New-York tribune., 1918-11-17
Transition

When you turn chewing gum factory
5 into a munitions plant there is much
!, confusion and waste and pain of read
= justment, but it somehow succeeds and
= nobody gets hurt.
a Why can't d munitions plant be turned
i into a chewing gum factory again in
: the same way?
- In that question lies the problem of
: transition.
3 One would think it ought to be as easy
s 10 go from munitions to chewing gum as
from one to the other in the first place.
Physically, it may be. Economically,
It is not.
AS customers, war and peace are as
Unlike as any two comparable things
could be.
War takes ruthless possession of the
market place, saying, II am first. At
tend to me. l take all you can make of
this and that, to an unlimited amount.
Price is no object. | guarantee you
X against loss. If your labor strikes will
make it work"
ss Peace is d shrewd and higgling Gus
toner. She has time to wait She thinks
IN terms of gain or loss and guarantees
nothing. Her demands, though poten-
italy unlimited, are not imperative, and
they have to be cultivated.
at In the munitions business the market
: is guaranteed; the government assumes
all risk. In the chewing gum business
; the market is sought for and the indi-
; ydual takes the risk
S. A munitions plant has to make muni-
s tions in spite of any adverse conditions
the government will pay
a5 chewing gum plant does not have to
junction for any patriotic reason, and it
g Will not function for private reason
z unless there is a natural demand for the
product at a profitable price.
ne War business is driven by one thought.
namely-PRODUCTION.
aa Peace business is entirely governed by
: another thought, naraely-PROF1T.
ss And that is why the transition from
: war to peace, SO like the transition from
peace to war as a physical problem, is
accompanied by economic phenomena of
-
- If the industrial demands of peace
gould be made in some measure to re-
semble those of war the effects would
an the same measure correspond.
In approaching the problems of tran
sltion we seem to become preoccupied
with prices and ratios and equivalents
~We almost forget that it might be ap-
u nrOqchnC frov,, ~, l. ~.
production to very great extent, dur
ing the period of transition, might be
treated as an imperative national func
tlon- with high content of pure pa
triotism
i Our chronic problem in this country
IS to find the labor to perform the work
we wish to do. That is so because our
resources and opportunities have hardly
begun to be developed
We have whole empires in our waste
places.
1here are deserts to water. swamps
Z TO drain, rivers to harness and noun
. tains to move
in highways and railroads alone there
IS more work to be done than we shall
ever have the capital and labor to do
as fast as it should be done, and vet we
'aik impersonally of the danger of un-
employment in the transition period.
reople are moved by fear of what NAV
happen Tomorrow and the day after.
WIN wages come down? Will prices
stay up? VIII there be any profit in
business? Expert opinion dsagrees.
tantion is recommended
nut why should a country that has
n peen reckless in the industrial proc-
Il esses Of wasteful war become suddenly
faoe'ous IN the creative pursuits Of
peace! Does it not seem contradiction
Caution is fear. And what peonlo
iear Is the possibility Of depression and
nhempioyment in the uncertain time of
transition from war to peace. If de-
pression occurs it will be not becauxe IT
vas inevitable, but because we were too
stupid and Immediately selfish n nrs.
vert it. All that is necessary to mals
industrial shrinkagc and inyoluntar
unemployment impossible IL for tho gov.
ernment and the producers to evolve a
peace programme which shalt guarantee
beforehand 10 u4e all the gurnlu. rnat..
rial That can DC produced by the indus
tries of the country and to employ all