The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-11-10
NATIONS BUSINESS is WAR.
Economy and Efficiency Paramount to
success.

ilance Committee, American De
fense Society,"
There undoubtedly has been persist
ent effort on the part Of many OF
those who are in a position TO in
luence our national affairs, 10 en-
courage policies that are contrary 10
the best interests Of our country.
and it is not the purpose Of this ar
ticle to question their sincerely m
proposing politics different from Whal
keener and more courageous minds
would have perceived TO be the wiser
ones. At the same time if some state
ment is not now made regarding mat
ters relating 80 finance and business
and proper attention given thereto
we will eventually find our financial
and business condition a precarioltS
one.
1t is important for us to under
stand that when we entered the war
and declared our hostilities to Ger
many we were unprepared not only
from a military. but likewise a finan-
cial standpoint.
So far as our unprepared financial
condition is concerned, we fortunate
ly had installed our federal reserve
banking system, which materially
lessened the harm that otherwis
would have resulted. 1t was this un-
prepared financial condition that WI,
responsible for the appointment of
numerOu committees for the pur-
pose of fixing prices on certain com
modities as well as on many materials
required for the prosecution of the
war.
Every student of finance knows
that the best way to control prices
where no monopoly eXists-is through
the system of credit, and that if our
finances had been properly handled
throughout the past several years the
question of price fixing swould not
have been necessary. Furthermore,
certain financial episodes would have
been impossible.
In the year 1916, when this coun-
try was being flooded with money as
result of the tremendous gold i'm
portations, good financial Judgment
would have suggested the retirement
OF circulation and the building up of
very large gold reserves, which should
nave been mandatory, so as to have
prevented the fictitious prosperity
through which the country passed. II
such a, policy had been adopted many
lines of business enterprises would
naturally but properly have been re-
stricted
However, as Mr.. Vanderlip of the
National City bank has so wisely stat
ed, "The business of the country to-
day is war''-that is, we must pro
duce a maximum amount of the things
that we and our allies require and
nationally restrict the production of
the things that are not required. The
question, therefore, that we should
now ask is: How shall the war be
prosecuted from Il financial and in
dustrial standpoint? Shall we run on
in haphazard and happy-go- lucky
fashion, concealing the facts from the
public, or shall we with fortitude tel
the public the truth and ask them to
aid by adjusting themselves accord
ingly?
Moreover, to enjoy the victory that
surely awaits us, we must not only
defeat Germany and as Mr.. Roosevelt
states, Beat her to q frazzle." but
also have an eye to the future so that
at the end of the war we will have suf-
iicient reserve to continue our happy ]
and prosperous way.
When we entered the war we found
cur allies, at least from a iinancial
standpoint, bled white, so that our en-
trance for their financial preservation
was none too soon. With this tremen-
dous burden we are confronted with |
further necessity of preserving our
financial and economic strength. Our
aim, therefore, should be economy
and efficiency" But how shall this |
economy and efficiency be brought |
about? Shall it be by again encour-
| aging a fictitious prosperity? Shall !
it be by telling the people that we
are being wonderfully benefited by the
war and that we are TO immediately
grow rich and financially strong, or
shall we be more frank and tell them
that economy and efficiency must pre-