Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-12-31
World RecoDerS Quickly
By BRIGGS
[From the Kansas City star1

ltrom the Kansas City start
Forty thousand persons, dis
! patch from Lille. France, said the
! other day, are at work in the
French textile mills that only few
months ago were in ruins. Within a
| year it is believed production of
! textiles will reach half the pre-war
! totals, while within two years the
! 1914 production will have been sur
| passed.
| Such recovery seems astonishing.
1t really is not. Years ago John
! stuart Mill analyZed the conditions
| OF the reproduction of capital and
forecast exactly the sort of thing
that is happening in France to-day
Mill pointed out that people hard
| ly realized the extent to which the
| capital of country was constantly
| being destroyed and renewed. They
! talked of ancient wealth." whereas
the greater part, in value of the
/ wealth now existing in England" :"
he said. has been produced by hu-
man hands within the last twelve
months. A very small proportion in
deed of the productive capital of
the country was in existence ten
years ago-scarcely any part, except
farmhouses and manufactures and
a few ships and machines; and even
these would not in most cases have
survived so long if fresh labor had
not been employed within that
period in putting them in repair"
The truth of this is everywhere
apparent. In Kansas City a mer-
camille building or an office build
ing thirty years old is out of date
and needs remodeling. Railroads
are constantly renewed. Machinery
becomes obsolete and is scrapped.
( The great heritage from the past is
not IN material things, but in
knowledge. We are far richer than
| our ancestors, not because of things
they have handed down to us. but
, because of the knowledge that has
been accumulated which enables MS
10 produce the neceSsa ries and the
injuries OF life in forms and i'm
quantities undreamed Of The an
phcation of this principle to the re-
coVery OF peoples from the devasta
ton OF war is put thus by Mill:
rms perpetual consumption and
| reproduction of capital affords the
explanation of what has so often
eXcited wonder, the great rapidity
WIN which countries recover from
state OF devastation: the disap-
Dearance in short time of all
traces of the mischief done NV
earthquakes. foods. hurricanes and
! the raVa%es of war An enemy laws
I waste to country by fire and
sword and destroys or carries away
! nearly all the movable wealth exist
! ing in 1t. All the inhabitants are
! ruined, and vet, in few wears after
everything is much rs II was befora
| There is nothing wonderful at ali
/ IN the matter. What the enemy has
! DESTROYED would have been DESTROY
| ed in little time by the inhabit-
! ants themselves: the wealth which
! they so ranidlv reproduce wouId
/ have needed TO be reproduced and
would hHve heon reproduced i'm Dnv
! case and probably in as short a
! time"
! EuroDe isn't ruined so long as the
! people are there. with their knowl-
! edge, skill and Industry. The war
! olready he's been bought and mid
! for. although the evidences of debt
| and the imitation of currency are
! still to he dealt with. Now oil the
/ enormous store of energies of hun
! dreds of millions Of persons will he
! devoted tn the production OF goods
! that shortly will entirely replace the
| destruction of war.