Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1919-05-08
PLACES REIMBURSEMENT DATA AT
COMMAND OF BUSINESS WORLD


governmental agencies that did not
have firm and penetrating quality
at the base. Raising the framework
for the task is merely matter Of me-
chanics in organization. In
the meantime the council and advisory
commission should accumulate all of
the literature bearing upon this ques.
ton and form it into working H.
brary.
1t may be that as the war nears its
ends and as the issue between au-
tocracy and democracy becomes ever
sharper and more terrible, the civilized
world will demand that immediately
at the wars close all reconstruction
Of the worlds affairs be based upon
the dictum Of Lincoln that no man is
good enough to govern any other man
without that other mans consent, to
the end of approaching the proper
readjustment of national, interna-
tfonal, and racial relationships. offer
this, though, not for the purpose of
injecting idealism in q discussion
where undue accent Of it does not be-
long, but to emphasize anew that none
of us can see the end of the road
and that therefore all plans for re
construction should be builded SO as
to permit Of fiexibility of action and
even of minor policy at any given
time. The main thing now Is to come
to concrete thinking and study Of the
entire problem"
Director .Clarkson Immediately be.
gan the organization of a staff of ex-
perts, including O. M. w. Spragae,
professor of finance and banking at
Harvard, and Herbert N. Shenton of
Columbia. Out of this staff work grew
the reconstruction research division,
which was organized on February 8,
1919, with Mr.. Shenton as its chief.
The reconstruction research divi-
sion," said Charles 81. Chase, mem
Der, shas come to feel more and more,
as the reconstruction has progressed,
that it's information service should be
made available to the leaders Of pri-
vate enterprise, just as 1T is made re-
sponsive to the needs of governmental
agencies. The problems and respon-
sibilities of reconstruction tend, as
time goes on, to fall more and more
heavily upon the shoulders of bust
ness and relatively less upon govern
mental machinery. OF the two grand
divisions of reconstruction, demobiliza-
ton and reorganization, the former be-
longs chiefly to the government and
the latter devolves mainly upon pri-
vate enterprise. The former tends
steadily toward its conclusion; the
latter broadens into the foundation
of an indefinitely expanding future.
And though the government has, and
will continue to have important re.
sponsibilities in connection with the
economic reorganization of the nation,
1T must be acknowledged that those
who are to deal with these problems
hand-to-hand are the directors Of bust
ness undertakings.
ut must be recognized, also, that
we have come out upon new world,
in a sense, in emerging from the
world war. Our Industrial and COM
mercial reorganization must be effect.
ed under conditions that have under
gone considerable alteration during
the struggle. Not only price levels,
but price ratios also, have been
changed and in many cases perma-
nently SO. New industries have arisen
markets have been altered; interna-
tfonal economic relations are modified ;
means of transportation and commune
cation have been partially revolutions
lied but nothing has undergone great.
er change than our social viewpoint,
and especially the viewpoint of labor.
There are new opportunities and new
and promising outlooks, hut they are
not quite like those Of pre-war times
The chessboard has been shaken some
of the chessmen have disappeared
while several others have been moved
forward or backward little.
''Not only have purely business fac
tors altered, but new duties have
arisen-the social responsibility Of the
business enterprise has become much
more serious matter than 1t used tc
be. In the light of world develop
ments 1t is obvious that. our business
system must prove its resourceful
ness; it must demonstrate hitherto
unrevealed capacity for REIMBURSEMENT
it must show disposition to meet and
satisfy certain species Of expectation
which have gained recognition during
the war and can no longer be uncere
moniously ignored or suppressed. A,
Secretary Redfeld says: We canno
be a law unto ourselves any more.
General and continuous prosperity
must he underwritten and guaranteed
if our institutions are to avoid in,
risk Of a trial at the bar of publ,
discomfort. Rules of thumb are liable
to prove inadequate in this period O
reimbursement. Nothing short Of aler
open-mindedness, reinforced by pos
session of the fullest available infor
nation, will serve. In view Of thes,
' a..