New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-22
to
Pay War
Costs
.IR CHARLES W. NIAGARA

dustry in the Lancashire d;s.x;..
has written book embodying his yew,
on reconstruction and the problem. :.
labor and capital. As the contrjbut;o.
to the problem of one of the greatest :.
dustrlal proprietors Of England il !. =
great importance.
lie points out that, though the worker.
themselves have been among the prof.
GERS" from the war, there are m.,
among them who preach that only tbs
employers have been "profteers,o and
that on them exclusively should fall ii.
burdens Of reconstruction and the va,
debt. He says: 1T is reckless and
a mischievous proposal, and its unreason
ableness is the more apparent the close,
we examine it." He advocates. ;nsto.d
of the punishment Of the capitalist
closer cooperation between EMPLOYERS
and employed for the increase Of produc.
tion-here he finds the best solution os
the problem of finding the money to nav
for the war. He approves the sentime,.
expressed by Mr.. J. R. Clynes, the Min.
lister of Food, that, instead of supplan..
ing capitalism by collectivism, we shoud
try to secure the dilution of capital
with as much humanism as possible.
With the gospel of the conscription
of wealth Sir Charles has no patience
He regards the recent talk of levying
contribution upon capital for the iouida.
ton of the national debt as mischievous
AS an experienced business man Sir
Charles is convinced that "levy on cap
ital would discourage thrift and encour.
age spendthrifts would penaize the pa
triot who has lent all his spare money
to the country, and leave untouched So
cialists and others who deliberately
withhold such assistance"
In regard to Germany, Sir Charles is
against the boycott and in favor of meet
ing the German merchant fairly and
overcoming him by legitimate means
He says:
1--WE as a nation desire a permanent
peace, militarily and industrially. Are we
to obtain it by becoming sower Of ma
tional hatreds? Second, can we ignore the
existence of the German nation, either
politically, industrially or socially? Our
main purpose on the battlefield is to de-
stroy German miltarism, not to destroy the
German people. If we successfully attain
the former, and thus secure a welcome and
satisfactory peace, are We then unreen
ingly to pursue another war in the indus
trial sphere by an attempt to treat the
German nation as though it did not exist
This would assuredlv mean the exploding
of another bombshell, and in the explosion
some of the particles might injure our OWE
interests well as those Of the enemy
81 submit that 1t is not possible CON-
pletely to ignore the German nation IN an
industrial sense. however much we would
like to do So A blockade Of tariffs against
German goods would no doubt restrict Ger
many's future exploitation Of this country
but we would do well to bear in mind that
her exploitation Of this country in the past
has been largely due to our own stupidity
and unbusinesslike methods We need 70
put our house in order to supply the re-
quirements. of our customers and not to try
to force upon them goods which are not
suited to their trade If we fail in this
in the future as we have done in the
past Germany will embrace the opportunity
to meet our deficiencies and repeat her past
success of capturing our markets through
our own neglect The dye industry is the
most fragrant example of this"
On the important question Of the Or
ganization of trade Sir Charles believes
that there must be organization for pro-
ductaon on the part of the worker as well
as of the employer He says on this
point:
ITO organize with view to increased
production and not to take into account
the position of the rank and file Of the pro-
ducing army must be fatal to production
For the employer to strive to secure
greater return on his capital quite les'
innate effort-and at the same tine to .
more the reasonable demands Of the T''N
er. will create dissatisfaction among ~
general body of workers, tend finally
IA N the