Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-10-07
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SCHWAB PREFERS
PEACE BUSINESS
Advices Nation to Prepare For
Peace in Time of War;
U. S. Is Building

In time of peace prepare for war, is
an old axiom. but Charles M. Schwab,
the great steel master. takes the op-
posite view. his motto being 'In time
OF war prepare for peace: That Is
Wnat ne Is urging upon the American
government. upon American indus
tries, and. more important, upon the
American people. No other concern
In the world has profited in like de-
gree from the war than has Schwab's
great Bethlehem Steel Company
nevertheless, Mr.. Schwab realizes that
war orders are false prosperity that
they are not born of sound economic
conditions and therefore are of fit
ting character. After all, its peace
orders that count most" says Mr..
Schwab. and under this title he has
written a timely and interesting ar
ticle dwelling on post-bellum condi-
lions lor System. the Magazine of
Business" for October.
Germany Not Mt End of Resources
AS to the duration of the war. Mr..
Schwab says: 81 do not expect the
war to end suddenly or within a very
short time. At the beginning of the
war Lord Kitchener told me that he
was preparing for q struggle of at least
five years. The last time that heard
from him. which was not long before
his death, he said that he then saw no
reason to change his original estimate.
BY most recent advices from England
are that the people there expect an
early peace. But I can find no basis
Tor that belief. and certainly the allied
countries. when you consider the scale
of their production at home, are not
cutting down on their foreign orders
to degree which Is at all commen-
surate with the magnitude of their
home production. The .bfg peace fac
tor is the economi0 condition Of Ger
many. That exact condition is a mat
ter OF speculation, for apparently re-
llapie reports are wholly at variance.
Certainly, however, Germany Is not
nearly at the end of her resources"
Looking to the future, Mr.. Schwab
says: Il am entirely optimistic as to
the future of the United States, pro-
vided the business of the nation and
the business of the individual are man.
aged on sound, forhanded, economic
lines. We should be able not only to
keep all that we have, but to get more.
do not think that this is time for
idealistic experiments in economics by
those who have no knowledge Of busi-
ness and little of economies
U. S. Mt Peak OF Productive Power
The United States IS at the very
peak of its productive power, every
business is prosperous and we have an
ample supply of money. We are In
almost the best conceivable position
to take a permanent leading place in
the world. Our, problem is not the
difficult one of building up from moth
ing, but the simpler problem of using
rightly that which is already in our
hands. 1t is a problem of readjust-
ment. There will be no sudden change
In conditions and we must be vigilant
to guard against an insidious economic
weakening rather than a sudden on
slaught.
Look at our position. He have dis
covered, as a nation. the elementary
fact that a permanently onesided
trade Is impossible. We have discov-
cred. in dealings with the nations at
war, that 1t soon became necessary to
lend them money in order that they
might continue to buy from us. We
have also been forced to recognize
that we can not monopolize the trade
of South America and the Orient
without being able to take the whole
volume of their export trade; and that
is manifestly impossible. because our
people cannot absorb such an amount
of commodities"