The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-18
WAR CONDITIONS


to Canada recently to investigate and
report upon conditions in country
that had been in war for several years,
writes to his paper, the Hutchinson
News:
"How's business
That is the question l have put to
all kinds of business men from 10
ronto to Quebec. And the answer has
invariably been that business is good.
booming, profitable
How did the war affect ordinary
business and trader" was my next
question.
With practical unanimity the answer
was that at first the people were
shocked. partially stunned, by the sud
den arrival of war; business was
scared, time was taken up in talking
patriotism and recruiting, the volume
of trade diminished. This state of
mind lasted perhaps three months ana
then business began to pick up.
Within six months from August. 1914,
every producer was getting hish
prices. every factory was working
overtime, new war industries were
feverishly trying to catch up with de-
mand, labor was drawing higher
wages and merchants trade in vol
ume and profits was above all previous
RECORDS. Since that time general bust
ness has been steadily booming. OF
course certain manufactures like mu-
nitions, clothing, shoes, leather and
metals have led the way, and the
product OF Canada's main industry.
agriculture, has headed all the rest.
The middlemen, the jobbers, the brok-
ers. the retailers and the carriers have
taken increased profits on an in
creased volume. In no line is there
a tendency off so far as business is
concerned.
see no reason why the United
States will not follow Canada's ex-
perience. War is destructive to the
combatants and to those whose prop
erty is in the line of march or battle,
but to those who stay at home the
war god must pay tribute in order to
get the sinews with which to fight.
There is in Canada great lack of
workingmen. landed in Toronto and
the policeman on the dock had to
apologize because there was no taxi
TO transport passengers and baggage:
| The boys are off to war" At the
hotel the manager told me the poor
service was because he had been
obliged to close one dining room and
could not get sufficient walters. ''on
account of the war" The laundry
was late and poor. because of lack
of help" Stores were short of clerks
and newspapers were run by manag-
| ing editors and cub reporters, the reg
Y
correspondents but a soldiers.
when the United States declared
war in April we were jolly near lick
| ed" said British officer. Which Is
| doubtless true. If the United States
| had not entered the war prob
ably Russia would have gone clear out
| Italy was bankrupt and the allies had
no show for anything better than a
draw.
Now the best Judgment of Canadian
| statesmen is that further progress in
| the war will wait on the arrival of a
big American army.
The French are almost DONE" was
| one of the statements l received from
| a man who knows. The French army
does well to hold its ground and can
| not advance. 1t has lost S74, 900 men
killed at Verdun-ki'led. not both
| killed and wounded. The British
army is at top strength but it has not
been able to break the Hindenburg
line. The campaign will run thru this
year with little prospect of any results
except killing of men.
The theory here is that next year
will see an American army of a mill
lion men take over the bulk of the
contract which the French army has
tried SO valiantly to finish. There is
no doubt that this means victory
in the minds of English and Canadian
Officers l have met
Quebec is the great deep water port
the furthest up the St. Lawrence
river Il is here the soldiers leave for
Europe and here the boats bring back
those who return. One ship, the old
White Star Olympic, took six thou
sand men across at one passage and
made the trip in five days.
Every week an average of five hun
dred Canadian soldiers make return
trip, and are placed in the hospitals
of Canada Men without legs, mer
without arms. men with sight1ess eyes
men sick with tuberculosis or other
disease contracted in the dampness
and stencil of trenches men afflicted
in all the ways that war fiends car
contrive, are thus pouring in Canada
in a steady stream.
In few months just such a stream
of crippled and sick men will be pour
ing into the United States.
Caring for these men in the hos
pitfalls and during convalescence is the
duty of the government. But wheT
all has been done that can be done fol
them physically and they are in prac
tically as strong condition as they evel
will be. the soldiers are discharged
They receive pensions. but not ade
quate to take care of those only par
TALLY disabled.
Some can go back to old occupa
lions but most of them are not f1tteC
for the work they were doing whel
they had the proper number of limb
and eyes. The young carpenter VIII,
enlisted to fight for his country 1
minus an arm. the store clerk is shor
leg, the printer is blind. Eacl
has a heart filed with ambition an,
is not ready to quit. What can h
, do?
There is where the Canadian gov
eminent took up the problem. Bin,
men can be taught to do grea
: things. a cripple can be fitted on
with an artificial hand, arm or le
, and taught to do some remunerativ
labor. But nearly every man mus
be "re-educated" for the kind o
= work which he is to do. The Cana