The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1919-05-06
.Pl ACES REIMBURSEMENT DATA Al
COMMAND OF The BUSINESS WORLD
e.earh Division Council Of National Deene Offers All
Il. Facilities alton Of industry and
IS. Re,umption Of Trade--Burden Of Reconstruc-
a*$ ton Must Fall on industry.

members forming tise council BY GrOS-
venor b. Clarkson, its director, on May
8, 1918. The president Of the United
States received copy Of this menio-
irnndum, and shortly afterward author
lied the council to begin its studies.
/ In the memorandum In question MIR.
iCiarkson. after defining the prime
problem as being that Of Industrial
Observation-Disclosures broad terms, the
;reconversion of Industry from the
war basis back to the peace.tirne basis
and the reabsorptlon into industry Of
the labor employed In the service Of
the United States said:
4 Changed America.
ut Is elementary that after the war
America will not be the same Amer
lea. Already, she has In many direc.
tions broken with her past and she
is being hourly Transformed. The meta.
3tnorphosis is going on as much in
the thought of the country as It Is
In the structure; the same thing will
be true In the period after the war.
New conditions and relationships cre-
ate new problems for nations as well:
as for Individuals. ). and, let me add.
the change viii be as great In the
Ithought and ideals OF the nation as IL
win be In Its strictly material prob.
lens, whether these be military. COM
lmercial, or those having, to do with
labor.
list ua grant that we shall gain
military succesa Let US then not fall
into the danger.trap of allowing tina
.materisl. effects OF such success to oy--
j iershadcw consideration OF the higher
values which. give nation its life.
The civilized world today, as we know
/! that world, may be said to be one
/ great altar Of sacrifice. II that is not
true now. 1t certainly will be true II
the war continues for another year.
! It Ia our duty In any adequate intel
lectual conception Of the task to see
to II that the gains to the moral as
well as the material well-being Of the
nation shall square with tile sacrifice
"A little reflection will convince one.
that this aspect of reconstruction Is
the fundamental aspect and that upon
1t must be predicated all successful
plans In this direction. Es
"a year ago we were great, lazy
democracy. Lincoln said, "A fat hound
won't hunt That sentence illumined
our national disease. The transfor-
nation from tkat cOnditio Is already
under way. Soon the spirit of the ma.
tion will be q burning fame. There
win be slonghed off the scales fostered
by q love Of luxury and the loose and
boastful thinking that have been our
curse In the last generation. Out Of
the turmoil and the sacrifice will come
discipline and orderly living and think.
ing; and, therefore, with sequential
and irresistible logic will come de-
mands for new conditions Of living
commensurate to the new ideals. Again
l repeat, here is the fundamental re-
construction to which the American
government should address itself. and
only herein can be found the policy
which shall be the groundwork Of any
enlightened organization for recon.
struction. -. '.~ --- 8%
History records but few fruitful
governmental agencies that did not
have 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
ton and form It into working II.
brary.
TT may be that as the war nears 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 dictum 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 discussion
| where undue accent OF It does not be.
long. but to emphasize anew that none
Of ns can see the end Of the road
and that therefore all plans for re.
construction should be builded so as
to permit OF debility or 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 Z staff Of ex.
perts. including o. M. W. Sprague.
professor Of finance and banking at
Harvard, and Herbert N. Sl1enton Of
Columbia. Out Of this staff work grew
the reconstruction research division,
which was organized on February B,
1919. with Mr.. Shenton as Its chief.
Burden One for Business
"The reconstruction research divi.
sion," said Charles, n. Chase. mem.
ber, 'has come to feel more and more
as the reconstruct on has progressed
that It's Information service should be
made available to the leaders Of phi