New-York tribune., 1918-06-24

peat: How can it be done?
Part Of the mystery is dispelled when
we consider the sheer illusion Of prices.
The average of all prices in Britain
has risen, on the evidence of the London
Economists" index number, about 13U
per cent. That is to say, $12,00O,0 100000
worth of goods would now cost $28,00O,-
10000. This is what we mean when
we say that the initiation of prices
Through credit infation) has more than
doubled the cost Of the war to that coun-
try. Actually, then, war expenditure of
thirteen billions does not mean the
equivalent Of 100 per cent of the national
income, but less than SO per cent.
In the United States the rise in prices
has been somewhat less-according to
Dun's and Bradstreet's figures about 100
per cent, and according to the Bureau Of
Labor's index number for Wholesale
prices only about 80 per cent There
fore. ito take figure which is nearly
pure guesswork-our national income in
1914 was around twenty-five billions it
might be somewhere around fifty billions
now. So, as in Great Britain, twenty
four billions would not be equal to 100
per cent of our income, but not over SO
per cent.
But even this would mean an AS
tonishing increase in national energy
if it were represented by these per-
centages. 1t is not. If you draw of, as
in Britain, one-third the industrial
strength of a country and feed and paw
it better than it has ever been fed be-
fore, you considerably swell the national
expenditure, but not by any means by
the amount of the governments outlay.
All these men had to be fed before
There is yet another offset. In esti-
mates Of our country's income no ac-
count is usually taken Of the vast amount
Of the unpaid labor of women and chill
dren-as housekeepers and nurses. Yet
the rearing of babes is one of the great
est industries in this as in every other
country in the world. In war time, by the
transfer Of a great number of women
to war and other paid work, the appar-
ent income of the country is very consid-
erably swollen, perhaps by 10 to 20 per
cent
Yet when all these possible offsets are
made There still remains very con-
siderable item of increased expenditure
Which must be accounted for. That is
to say, there must be in war time very
remarkable increase in national eff
cheney. There must be on the whole a
very marked increase in the actual pro-
duction and consumption of goods ana
services. Nothing else could explain why
it is that this country and Britain and
France and Germany could go on spend
ing as they never spent before, consun1-
ing more apparently outside of the war
than they ever consumed before, and still
have tens of billions to spend on the
business of war. All the evidence goes
to show that in spite of every effort the
consumption of luxuries in all the war
ring countries is greater to-day than has
ever been known. 1t is nonsense to talk
about this being paid for by future eener-
atlons. 1t is paid for on the spot, for
every pound and barrel and yard of it, in
human labor and human service. The
poet Heine long ago sorrowfully re-
fected upon the difficulty of drawing
roast ducks from the sky No more can
you pull down out of the blue diamonds
and silks and automobiles. They are all
made and paid for by the days wage.
There is. therefore, beyond all ques-
ton an enormous stimulus from the in
pact of war. In times of peace it is
evident that even with the greatest rivalry
OF the nations and the almost mariacal
thirst to make money among all the
people, the nations were not running ut
much more than 80 per cent capacity, and
possibly not more than rs, as that ca
pacity exists to-day.