Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-13
DOWN TO THE BASIC FACT

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nCCASIONALLY the world gets down
to basic principles. Then people who
have been softened by luxury and the
artificial comforts of life imagine that a
revolution has happened and wonder why
the stars do not begin to tumble They
cause food has become a decisive factor
in the war. Had not books and maga-
mines and experts informed the public
for years that there would never be an
other great war because the financiers
would not permit It; and that if war
should come. it could not last long be.
cause of the enormous expense? Money
was the medium of all exchange, so it
seemed perfectly natural to conclude that
war itself was merely matter of money,
the result to be determined by the num-
Der of dollars on tap. Money was the
supreme measure of everything.
But money began to lose its prestige
some months ago. A pound of butter is
pound of butter in Germany and pig
IS pig. A soldier at the front cannot
eat gold. He needs fat and fat he must
have no matter what it costs. Billions in
gold do not mean anything if there is
no wheat to be exchanged for that gold.
When the Parthians captured Crassus
they poured molten gold down his throat
Itwas death in keeping with his life.
Civilization, too. has got back again for
the moment to the point where bread is
more important than money, where the
thing itself counts rather than the me-
dium of exchange. Money remains a
Nmeasure of prices, but misleading meas
Ere. A pound of cotton buys today for
Instance, just about the same quantity
man in a factory receives a much higher
wage. but it buys for him just about the
same amount of f cd that he was able
70 get with his lower wage before the
war. There is little disturbance in the
relative exchange value of necessary ma.
terials. The rise is simply in the me.
dium. The effect therefore, of present
high prices would not be tragic were it
not for the fact that the process of re-
adjustment is necessarily slow. It is all
right for the producer of wheat or the
manufacturer whose products respond
Immediately to changes in the commodity
plane, but it is extremely burdensome to
the great intermediate mass of people
whose incomes yield tardily to the up.
lifting impulse.
1t is remarkable, in the circumstances,
with the world back to the basic fact that
food is the first. necessity, that there is
not more marked exodus from the city
20 the farm. 1t is true that farmers
are complaining bitterly of the difficulty
Of making a living, but the fact remains
that the importance of agriculture has
received new emphasis which is certain
10 become more ana more pronounced.
The farm loan banks, for example, are
making it possible for young men to
begin an agricultural career under better
auspices than can be found in mercantile
pursuits. The Government does not ven
ture to underwrite the shoe business but
It win underwrite the adventure Of any
man who wants to buy farm and be-
come a producer 1t will lend him half
the price of the land under the most
Favorable possible terms. with no chance
Of the mortgage being called. 1t will
assist him also with the finest expert
advice obtainable. The vast powers of
fhe Government are already subsidizing
aericulture, and in the future will pursue
this course even further Farming means
hard work, but there are men doing
harder work in the city and making vir-
tially no progress.
The world is beginning to understand
ence more what are the really vital
things in civilization. and food is the
chief Of them all
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