New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-02

count OF high prices. Reports have
been current Of the effect Of economy
in the textile trades, but whatever
curtailment there has been In style
goods has been quite lost in the de-
mand for staple goods and for the
governments wants.
The resumption of outdoor work
increases the demand for labor, and
there are complaints Of shortage
everywhere. Farm wages by the
month are higher than ever before
made necessary by the competition
of the town industries.
The good prospects now for the
crops gives encouragement to nope
that living expenses will at the worst
be no higher next winter, and may be
lower If so the Strain in the indus
trial situation will be in some de-
gree relaxed.
In discussing the question Of the
neea of economy, the bank effectually
punctures the bubble of business as
usual" when it says:
There is an axiom in physics that
no two bodies can occupy the same
space at the same time. and some
what analogous to this is the propo-
sition that no person can spend his
income twice at the same time. He
cannot at one and the same time
give his income over to the govern
ment for its use, and also 60 on
spending or investing it as usual
himself.
On the face Of the situation this
would seem to be automatic, but it
is not quite that. BY the employ
ment of credit it is possible to do
something that for a time looks very
like eating your cake and having it,
too. You can spend your income as
usual, and borrow your contribution
TO the government.
This appears so simple that many
people regard it as a solution of the
problem. Business as usual" ap-
pears to be possible and just the
thing. But there is more to it. Ex-
penditures involve purchases and
getting possession of certain tangi-
bic things. You have turned over
certain purchasing power to the gov
eminent. and in your effort TO con-
tinue using that power yourself you
now meet the government in the
market as a competitor. The supply
Of goods is no greater than before;
the supply of labor is no greater
than before; but the demand is in
creased. You are determined to put
up building. and you meet the gov
ernment's agent at the steel mill.
Who shall have the steel?
Evidently there is limit upon the
effort to do business as usual.
physical limit fixed by the capacity
Of the industries. Business must be
ADAPTED to the new conditions which
the war creates. The ideal adapta-
ton would be to give the govern
ment every man it can use advan-
tageously, every ton Of steel that it
can put into gun or a ship, every
yard Of cloth that it needs for the
army, and supply every other re-
qurement first; then do business as
usual on what is left.
The best guide the average man
can take for his expenditures is to
keep before him the needs of the
government for money. Let him
compare the use the government will
make of it with any use he Is con-
templating; and let him remember
that having turned any part Of his
income over to the government, he
cannot go on using 1t himself with
out creating an imitation Of credit
which will diminish the value Of his
aid 10 the government. Our help TO
the government must OF necessity in
clude self-denial and readjustment
Of our expenditures. An attempt to
overcrowd the industries will create
an imitation of credits, wages and
prices which will make a dangerous
situation after the war.