davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

dispose of war material in ways calcu-
lated to prevent industrial disturbance.
Next to the difficulties connected with
the settlement Of government contracts
for war material, and the tying up Of
capital badly needed by manufacturers,
large and small, this problem of 1919
prices is undoubtedly the greatest OBJ
stacle to peace prosperity.
All over the country merchants shelves
are unstocked with merchandise - in
many lines there is a parallel with Moth
er Hubbard's cupboard Cities are short
of houses, apartments, hotel accommoda-
tions and office space, because the build
ing business was modified almost solidly
for war industries. The railroads, troll
ley lines and public service generally are
underbuilt. along with public works in
cities and states. Our highways are not
only down at the heel, but if they were
in the pink of condition on pre-war
lines would still be inadequate-our
whole concept of highways must be
changed, boosted up.
we KNOW ludC Wueu lIlp UdllOn ana
the world start building and producing
again both the demand and output will
be on an unheard Of scale For the war
was fought to make a new world - a
world of higher living standards, free
from some of the old economic handi-
caps.
But having taken off their coats, ready
to work at the nearest peace-tine task,
men find themselves facing this question
of 1919 prices. 1t is the first big ques-
ton to be settled by everybody. The
merchant is afraid to stock goods until
he knows that their value will not drop
on his shelves. The manufacturer is
afraid to plan because he, too, is q pur-
chaser of materials and labor, and these
may fall. The capitalist is wary about
financing building and public utilities,
because if wages and raw materials
drop, his Office structure or trolley line
will operate under disadvantages of in
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

and Americans are now agreed upon,
amounts to an Anglo-Amercan alliance.
And its chief models have been found in
the machinery of the British Empire as it
existed and have been the contribution OF
Englishmen.
British policy has been actuated by the
very frank recognition that the war has
changed the whole position of Great Britain
IN the world. The costs in men, in money
and in prestige of this struggle have cut
very deeply, the moral effects of the sub
marine warfare in its later phase of last
years desperate campaign have left their
marks upon the EngIshman. Therefore, II
turning to the league of nations he turns
to something which for him does not merely
ave idealistic or utopian value but practi-
cal and solid value. In world organized
under the league Ct nations the British En-
pire would escape some of its most diff
cult problems for the future and would be
assured of its maximum of security in the
time that is to come. 1t is far more true
of Great Britain than OF France or of Italy
whose concerns are European mainly, after
all. French and Italian policies are, there
fore, far less professionally affected by the
league of nations question than British
Both will be dragged along; the French will
make the necessary contribution of clarity
and logic, but the league of nations is GO
ing to be an Anglo-American experiment
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09
By rank II. Simonds
PARIS. February 3.

PARIS, February 3.
Asst week 1 discussed at length the
basis of French policy as expressed
- at the Paris conference, indicating
that the chief concern Of France
was to provide security to the north against
possible new German attack British
policy as expressed at the peace confer
ence is somewhat less simple, since it
seeks various objects indirectly.
Above all else, British policy at the
peace conference is based upon a new in
appreciation Of the world by British states
mansnip and diplomacy One ought to say
al the outset that Britain is incomparably
better represented at Paris on the technical
ana On the diplomatic side than any one Of
.ne ofner great powers. There are more
Drains and better brains In the British dele
ss'ion than in any other, and these brains
are concentrated Upon b clearly thought out
Programme
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09
1t Is Up to the
Senate

But it is plain that there are many diff
culties in the way. The first peril, that the
President might make demands which the
British government could not assent to,
has disappeared. The President has shown
himself reasonable, conciliatory, lacking
even any plan of his own clearly thought
out, thrown back upon the defensive for
certain ideas, and thus brought to accept
a system which in the main follows British
ideas; but will this idea and this plan be
accepted by the United States Senate? VIII
the Senate consent to adopt Armenia or
CAMERON or Liberia? VIII the Senate
agree that the United States become manda-
tary for the league OF nations anywhere,
thus breaking up its ancient policy and
abandoning its time -honored traditions?
If the Senate does not, then all arrange
ments up to date at the Paris peace con-
ference go by the board, and the league of
nations as 1t will be worked out will IN
questonably be a guarantee against war in
the future within limits. 1t will have o
beneficial effect upon the world, and the
principles expressed in il will have much
to do with the facts that are developed in
making peace itself But fundamentally
this league of nations. which the English
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09
Peace Hel1?-Ask Charles Stubs, Motor Salesman

