The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-21

! nave ventured to make the sub
iect OF this article some Phases Of
What is Called Reconstruction" be-
cause / wish ~ SEPARATE rs differ @n =
both in kind and degree the task
we have of readjustinE ourselves to
peace conditions after the confusion
and turmoil Of war from European
problems arising from the same cause
and also ia suggest what # is aIncrg
us that really needs reconstruction
and is proceeding somewhat MOI e
rapidly than is supposed to get it.
The problems with which tho
United States has 10 deal differ both
in kind and degree from those which
trouble Europe. The great industrial
districts Of Belgium and northern
France were not only oyerrun but
ravaged In some part the industria!
buildings were destroyed. in larger
part the equipment was stolen IN
complete degree the materials and
finished products were taken. The
manufacturer Of those countries
he goes back to the site whore his
industry once f1ourished finds no ma
terials with which 10 work. no stocks
| from whose sale he may redoup his
weakened finances, som etimes no ma
| chinery Let us suppose. however
that he is so fortunate as to have
buildings and equipment ready TO his
hand or that in the few months that
have passed since military operations
ended, he has been able in one or
another way TO procure then--how
shall he get to work? Materials are
not available. Credits are NOT sutti-
cient. His force has been broken UP,
many Of his workmen slain or
manned. others dispersed. Here IS a
task OF true reconstruction. physical
rehabilitation. Patiently he must
find means for credit, secure mate
rials, reorganize his force, hunt UP
former customers. restore old avenues
of trade, and he VIII do well il he Is
fairly running on his new course by
the time a year has elapsed from thu
armistice. II Is likely 10 be two full
years before anything like norma
conditions return.
The manufacturer in Great Eritair
Is not in quite SO hard a case. for
his factory is physically intact il
may. indeed. have been made over for
war purposes and require renewal and
rearrangement ere II can readily serve
the needsr of peace. His plant may
have been diverted from IRIS original
purpose and he may have been caused
to specialize in lines with which be-
fore the war he was unfamiliar. He
may have the task of rearrangement
---restoration--rathe than that OF
physical reconstruction. He viii find
difficulty. too. in obtaining supply
of raw materials, not so serious as his
brethren across the channel. perhaps,
but will still hnd it necessary 70 pay
prices higher than any Of which he
ever dreamed for the material he
needs.
AS all these manufacturers, how
ever. look out into the New World
they find one change so radical that
1t alters their entire relations to the
commerce, whether domestic or for
eign, of which they are a part, This
is the extra ordinary advance in wages.
From German sources comes the
statement that labor costs in that
country have multiplied by three and
fuel costs by six. This is. OF course,
measured in their deprecated cur
rency; but that very depreciation
makes it doubly difficult for them to
procure their supplies of raw ma
terlals save al onerous prices. From
France we are informed that labor
costs have multiplied 81 times and
that material costs are multiplied by
three. In Great Britain the wages
of seamen are substantially the same
as our own and there Is. stern resist
ance on the part Of the English me-
chanics and factory operatives gem
orally toward any dimipution of
wages. which are far higher than have
ever been paid since the factory sys-
tenn began II may seem strange. hut
il is true. that there is no apparent
movement on the Part of British
manufacturers TO insist upon any re-
duction Of the present wage. II ap-