The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-17
1918 TO BE MOST
 MOMENTOUS YEAR
By HOLLAND

By HOLLAND
 New York, January 16-one or the able executives associted with the man agement of the United states Steel cor
 poration, said this morning: We are
 convinced that the year 1918 is to be the most momentous 12 months for the
 United States, at least since the war
 between the states"
 He referred to various features which
 will be made evident to the people Tn
 the course of the war. One Is the fur-
 ther tightening of the grip of war upon
 the industries of the United States, TOT
 it seems to be inevitable in the opinion
 of industrial leaders that some acton
 will be taken with respect to industries similar in principle if not in degree, to that taken by the President when he assumed the authority conferred upon
 him by Congress and took over in the name of the government the railway systems of the United States. Already legislation is pending or nas been$enact- ed which will make it possible for pri- vate capital under supervision and con
 trol of the government. to open and op- crate coal mines which are on govern
 ment reservations, and also oil lands. Furthermore, the administration will seek to secure from Congress leglsla- ton which when adopted will make it possible to secure an almost inconceiv ably great expansion of the water power facilities of the United States. | This will be done through the co-opera- | tion of private capitaI with the govern ment authorities, and, presumably, upon | terms which will tempt private capital l to make investment of this kind and which will also protect the interests of l the people and return a convenient rev. | enue to the government. The affect which will follow the making available 1 of waterpower facill;ses for the crea7 | ton of energy, will be sufficient to move the wheels and machinery of indus | try, as we'll as to facilitate transporta-
 ton, will probably be more impressively | felt after the war is ended. The step l is one of the first to be taken in the | way of preparation for after-war condi- | tions but the fact that it is likely to
 be taken this year is one of the factors which the able steel executive had in | mind when he said that 1918 is to be 1 the most momentous year in our his- 1 tory since the midyears of the Civil | war. THE RAISING OF MONEY 1 Another feature of the year 1918 which l this man had in mind Is to be the bor- l rowings by the United States govern | ment of additional funds, perhaps as
 much as SIP, ,0o0, 100000. during the next l 12 months. None of the men of finance | have any doubt about the government s | ability to secure as many as $12,000,OoO : | 900 or even more. Nevertheless, the ab- 1 sorpton by the government in two years | of something like s2O000, 900 in loans 1 is certain to have important effect upon I financial conditions, although not even l the ablest financiers are able now to 1 fully forecast these effects
 ANOTHER LESSON OF THE YEAR l Another lesson which in the opinion l of this man and many others, must be l learned by the people in the coming 1 year, is one which involves the utiliza- | tion of the utmost economy. Economy | does not mean parsimony. 1t means the 1 elimination of waste of all kinds and l particularly the waste which is charac- ! terized by useless personal expenditures. 1 The lesson may not be hard to learn, I but the people are already beginning to
 understand it. The statement has been l made by some wbo are of excellent aSi- 1 thority and good judgment. that what | is needed In the United States is some | kind of stupendous push some sort of | tragedy of enormous proportion to | awaken the people to the fact that we are in grim war which is the greatest of the worlds wars, and are in it for keeps. This view, however. is not taken by almost all of the industrial Headers, and those who are leaders in finance. l The evidences are plentiful Il many parts of the country that the people are thor l oughly awakened to the emergencies and necessities which the war has occas-
 toned. That Is especially true in some parts of the south and is ttrikingy true
 of the northwest, that great farming sec tion where the second liberty loan was handsomely oversubscribed by the farmers.
 Another thing which this man, aSre-
 ported above, had in mind was the cer- l tainty that in this year production will ! reach it's maximum and can be conven- iently handled if the Liberalization of the American railroad systems work out well and the adequate mobilization of labor is achieved. Great as was the expansion in 1917, 1t will be increased tn 1918. It | may involve some degree of imitation of currency. Frank A Vanderlip, in a re- cent communication, said that it is true I that some degree of imitation is inevita- ble in time of war, the reason being that war calls for immediate and gigan- tic preparations, and the readjustment of industry and of habits of the people 1918 will be made momentous in part