Arizona republican., 1918-11-22
TRADE To CONE
ASFRE|GHT LINES
ARE INCREASED

After reviewing at length the indus
trial and commercial activities which
We inherit by war, the Guaranty Trust
company presents the following post
war prospect:
The total of new railway mileage
constructed during the war is doubtless
hess than would have been built had
peace continued. Moreover, the need
for new transportation lines will be
more urgent now than before the war.
Demand for foodstuffs and raw mate
rails of manufacture will give extra
ordinary stimulus to the settlement and
exploitation of the frontier regions.
Meanwhile, the steel producing ca
pacity of the world has been increased,
and this, together with the new ship
building facilities, will make possible
both the speedy prosecution Of the rail-
way building programs and the pro-
vision of merchant ships. The in
creased productive equipment and i'm
provements in industrial processes in
rident to the war will tend to Tighten
the task Of readjusting industry to a
peace basis.
The mingling on the battlefields of
men from distant lands Isl making for
mutual understanding, and the hard
conditions of life to which the soldiers
pre exposed in the trenches are fitting
many thousands of them for the
peculiar tasks of pioneering. One eff
feet of the war will be a tendency to
break down the racial barriers that
nave impeded the movement of people
between countries, and also, in some
instances, the economic barriers.
1t is fortunate that in recent years
the achievements of sanitary engineer
ing in the Panama canal zone, Havana,
British Guiana and elsewhere have
proved that practically the whole of
the tropical countries can be made
healthful for the white race. And be-
Eides, both in South America and in
Africa altitude largely neutralizes lati-
tude, giving climatic conditions com
parable to those in the temperate zone.
The development of the internal COM
bustion engine and its application to
agricultural machinery also will I'M
1oubtedly facilitate the development of
these regions.
1t would appear. then, that economic
forces of worldwide scope were lay
ing the bases at the outbreak of the
war for industrial expansion and that
In \ general way the main arteries sof
communication have been constructed,
or are in process of construction. to
).
During the further extension of these
arteries it is not to be expected that
large immediate expansion of the
worlds business will result. It takes
some time after transportation lines
are laid before regions are developed
10 such an extent as to be felt appre-
ciably in the worlds business.
But the war has increased the indus
trial capacity of the belligerent ma
tons and quickened the spirit of ad-
venture in man. as well as his re-
sourcefulness and inventiveness. In
other words, it has created conditions
which will induce men to get out into
new regions. Therefore, we may ex-
pect a rather earlier development of
the hinterlands Of the world than would
normally have come
Our financial and industrial leaders
are now confronted with the problems
Incident to the readjustment of indus
try to a peace basis. The difficulties
Of the present task will be lightened
ind the strength of our industrial
fabric increased if our leaders keen in
mind the long-term development OF
world enterprise which promises =
period of almost unparalleled oppor-
tunities for the profitable exansion OF
business.