The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-10-31

The great war is drawing toward its
close; and a victorious close it will be
Every kind and honest heart is re-
joicing that the suffering of Europe S
people will not be prolonged much
further. But with the prospect of
reace within a year, our thoughts are
bound to turn to the changes In eco
nomic conditions that are impending.
The problem Is so confused and COM
pick that there Is no one who Is able
clearly to forecast events. The best
minds are almost as much in the dark
as they were in August, 1914. We
saw almost" rather than quite" for
without any doubt we have learned
during the last four years to think
more broadly and with better knoWi-
eoge of fundamental factors than we
used to.
We can see, for example, that the
great underlying factor Is labor. We
have suffered from shortages of ma
terial, and concomitantly high prices
owing to lack of men enough to get
II out of natures stores; nor have we
had sufficient time to provide ade-
auate mechanical power to replace the
deficit of man power. We could not
make the necessary war material ana
at the same time manufacture the
former supply of peaceful material,
and therefore we have had to forego
the latter. Not only have we had to
deprive ourselves of many very desir-
able things, but, also, we have had
to deplete the stocks in warehouses
and retail stores. When the war in
dustries board boasts of saving lea
Their, rubber and paint by reducing the
number of sizes and shades that may
be manufactured, 1t does not mean
that it saves any consumption OF
those things, but simply that 1t re-
duces the stock that dealers previ-
ously had to carry. AS soon as deal
ers can obtain supplies freely again,
they will naturally stock up and there
will furthermore be great demand
for and consumption of all things for
delayed work. Similar conditions will
exist in Europe, besides which there
will be immense demand for material
for reconstruction in devastated
areas, These premises, which appear
reasonably safe, indicate a strong de-
mand for raw materials, and especial
ly the metals.
But 1t does not follow that such a
demand will develop Immediately up
on the coming of peace On the con-
trary we must inevitably contemplate
a period of readjustment, and much
will depend upon how things are
handled during that period. The gov
ernments will undoubtedly possess
large reserves of metals at the ter
mination of the war. VIII they re-
sell those supplies, or will they re-
serve them for national use in recon-
structions and improvements? How
long will it take private contractors
who have converted their machine
shops into shell factories to get back
to their ordinary industrial basis?
What is going to become of the swol-
len, congested populations of Bridge
port and similar places when their
present occupation ceases abruptly?
1t is easy to foresee that such neces-
sary changes will produce dislocatlons
that will curtail temporarily the con-
sumption of raw materials. Mani
festly such dislocations will be irregu-
lar
We are not among, those who look
for the arrogance of labor to continue
undated. Labor supply will continue
to be short, considering the broad
needs of the world, but there will no
longer be the pressing need of grant
ing labors every demand lest the
great cause be jeopardized. We shall
continue to build ships, locomotives
and other things in great quantities,
but when on a commercial basis, and
when time is not so vital, the employ
er may talk more upholdingly to his
men, and the day will come when Is
Will HOT nave 10 ne nlTeu TO 40 the
work Of 10. This will in itself ease
the labor supply, as will the migra-
ton of thousands from the muntion
factories. Even if basic commodity
prices undergo no alteration, there Is
a large lost motion between the in
crease in the cost of living, measured
by the factor of about 1.5, and the in
crease in the rate of wages, measured
by the factor of about 2. In other
words, wages should go down faster
than commodity prices. We may look,
moreover, for the abolition of govern
mental price fixing to let play once
more natural factors that will be SAL
utary.
Many changes of these kinds will
institute themselves before the troops
begin to come home. Their return
will introduce new conditions that as
yet nobody can well forecast. 1t Is |
certain that many of these men will |
have experienced such alterations of |
habit and thought during their life in
the field and in the trenches that they |
will not be willing to return to their
former occupations. They will be far
more used to mechanical work, and |