urers must have to run their mills. The
manufacturer takes the stand that prices
Will not come down this year. He is
dealing with labor and market condi-
tons which strengthen MIN in this belief.
lie insists that 1919 prices must stand.
And so there is a deadlock.
When the big munitions factories Quit
war production they looked around for
sporting goods customers. Theoretically
the prospect for business was good.
Shotguns, sporting rifles and cartridges
have been in good demand all through
the war. Thousands of shotguns and
millions of clay pigeons nave been used
IN training aviators. Military training
makes men love the wide outdoors, so
the sporting goods business NAV easilv
be greater than it ever was before. Full
of enthusiasm, the munitions manufact
urers went to the jobbers and retail mer-
chants and tried to impart their vision.
But the merchants, as buyers, were in
terested only in prices, and hesitated to
stock up.
In support of their belief that prices
must come down, the buyers pointed to
cancelling Of war contracts, to growing
idleness in factory towns and like con-
ditions.
In support of their belief that prices
would stay up, the manufacturers
pointed to high food prices, virtual gov
eminent control of wages in their in
dustry, The worlds general hunger for
raw materials, etc
For several weeks buyer and seller
argued, back and forth, each trying to
overwhelm the other with forecasts, fig
ures, estimates. Nobody was getting any
where in peace-time industry or trade.
Then one large manufacturing concern
broke the deadlock with a definite price
proposal:
stock up with our guns and cart
ridges it said. GO the limit in build
ing business. If at any time during 1919
we sell any of our products below the
price at which you buy them, we will
make good to you the difference in either
credit or goods"
This policy was soon general in that
particular field. No agreement as to
prices was made between the different
manufacturers, for this would run foul
Of the antitrust law. Each manufact-
urer simply guarantees prices on his own
goods. The plan seems to involve little
risk for manufacturers. They believe
that some materials, such as lead, may
fall in price, but that copper, steel,
chemicals and other materials will not
fall this year-some chemical ingredients
are slightly rising. The largest part or
their manufacturing cost is labor Until
peace terms are signed, government wage
scales must be followed in those depart
ments of their factories engaged in gov
eminent work. This virtually sets wages
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

vided against falling quotations the
building business will not march ahead
The steel men are endeavoring amid
all their other difficulties TO introduce
new methods Of buying and selling in
their industry. Traffic in steel has al
ways suffered from speculation. The
buyer who needed five thousand tons
of structural steel, for instance, deliv-
cred six months hence, might contract
for ten thousand tons or twenty thou
sand tons, with view to reselling if
prices advanced. When his speculation
turned out we'll he took the steel. But
if prices fell there was always some
loophole through which he could es-
cape. Steel manufacturers propose to
govern such transactions by q new
contract, which imposes penalties for
failure to accept and pay for deliveries
when prices drop, and this individual
situation in one basic industry illus
trates how complex are problems con-
nected with prices generally and how
much hard thinking and adjustment
there must be before the world again
gets back to normal.
In food, clothing, shoes, hardware,
chemicals, machinery, lumber, railroad
equipment, coal, ships and every other
line there are similar problems of price
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

notifications, will be advocated by Presi-
dent Wilson, seeks to preserve certain IN
fuences in the world. 1t is designed to
serve certain things in the world Before
this great conflict came, England had
reached point of saturation in the matter
of imperial expansion. Here the great prob
lem had become to preserve, not to in
crease, and the burden of her empire was
more heavily felt as domestic conditions
foreshadowed complete transformation at
home.
Now, the chief concern of Great Britain
as an empire is India India begins at CT
braltar and at least extends to Hong Kong
To protect India, now that Turkey is elm
mated it will be necessary to deal with
Mesopotamia and Palestine and SYRIA. lust
as it was a generation ago to deal with
Egypt. Unless there can be some system
devised which divides responsibility for the
maintenance of states like Syria and Meso-
potamia' and Armenia, and strategic points
like Constantinople, England will have to
take most Of them to protect India or else
surrender some Of them to states which may
develop colonies Of their own across the
VIAL Paen"ay 10 Inc Near East Inc Eng
lishman was nearer to such an adjustment
before the world war than any other Euro
pean nation. He hopes that the league of
nations will place the United States as the
mandatory of the great powers in Constan-
tinople, in Asia Minor and in Central Africa
His ambition Is not to take German terri
tory, but to prevent German territory from
returning to Germany, or becoming for him
burden beyond his resources.
Very frankly, therefore, Great Britain at
Paris is using the league Of nations and
the association Of America to supply guar
antees and buttresses for the immediate and
not too encouraging future. She feels her
self not strong enough to add to her bur
dens, 30 colossal on the imperial side before
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

