Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-12-22

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| loans and mark off all those which
are based on businesses that are not
strictly necessary for war or subsist-
ence' and then consider how long his
bank would stay open If all those
businesses We're shut M.
fere Is piano flctorY-certainlv
not strictly necessary for war or sub
slstence. Much Of the material-eX-
pehsiVe woods and 50 on--is usele
except for some such purpose as piano
making. The labor force. skilled and
experienced in that particular trade,
cannot be suddenly divcrteI Wholesale
20 another occupation except at large
loss The piano maker has his branch
ottice, his long -eStablished rotations
with retailers whose 3olvcncy and live
| llhood depend upon handling his goods
IN short, his entire extensive busl-
ness organization, quilt up by long
| eftort and cemented by established
| usage. To close his IA ,,ory Is to de-
stroy all that, to start ramfyng
dlsorginizatlon, to shock credit-to
initiate dangerous business cOntrdc-
ton.
Revenues Needed.
Millinery shop and piano factory do
contribute to the war. They pay excess
profits taxes and income taxes; buy
Liberty bonds Butting out theorCt-
icallv nonessential businesses would
cut great holes in the governments
fiscal program both on the revenue,
and the borrowing side
True, if we were planning for war,
as permanent condition, We should
at'
The labor which produced the silks
and satins in the millinery shop and
the expensive woods in the piano fac .
tory may be diverted to essential pro-
duCUon." That would mean virtually !
disorganizing industry as II stands and
organizing anew on a different plan
obviously a matter Of years, ana even
tAcn to be done cautiously lest the |
machine break down in transition.
But we know war is coming to an
cnd some time The enormous de- /
mands for labor and materials winch |
il created will then cease, and the |
crucial question will oe how to effect
readjustment to peace without dlsas- |
ter, Tho more vigorous the old peace
orguniEation Is at that time the reader
IL will be to take up the slack and
The less likelihood Of breakdown. |
We shall then need exactly that mil !
liuery shop and piano factory But II |
the old organization has been shot To /
pieces, the outlook will be exceedingly ,
dubious for n business organization
Ike that, say, Of the piano maker
cannot be reconstructed overnight.
All Essential.
What business is nonessentlal? Who |
can say? You may say the bicycle |
business is. but the airplanes that di-
M Of a hifk
Gle shop. 1t was because Bell was 4
student Of elocution that the study .
of sound led him TO invent the tele- /
phone. Is piano nonessenual: /
Would life hc quite Eoo1 without mu-
sic? Any attempt to reduce existence
to the rigidly essential" is mere non.
sense
There is the automobile business.
That a population uan subsSt and .
fight without touring cars is proved
10y three thousand years Of history
But it was auto tanks that enabled +.
the British to win their latest and 3,
most important victory IN France. by
restrictions upon transportation and |
upon the supply Of steel and by divert
ing part of the factory equipment and
labor force TO production OF army |
trucks and airplane engines the gov
ernmcnt has cut down the output Of
so-callod pleasure cars.
That is an intelligent plan--a ra-
tioual economy of materials and labor
that are essential for carrying on tho
war But IL Is something quite dif-
terent from cutting out the auto.
mobile business and destroying or ia
tally crippling the orgluisatlon When
peace comes we want these factories
and that whole organization Of man
ufacture and distribution to be In the
best possible situation for resumms
peace production. We want their
financial strength during the war to
help in carrying thru the govern
ments financial program.
Rational economy Is a thing to he
applied carefully-not with a broadax
and always with wise view to pre-
serving the business organization in
the healthiost possible state.