Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-06-01
WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH IT?

We are creating a vast amount of machinery to
meet the needs Of this war. What shall we do with il
when the war is over?
For much of It we shall have no further use, even
though II does contribute greatly to our efficiency. We,
with the other nations. are devising new methods for
killing men and destroying property. These things we
must do while the fury Of combat is upon the world.
St George must WELD his tempered spear with a sure
hand until the dragon is slain. But when the purposes
of the war have been accomplished, when reason has re-
asserted herself, when peace with liberty smiles upon
the earth, we should he able to substitute the policeman's
club for the more tremendous engines of war. and the
energy which Is being devoted to the construction of IN.
struments of death will be turned into more permanent
ly useful channels.
We are about to adopt measures for food control.
It may be that before the war is over we will approach
measurably to the state of the European nations In
which food is actually apportoned to the people and
the disposition of that food by each individual is care
fully watched bye authority. Our food control will go
with the war, because, even though its continuance might
conserve food and produce the equivalent Of greater
abundance. we will not endure. except under pressure of
necessity. to be told by authority what we shall eat, and
what we shall drink, and wherewithal we shall be cloth
ed. Yet out Of the experiences Of the war it is to be
hoped that we shall have learned lessons in the elimin-
alton of waste which will influence the lives of individ-
uals, and that we shall have found means whereby the
government which acts for society will be able to curb
unwise and often criminal practices whose result is to
make food cheap to the producer and dear to the con-
sumner.
We are learning lessons in the handling of our man
ufacturing industries and our transportation. We have
fought blindly and ignorantly for years trying to prevent
combinations. in the business world. We have been slow
to learn that what the great public needs is that COM
binatiens for the service of the public cannot be toe, great
or too well organized. and that what we need is not the
prohibition of combinations but their rational control and
direction. In the railroad world we are now beginning
to see something of the possibilities which we have over
looked. There has been no transfer of the ownership of
railroad property. There has been no assumption by the
government of the actual work of operation. But under
the general supervision of the government there is being
effected a coordination Of railroad work, the practical
effect Of which will be to add thousands of miles to the
trackage Of the country, to increase its available supply
Of freight cars by something like three quarters of a
million and to make corresponding increases in all equip
ment.
When the war is over shall we break up and scrap
this machine or shall we continue it in service, to multi
ply the productiveness Of our farms, to stimulate the
growth of our cities, to better the conditions of human
life in every directiono There should be but one an
swer. 81