The Cordova daily times., 1919-01-24
FRIDAY. JANUARY "A, 1919.
WHY PROSPERITY SHOULD
 CONTINUE.

JtSN " IIuA t4lN IhN'lN m 'i ID '' prosperity is the question which agi- tates all thinking men in the marts of trade They are watching all the familiar signs and token for indica tions as to the course of business and arc trying to form sound conclusions.
 Admittedly the United States is in better condition thon any of the other belligerent nations. This gives us q position of superiority at the very S.3rt But will We be able to retain it? Can we meet the competition of the world of cheap labor in Europe and Asia and still maintain our posi- tion of ascendancy?
 It must be held in mind that most of the worlds production nowadays is the work of machinery. In labor saving machinery the United States leads .hc world The war has inn proved our industrial organization and has taught us intensive methods of co-op"rl' ion. Given the labor-sav- ing machinery and vastly improved organization We should be able to maintain our supremacy.
 In civil war days the north was gravely handicapped by scarcity ot labor. When worker enlisted 1t left an irreparable gap in the industrial organization. The only way that the north could compensate for the loss was to save. to eConomiZe.
 In these war days we have seen somewhat the same process. We have tried to preserve our wealth by say ing. But We had another method of achieving this object, q method large ly lacking in the d3ys of and after the Civil war. We had the machinery to- continue our production on scale never known before.
 Saving is not the only means of amassing material wealth. No matter how much one consumes he can still grow rich if he produces more than he consumer.
 The war added immensely to con wealth, it destroyed wealth by whole sale
 When our industries were diverted rom the work of peace to the work of war they consumed our resources at an unparalleled rate. Take for example, the case Of coal. The coal was consumed so that ships. guns and explosives might be manufactured that troops might be transported might be equipped adequately for the business of destruction. All of that consumed and destroyed wealth.
 A year before the war our national wealth was estimated at $l75. .000, 900, 0O0 today it is estimated at some thing like $25O.O0OO00 or course, we must take into account the pres en inflated values but it is certain that in the last four years we have llNl 'hi HNONh 'l tNNu"A "N'Na'" although during more than eighteen months of that period we were en- gagged in the work of destruction, Pre- else statistics would help us to under stand more clearly this situation, but the absence of figures cannot hide from us the fact that in four years of war We produced somewhat more than We consumed, although great part of our energies were devoted to the manufacture of things designed for destruction and not for produc- ton.
 Now that peace has come and we are about to turn our machinery back to the work of peace Is 1t not reason able to expect that soon We shall be producing wealth more rapidly than ever before.
 Two clements of danger present thmeselves. We may throw away our wondrous oportunity by engaging in industrial warfare. Strikes, many and varied and of great magnitude. may yetsrd the work of production i'm.