vestment cost compared with those built
later. The farmer is apprehensve about
prices for his crop and the wage Garner
is between the devil and the deep sea,
with high food prices on one hand and
on the other the prospect of unemploy-
ment or wage decreases due to the gen
eral marking time.
Everybody grumbled about war prices.
But war prices were a simple problem
compared with 1919 peace prices. War
prices are usually going up, with the sky
as the limit. Manufacturers and mer-
chants can plan and buy in comparative
security, because stuff required to-day
will almost certainly be worth more to-
morrow. But peace prices are falling
prices, and values disappear in the
works and on the merchants shelves.
The situation was thoroughly visualized
in a statement by a large packing COM
pany the other day, that drop of one
cent pound in pork would result in
loss of $2,5O0,O0O to that concern
alone.
This process of price adjustment
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

adjustment with production and en-
ployment waiting upon business deci-
sions and buyer and seller facing hard
facts. No matter how anxious both
may be to go ahead, these fundamental
questions must be tackled and solved
Or at least adjusted until they solve
themselves through worldwide resump-
ton of production and commerce.
Really, we are going through the
woods again.
When war broke out in 1914 peace
production stopped Business entered
the woods. 1t was a very gloomy place
Business thought the world had come
to an end. 1t laid off workers. cancelled
orders and contracts, refused to stock
merchandise. Cotton was piled in the
streets down South and peddled around
by the bale to banks, hotels aud thea
tres. Had any one with confidence and
capital bought the short fibre cotton
known as linters then for a few dollars
a bale within eight months he would
have made his fortune, because linters
were found fine materials for explosives
and sold as high as cotton itself in nor
NAL times, when the war demand from
Europe developed early in 1915. Every
manufacturer who laid off workers
found it difficult to get them back when
the war demand materialized. Every
merchant who cancelled orders for
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

facturers took the lead in January with
a big meeting in New York, at which
it was agreed that adjustments during
the next six months should be made on
the basis Of the lowest prices at which
goods are sold during that period
Still another interesting field, viewed
from this price standpoint, is the steel
industry. Our steel-making capacity
has almost doubled during the war
Prices have reached levels which make
construction work of all kinds very
costly. Roughly speaking, certain kinds
of structural steel at one cent q pound
encouraged wide building operations
before the war, but the mills did not
find that price yielding satisfactory
profit. When such steel sold at IA
cents a pound the steel men were pros
porous and happy and building was still
lively. With such steel selling at two
cents a pound and more, building lags.
1t is hard to secure capital for con-
struction. and 4 vast army of builders
and wage earners marks time. 1t is of
little use to point out that the railroads
need in rails alone perhaps one pound
of steel out of every five that the mills
could make this year running at full
capacity - 100000 tons or that
communities everywhere are under
built. Until price uncertainties have
been squarely met and insurance pro-
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

make an issue. Great Britain's diplomats
have gone long way to persuade her
colonies to abandon even reasonable claims
to German soil They have been ubiqui-
tous in helping everywhere. The league
of nations project was in danger; and it
IS the conception of the British that the
future belongs IN q great measure to
America. that cooperation with America
is Of the utmost Importance to the Brit
ISL Empire, and that any solution of the
Paris conference which misses this will be
a total disaster for Britain
It is not accurate to think of the British
as opposing Americans in the matter Of the
league Of nations at any point. Difference
Of opinion between Americans and British
on the league o. nations does not exist and
has not actually existed. By contrast, it
has been the British who have saved the
league Of nations, after the project had
been brought 70 Europe by Mr.. Wilson and
when il seemed more or less doomed.
The English, unlike the French. are not
chained to some fixed problems and some
fixed solution of as many problems. They
Go not, like the French. have to insist on
destruction Of German strategic railroads
on the lower Mosele. They are able and
can yield where they choose, and they have
with great readiness yielded, and with
great skill and adroitness got around, any
cases Of difficulty hitherto. A quarrel be-
tween the British and the Americans is i'm
possible, so far as the British are con-
cerned. The league of nations is inevitable,
for while il is experiment in idealism
for America it is fixed doctrine of for
eign policy hereafter with Great Britain,
the one possible means of escape from the
burden, great now and bound TO become
greater in the future-an escape achieved
by dividing the burden without increasing
political complications.
tcopsrsshs 1919 Mcclure Ncwspsrsr syndNss.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

