New-York tribune., 1918-04-07
By William A. Scott
Director of the Course IN Commerce,

II ARGE numbers of our people
are perplexed regarding the
line Of conduct they ought to
pursue in the matter of saving, per-
sonal expenditures and the conduct
of their business. The vast major
ity want to do what is best under
the circumstances, what will con-
tribute most to the successful con-
duct and speedy ending of the war.
But they are confused by conflicting
advice and sometimes by hard press
ure in opposite directions.
Through its various agencies the
government is preaching to us the
gospel of saving, Of minimum per-
sonal expenditures and of conserva-
lion of certain foods, fuel, ETC., tell
ing us that only thus can we enable
administrative officers to supply our
own army and navy and those of our
allies with the essentials of success
full warfare. 1t is appealing to US
to do these things voluntarily in a
spirit of cooperation, so as to relieve
it Of the necessity of taking such
drastic measures as industrial con-
scription and the forcible cutting
down of consumption through food
cards and similar contrivances made
familiar to US by our hard-pressed
enemies.
The Business as
UsuaI' Argument
On the other hand, some Of our
business friends are urging upon US
a line of conduct and opposite Of
that recommended by the govern
rncnt. They urge us to maintain
our accustomed expenditures, even
70 increase them, if possible, on the
ground that not to do so will hurt
business. If we do not buy as usual,
they tell US, merchants will be
obliged to curtail their operations
and in some cases to go out of busi-
ness, manufacturers will be obliged
to work only part time or actually
TO shut down, labor will be thrown
out of employment, incomes will
decrease, the ability of the people to
buy Liberty bonds will be greatly
diminished and the government seri-
ously hampered, perhaps stopped, in
its military operations. This war
business, they tell us, is cup to the
government" which will be quite
able to take care of itself provided
we continue in our businesses as
usual. If it needs US or our factc-
ries or our money it will take them,
and we need not bother further
about it.
Confused by these conflicting
arguments and unable to think their
own way through the problem, many
people have followed the line of
least resistance, which also seems to
be the line of their own self-inter-
est. They have taken the advice of
the business man who urges the
business-as-usual argument. The
result is apparent. Recent advices
from the food administration at
Washington indicate that the de-
crease in the consumption of wheat,
pork, ETC., due to the sacrifices of
one part of the population is Just
about offset by the increased con-
sumption Of those same commodities
by the other part. Our railroads are
blockaded and the channels of COM
merce are clogged by the increased
volume of goods thrown upon the
markets by the addition of those
needed for the supply of the army
and navy to the ordinary require
ments of our people, which have not
appreciably decreased. In a word,
our economic machinery is in danger
of breaking down, if it has not al
ready broken down, and we must
either restore it to efficiency or give
up the fight.
Cooperation o.
Consumption
No true American will even con-
sider the second horn of this di-
lemma. We must, of course, put our
economic machinery in first class
running order, but the question is
how? There are only two possible
methods Of procedure. Either the
government must carry out to the
+. bitter end the policy of industrial
ronscription and put us all on ra-
tions or we must learn to think
straight on this business-as-usual
question and give the government
the full measure of cooperation it
oqucsts.
The buslness-as-usual argument is
,ased upon certain fallacies which it
IS easy to detect if we firmly grasp
and never lose sight Of few funda-
.fs.f