. And despite the great number now at work, industry can use many more. The DuPont company welcomes women workers. For their patriotism, their determination and the splendid record they have achieved, we salute these millions of new recruits to industry, including those who have come to DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Now here is the star of tonight's cavalcade, James Craig. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I'm sure I speak for Miss Bondi and the cavalcade players when I say that tonight's drama brought all of us the hope that international disputes may be settled as we learn to settle the troubles between the American states in the early days of our country. Our big job right now is winning the war. And we all must do all we can for victory. But in a greater sense, we're working for the day when world states will settle their troubles without force of arms. Next Monday evening, cavalcade will present Edward Arnold in 12 Desperate Miles, based on the Saturday evening post article of the same name by Bertram B. Fowler, a tense, exciting story of our merchant marine in action, telling for the first time on the air how the battered old merchant ship Contessa played a unique and important role in the African invasion operations. DuPont invites you to be its guest again next week when cavalcade will present Edward Arnold as Captain John of the merchant ship Contessa in the dramatic story of 12 Desperate Miles. James Craig appeared tonight by courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mare in whose production, Lost Angel, he will soon be seen. Tonight's musical score was composed and conducted by Robert Armbrister. This is James Bannon sending best wishes from cavalcade sponsor, the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. The DuPont Company.