until they are subject to general adjust
ment through world lowering of all
prices. Moreover, should either wages
or material prices fall during the year,
this will be reflected in manufacturing
costs, so there is not likely to be any
loss under the guaranteed price.
Even more interesting has been the
price situation in textile and drygoods
generally. When buyer and seller first
came together in this field their price
views were dogmatic. Buyers main
tanned that prices must come down and
manufacturers insisted that they must
stay up. Uncle Sam had millions of
pounds Of wool to sell in the open mar
ket and millions Of bales of cloth, mill
ions of uniforms ready to wear, mill
ions of suits of underwear, hats, shoes.
Buyers pointed to these great govern
ment stocks to scare the manufacturers,
and the manufacturers, while undoubt-
edly frightened, held dogmatically to
their belief that prices should not come
down.
Then things began to happen Uncle
Sam announced auctions of his wool,
but got prices that were considered far
too high by both manufacturers and
merchants. Isolated articles like
bleached muslin were actually quoted
at reductions of several cents a yard or
pound Competition doomed up in fab
RIGS from England and japan, made of
materials quoted decidedly lower in
world markets and brought in under
our new tariff, which has really never
been tested. Finally, both buyer and
seller began to get together, and the
guaranteed price was adopted as a basis
Of adjustment The knit goods manu-
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09
brif0ns VIII Be
Friends

ne lessons Of the war nave been more
s'sasiy understood BY British statesmen
.ssh Dy any other; they alone realize that
sHs relations Of the great nations have been
shansed- decisive role In war and in
SSaee belongs TO America, for precisely the
Sans reason that Great Britain held II 40
.''sa IN the past. We have come relatively
ifesh upon the stricken field. We alone
''ua strong, fighting az well az other
wa Therefore It Is necessary to recog-
~ 80 America. British policy has accepted
s s'' sisnation skiifully. The keynote Of the
s1se'sn policy is that there shall be no
g'ssk 81 any kind between America and
.n' that every conceivable concession
Ns' 30 nads, large or small, on the po-
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09
Wanted: An Applied
IdeaiiSi71

Therefore, from the first moment after I
reached Europe | heard on all sides from
Englshmen the same formula. 1t was the
duty of Americans to square their principles
with their words; to apply the humanity
and idealism which were instinct in Mr.
Wilson's speeches; to stand ready to do our
part in the world, to bring order and justice
ut once and liberation at the proper time to
the oppressed nations.
The British view of the league of nations
which will prevail has already envisaged a
system of mandatares By which the respec-
tive great powers undertake the guardian
ship Of waste unhappy regions of the
earth, responsible to the league of nations
on the one hand, but authorized to admin
lister the regions on the other
Now some one must take up these manda-
taries. The United States, through Mr..
Wilson, has steadily opposed the whole
series of bargains secret treaties, special
arrangements, ct cetera, made before we
entered the war which would assign most
Of these regions to several great powers;
but If these are to go by the board, then by
virtue of Mr.. Wilson's formula applied by
the Paris conference, France is not to have
Syria, neither England nor France is to
have Armenia, neither England nor France
or Italy Is TO have the German colonies
in Africa; then the whole question is
thrown open again and nothing is more GER
tain than that Europe will call upon us to
accept responsibility for some of these
foundlings.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

promises to go on for months, if not
years, and ultimately must affect every
manufacturer, merchant, farmer and
wage Garner. 1t is international in
scope. Strong artificial barriers created
by war will be broken down all over. the
world. The demand for food, capital.
building material and manufacturing
equipment in Europe is abnormal, and
will exert pull inconceivable in peace
time. The stores of wheat, hides. wool,
vegetable oils and other materials in
countries which have been cut off by the
war scarcity of shipping illustrate an
other abnormal situation-and when
ocean transportation is available to
reach tropical countries, the Southern
Hemisphere and the Orient, something is
bound to happen to prices.
beginning in price adjustment has
already been made The manufacturer.
anxious to resume peace production, and
the merchant with bare shelves and wait
ing customers get together, as buyer and
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09
The Real Problems OF Peace Prod,1c.
ton Dranatized From Facts
by an Expert

watt Maybe we can get bargain from
the government-Uncle Sam will have to
sell lot of that equipment"
Now, those who have really studied this
situation maintain that Uncle Sans
trucks are not a menace at all. None of
the trucks shipped abroad will ever come
back - they will wear out over there.
The Postofice Department is taking
from 10000 to $4,000 of those left in
this country. The army will need thou
sands Of trucks as permanent equipment,
and it is reported that foreign govern
ments are anxious to buy every truck
that Uncle Sam does not need himself.
Uncle Sam has announced that he will
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09

Now, British policy in all this has worked
with great astuteness. 1t has analysed what
Mr.. Wilson really wanted as contrasted
with what people thought he wanted; it has
brought its ablest and its wisest and its
noblest and its wickedest men to Paris. 1t
has accepted Mr.. Wilson's league of ma
tons; it has Practically penetrated it and
has in a degree persuaded Mr.. Wilson that
what he really wanted is the thing that is
going to emerge, and this is one of the real
triumphs of the peace conference.