Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-22
Patriotic Economy.

terms of labor instead of in dollars. We
have natural resources and we have cap
ital invested in the tools of production,
but even with these facilities our pro-
ductive capacity is limited by the supply
of labor. By labor we mean the personal
service, whether of brain or of Drawn,
of the forty million Of us who are engag-
ed in gainful occupation.
To carry on the war we shall spend at
least twelve billion dollars per year, or
thirty-three million dollars per day. This
is as much as Great Britain is spending
and fifty per cent more than Germany is
spending, and the figures are so huge
that few of US appreciate what they
really mean.
Europe is already so deeply in debt
that she may never be able to pay, and
we are on the road to the same condition.
Balance of trade statistics indicate that
we have made an extra profit from
foreign business since 1914 of five billion
dollars, or about two billion dollars per
year. The effect of this in enriching the
country is suggestive of the result of
three years of impoverishment at the
rate of eight billion dollars.
Our normal annual savings are about
four billion dollars, and not only will our
war expenditure absorb all of these saw
ings, but we must find eight billion dol
l.x to- olI . fhrap
years our present allies have obtain ed
much assistance from US, but as there is
no country to whom we can turn we must
carry our burden alone.
Our savings 60 into public and private
improvements, including the extension of
business enterprises. These savings will
not be available for war until we stop
federal, state. municipal and private i'm
provements; until we forbid all issue of
securities except under federal license,
following the example whereby England
reduced the issue of industrial securities
from $468, 600, 600 in the first half of 1914
to $ll 900, 900 in the same period of 1917.
The danger of food famine has been
brought home to US and we are making
real effort to reduce consumption,
though our efforts to increase production
are being seriously handicapped by the
high price of labor.
Immediately after war was declared
the President warned the country that
everyone should produce more and con-
sumo less. The idea that business was
to be suddenly reduced by wave of
economy was shock to business men
and the cry business as usual was
spread over the country and caused the
Presidents appeal to be forgotten. Not
only are people spending as usual, but
many conscientiously believe it their duty
so to do.
Every dollar spent means consumption
of labor. We shall not be far wrong if
we say that every four dollars spent con-
sumes days labor, and that every
twelve hundred dollars spent consumes a
years labor. A war expenditure of
twelve billion dollars will consume the
labor of ten million people; twenty-five
per cent of our total labor supply. This
added demand comes during the greatest
labor famine in our history. which has
increased commodity prices eighty-tive
per cent since 1914.
We have reached point where the in
creasing demand reduces the efficiency
of labor and thereby reduces the supply,
and we are facing further rise in com
modify prices, perhaps to exceed present
conditions in England where prices are
up one hundred and twenty per cent.
The most effective remedy is to de-
crease consumption, and it is impera tive
that every one should make a drastic re-
duction in personal expenditures. The
example must be set by the rich, but
every man, woman and child must be
drawn into the movement until patriotic
economy becomes the greatest fad the
country has ever known.
Our young men who try to avoid mill
tary service are "slakers." Every one
of US who will not economize to help the
war is Stacker" Who will fail to
spend less when he realizes that every
four dollars sayed is days labor con-
tributed to the war? 1t is not question
whether your income justifies an expend-
iture, but whether the country can afford
to let you spend.
Even to prevent hardship we have no
right to spend to keep people in their
usual employment, for only by a process
of readjustment can we obtain the labor
necessary for the war. Already the
Government is resorting to price fixing
and other dangerous experiments, be-
cause we can no longer submit to the
law of supply and demand. We cannot
increase supply, but we can so reduce
demand that the available supply shall
meet our needs and so keep prices within
bounds.
With two million men in cantonments
or in tents there are houses enough for
the rest of US. We can reduce the famine
in wool and cotton by wearing our old
clothes. We can stop the purchase of
automobiles, SO that the factories and
their operatives may produce motor
trucks, aircraft and munitions. We can
use the automobiles we now have less
freely and save gasoline. We can reduce
the number of our servants and let our
wives and daughters do more of the
work. We can do away with the waste