The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-10-30
A NEW ERA AHEAD FOR o. s.

cial field. this country il soon to enter
the greatest era of prosperity and
expansion in its history. A table Is
printed showing the active resources
LOT the nation. and the figures in it
Z per cent of the world total and q
population that Il per cent. the
United States is already producing
much more than Its share OF the
things all people seem to need. For
instance. our production Of corn Is IS
per cent of the worlds total produce
ton. of wheat 20 per cent, OF cotton
81 per cent. of sugar 10, of tobacco
35 per cent. of coal 40 per cent,
of petroleum 63 per cent. of cop
per SIS, of iron AZ. OF gold 20, and
our stock OF gold is 23.6 per cent Of
the worlds supply.
Such is the wonderful foundation
the country has to work on, and the
Investors Magazine follows this table
with an article of comment in which
1t insists that while the European war
has caused stringency and forced re-
trenchment in many lines Of business.
it must come to an end, and then .tlse
opportunity will be ours" an op-
portunity that has not come to us
since the commercial and Industrial
developments in the west that came
after the Civil War. Following are
excerpts from this article:
Even the victorious nations will
be exhausted by the struggle. whether
it be long or short. Their finances
hn nd vxyi11 1aN ri
both the money and the initiative to
take advantage Of the opportunities
that lie before them. The fate of the
defeated nations can only be left to
the Imagination. 1t is certain, how
ever, that their international trade
will be utterly destroyed, their indus
tries left shattered and PROSTATE. and
their people burdened with an indebt-
edness so enormous as to check their
development and growth for a gener-
alton to come. A group of nations on
one side or the other is going to be
blotted out so far as international
of other nations, now at peace near
and far, must be taken care Of. This
is our opportunity. Unless the old
pioneer spirit-the spirit of enter
prise, of initiative, of discovery and
of development-iS utterly dead in
American hearts. we will ourselves
capture the major portion of the trade
opportunities abandoned by the de-
feated belligere hts. and repay our
selves for our losses many times over.
"At the time Of this writing Ger
man commerce had been swept from
the seas. Germany supplied the
world with potash, with ferrOman-
ganese, with innumerable necessary
drugs. with anilin dyes. with various
supplies of iron and steel, with
thousand and one finished metal prod
ucts. Germany's trade with South
America, China, and Japan and the
isles OF the Far East has been many,
times our own. Made in Germany
has been a victorious commercial slo-
gan, against which our exporters have
made little Roadway for many years.
Now the sign Made in Germany is
gone. If Germany is defeated, 1t will
be gone for a generation. II Ger
many wins, 1t still will be gone for
years, because even q victorious
the destruction Of this conflict for a
long period of time.
''At the present writing the English
fleet rules the sea, and English COM
merce is still going about it's way,
though greatly diminished in extent.
If England wins, we will dispute with
her for the lost German trade. Even
il victorious, Great Britain's monetary
loss will have been SO great that the
advantage will be all on our side. II
defeated. we will see British COM
merce Frustrated for a quarter of a
century, and perhaps forever. What
ever may be the outcome of the Euro
pean war, we shall, II we possess the
energy, the initiative. the knowledge,
and the craftsmanship. achieve a
greater commercial conquest within
the next few years than any we have
achieved in the past. There is no
reason to believe that the American
character has lost these qualities.
They are the foundation of the pros
perity and wealth which we have built
up during fifty years Of practically
uninterrupted peace.
During the first two months Of the
war there naturally was dulness in
business. When we reflect that at the
outset our foreign trade was entirely
cut off. we will agree that conditions
could not be otherwise. But soon the
| nations with their preponderant naval
power locked up the -varships of their
enemies. The oceans lanes were re-
ported safe for travel, and American
exports gradually began to flow
abroad. Our wheat and corn were
shipped in steadily increasing
amounts until, by the first of Septem-
Der. ten million bushels a week were
flowing across the ocean, each bushel
reuresenffng aDDroxivnate1v 81 9S