New-York tribune., 1918-11-25
Transition

Reconstruction is no longer WOIu
meaning literally to construct again. 1t
has become a wish and represents each
individuals thought of what the state of
the world should be.
At one extreme is the man who, when
he speaks of reconstruction, thinks of the
restoration of the free functions of sup
ply and demand, liquidation of labor,
the end of all unnatural interference
with private profit and capitalistic in
itiative.
At the other extreme are those who
employ the word mystically and imagine
a perfect world, or at least world so
much better than the one that was that
you wouldn't know it---a world freed
from the curse of unwilling toll, the tyr
amy of economic necessity, the codness
of capital and all the consequences of the
grosser human emotions.
"Meanwhile," says the average person,
there is the immediate necessity of get
ting the country from war basis back
to peace basis. We must stop talking
and begin to DO something.
The average person is deceived.
Transition does not wait upon plan. 1t
is taking place. On the instant that
firing ceased the processes of transition
naturally and automatically began. We
have not yet begun to feel the conse-
quences of their taking place in this un-
controlled manner. And the talk of con-
trolling them continues to be mainly aca-
demic
The practical minded are therefore con-
strained to say that transition will bring
itself to pass. Trust the resourcefulness
of the American people. Let them alone.
Industry will find its way. Demobilize
the men. They will scatter self-reliantly
and be absorbed. The country is rich
and strong enough to stand it. There
may be some unemployment, but that will
be temporary. There may be some dras-
tic price changes, but the sooner things
find their level the better.
That way would work Indeed, it is
working, for, as we have said, transition
Is taking place without waiting for a
plan and men more and more are get
ting ready to make the best of whatever
happens.
Al the more is the theorist on sound
ground when he argues that the economic
lessons learned in war should be applied
to the problems OF peace. If you can
eliminate unemployment in war time be-
cause it is wasteful you can do the same
thing in peace time for the same reason.
If people can be better fed and housed
and clothed in war time, when vast guam
titles of the products of capital and labor
are made only to be instantaneously de-
stroyed, so much better may they be fed
and housed and clothed in peace time,
when all production is conducted on the
reproductive principle.
Specifically, as to the immediate
problems Of transition, the same war
machine that modified production
could mobilize consumption.
The war problem was how to increase
production to the utmost Each of the
industries reported its capacity and the
government Communicated and allotted
its product
The peace problem is how gradually
to substitute the wants of peace for
the wants of war, or, in other words.
how to consume what we are able to
produce, instead of cancelling orders
and shutting up plants and turning off
labor and having great slump gener
ally
The same power that modified pro-
duction could mobilize consumption bv
going into reverse motion 1t could call
IN each OF the great industries, saying:
In the next year what can be your
utmost consumption of steel and cop
per and lumber and all or any of these
basic commodities, the production of
which we have been running on war
basis! What you do not take the gov
ernment will want for public works;
so take all you can. There will be no
surplus over. Then say how much addi
tional labor you want. and take enough
of that also, for what you do not be-
speak the government will employ on
public works"
There would probably be very little
il anything, left for the government.
knowing that the country's total pro-
ductive capacity in basic materials was
Going to b accounted for, each indus
try would be sure to cake enough
That plan would worry. The difficulty