The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-07-15
ENGLAND'S LABOR
 OUTLOOK DOUBTFUL
By HOLLAND


 New York, July 4-(SpeciaD.- .-Yester- day in this column there was reported statement made by lead rn Ameri- can Industry which sets forth one of the conditions now prevailing in England which must be seriously considered ana thoroughly understood before the United States is fully ready to aid England in the colossal world financing which IS inevitable.
 This American industrial leader has been in Europe for several months. Ills business career and associations with fi- nanclal leaders in England and the rest or Europe as well as his official relation While we were at war to one of the most important of the war service committees, qualify him to speak authoritativeiy He asserted that labor in Great Britain will not again be as cheap as it was before the European war began and is likely to be maintained at the present high rate. This of itself will have an inn portant influence in re-establishing in England the trade relations with the world which her statesmen and men of Influence hope again to secure.
 Then again there is the important re- lation coal mining and the use of coal as well as it's export which is one of the most serious problems England must solve. Prior to 1914 England5s coal was so cheaply produced that in that way it favorably affected the cost of produc- tion in all lines of industry. Further more, England was exporting coal in vast amounts to other parts of the world
 Never again in the opinion of this American industrial leader will England be able to mine, market and export coa as cheaply she was able to do before 1914. The United States is in position and will continue to be in position to com mand some of the foreign markets for coal which Great Britain formerly ex- clusvely controlled. The coal miners of Great Britain insist upon high pay and will receive it and their condition in their homes and in their private lives will probably be improved.
 ENGLAND'S MERCHANT MARINE
 Before 1914 England was in possession Of the greatest merchant marine in the world. That was of almost inconceivably great value to her. not only in the mas tery of overseas trade, but in the vast income which it brought to her. During the war Great Britain lost 72 per cent or her merchant marine and some years must pass before this great deficit can be repaired. Meanwhile the United States is building up a merchant marine which, if there be wisdom in the manufacture
  make this country substantially indepen- dent, so far as the carrying trade is con- cerned.
 The fourth important point to which this American industrial leader has re- ferred since his return recently from Europe is the magnitude of Englands s in vestments of capital in other Hands and the imperative need of utilizing these in vestments so that they will be able to aid in, r.afi fit,oa f.ir1cy July 1914, Englands investments in oth- CT lands were far in excess of those of any other nation. She possessed vast capital and her yearly income was enor- nous. Much of this capital was rein vested in foreign lands and a good deal of it in her own colonies. When Henry P. Davidson returned from London after his first trip to Europe In the early months of the war he spoke to his friends of the magnitude of England's invest ments in other lands. He was, in his own career as an American banker, la miliar with large figures but he never saw such figures as were revealed to hlm by the English statesmen and financiers showing the amount of the investment or English capital in other londs and ip her own colonies.
 Now the conditions are of such char acter that it seems to be inevitable thas EnGldnQ recall UT Wilhoi oW Oi III ONAAS~ ways utilize these investments so that they can be made of service in refinanc- ing the colossal debt which England has created both at home and abroad.
 It is a reasonable inference that many of these securities will be utilized for the purpose of guaranteeing credits or loan> which may be obtained in the United States. Possibly many of them will DC sold here. If that were to be done upon a large scale, then considerable oirse' to the obligations of England to the United States would be secured.
 CONSCRIPTION OF WEALTH
 Not even vaguely or in the form of mere suggestive hint but as propapi- ity, it may be a certainty. some or the English financiers and statesmen stated to this American industrial leader thai the time may come and perhaps within year or two when it will be imperative that there be conscription of some part of the wealth of Great Britain and per haps all of it. Conscription of this kind. if it be undertaken, would not be the result of the adoption of radical sociai- istic views or even those Of the boisne vist It would be undertaken as neces- sity The wealth possessed by the Sng- i lishmen is very great but it may be es- sential if the nation is to be saved from | financial catachysm or even from tha' i kind of revolutionary movement of which | some hints have recently been given. that l the government stretch forth its hano | and take large proportion of the wealth | now in the possession of the rich men 1 of Great Britain.
 | They may take it in the form of taxa | tion. They may commander it, but what | ever form the conscrption of wealth takes it will be regarded not merely as | a peace measure but in fact as wal measure or something that is due to ths desperate exigencies which the war ha; occasoned in Great Britain.
 These are suggestions which are re earded by this American industrial lead CT as worthy of the most careful con