The Pulaskian., 1919-05-09
PLACES REIMBURSEMENT DATA AT
 COMMAND OF BUSINESS WORLD

nave a 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- tion and form it into a working li- brary.
 It may be that as the war hears 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 dietum 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- tional, and racial relationships. offer this, though, not for the purpose of injecting idealism in a 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 f1exibility 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. NJ. ". Sprague, 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 3, 1919, with MT. Shenton as it's chief.
 "The reconstruction research divi- sion," said Charles H. Chase, a mem- Der, 'has 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 it is made re- sponsive to the needs of governmental agencies. The problems and respon- abilities of reconstruction tend, as
 
 heavily upon the shoulders of busi- ness and relatively less upon govern mental machinery. Of the two grand divisions of reconstruction, demobiliZa- tion and reorganization, the former be- longs chiefly to the government and the latter devolyes mainly upon pri- vate enterprise. The former tends steadily toward it's 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 busi- ness undertakings.
 "It must be recognized, also, that we have come out upon new world, in q 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- tional economic relations are modified; means of transportation and communi- cation have been partially revolution ized but nothing has undergone great CT change than our social viewpoint, and especially the viewpoint of labor. There are new opportunities and new and promising outlooks, but 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 a 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 it used to be, In the light of world develop ments it is obvious that our business system must prove it's reSourceful- ness; II must QemOlSlFdte HllHertC unrevealed capacity for readjustment; it must show a 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. As Secretary Redfeld says: We cannot be a law unto ourselves any more.' General and continuous prosperity must he underwritten and guaranteed if our institutions are to avoid lnt risk of a trial at the bar of public discontent. Rules of thumb are liable to prove inadequate in this period ot readjustment Nothing short of alert open-mindedness reinforced by pos session of the fullest available infor.