The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-11-23
WILL IT BE PROSPERITY OR
THE REVERSE
(Tampa Times)

(Tampa Times)
The question agitationg the CON-
mercial world at present Is, what will
De the trade conditions when peace
felgns once more? Will there be
such an era Of prosperity as the
world has never seen, or will there
be universal stagnation, distress and
poverty?
There are advocates of both theo
ries. The one class tells us we can.
not indulge In such an orgy of de-
struction and bloodshed as has pre-.
vailed during four years without pay.
ing the awful price. They tell US Of
the great reduction of the worlds
manpower, with ten millions or more
OF the worlds workers rotting in for.
eign soils, and other millions blind.
ed or crippled, forever incapacitated
for active labor, charges henceforth
on the body polite, whom humanity
demands that We must maintain in
unproductive idleness. They tell us
of the wasted, devasted fields Of
France and Belgium; Of the ruined
homes that must be rebuilt by the i'm
poverished owners; of the dismantled
factories, their machinery carried of
by the thieving Huns; Of the flooded
mines of France it will take years to
restore to normal productiveness.
Such conditions as these do not indi.
cate immediate prosperity. There
must be years Of reconstructive work
before there can be any thought Of
profit.
Turning to the central empires, the
situation seems no better Although
they have plundered every country
which they controlled to the extent
of hundreds of millions Of dollars,
they are today starving for bread
and appealing to their erstwhile enc
mics for help. Just ahead of them
as the price of peace, they can see
) the eXaction of enormous indemni-
ties to pay for their orgies Of thiev-
cry and destruction. They can hope
J for no mercy, for they have shown
none, and have repeatedly boasted Of
their determination to exact from
their conquered enemies, the cost Of
the war, even to the uttermost farth-
ing Their future is mortgaged for
the next hundred years and they are
} told that no payments can be made Of
their own debts to their own debts
to their own people until the last in
. stament is paid to the nations they
have wronged. They see their terri
!, tories slipping away from them as
J rats desert sinking ship, leaving
them to carry the great burden as
best they may, Their once proud
- and powerful empires will be reduced
TO second or third class powers, II
not completely ruined They will
never again aspire to dominate the
world. Who will look for prosperity
there?
Let us look at the reverse OF the
picture for moment and consider
the effect upon the United States.
True the war has saddled US with an
enormous debt in terms Of dollars,
/ but 1t is slight in comparison to our
| wealth and resources. No nation in
the world will feel 1t so little as We.
| True the wad has carried grief and
mourning unutterable, into thousands
of homes, but as compared to our
manpower, it Is not Gripping. Time
'' dulls all grief, and after we have paid
= the last sad tributes to our heroic
- sons. business will go on as usual,
| the factories will hum with the pro-
auctions of peace instead OF the hell
| ish enginery OF war; the shrek OF the
| locomotive will tell Of the transpor'