Grainger County news. (Rutledge, Tenn.) 1917-current, 1920-01-01

to destroy and be destroyed. The
diversion of our energies from
the production of useful, lasting
commodities to the manufacture
of material for a tremendous bon
fire has brought about a change
in which we find ourselves rich in
gold but poor in the goods for
which gold is merely an exchange
medium.
The principal cure is production
the creation by hard work and
honest effort of the goods that
we were too busy to produce while
the wal was going on. 1t is only
thru prohibition and the accumul-
alton o ia stock of marketable
commodities that we can success
fully re-enter the field of com
merce and hold our own amid
the intensified rivalry of postwar
trade.
The Progress of the nations
that were at war toward the goal
Of normal production seems to be
in inverse proportion to their fa-
cilities for resuming production.
France, England, which lost more
heavily than America, are wider
awake because their losses were
tangible and of a sort that V e
the dullest mind can comprehend.
And, Germany, the heaviest loser
of all, is even more active in her
effort to get back to normal. The
reason is simple. The average
German, the workman and the
peasant, upon whom production
primarily depends, realizes that
his country needs. his services.
The tremendous burdens imposed
on Germany by the peace treaty
set a task upon the Germans which
at once impressed their minds and
their imaginations. They have set
themselves to work, impatient to
pay off their debts as soon as DOS
sible, and their tasks have taken
their minds of trivial difficulties
and discords such as are keeping
America idle.
A note German engineer said
a few weeks ago that the obliga-
ton imposed upon Germany to re-
build Belgium and France has
provided an artificial stimulus for
German industry that has sorely
needed in times of general lether
gy. Knowing that only by hard
work and serious application their
nation can be economically re-
vived, the German workman has
expressed himself as willing to
10 work ten hours q day and has
agreed to give an extra hour of
his time to help>wipe out his cout
try's debts. He is giving to his
fatherland that which is more VAL
liable than gold, the productive
labor that constitutes the basis
of all waelth.
Meanwhile America is marking
time though the rest of the world
is Fastening to make up for the
losses OF war. Instead of produc-
tiveness we have already had and
are continuing to have a process
sion OF strikes caused by a vague
spirit of unrest which ignores
vital needs and chases after rain
bows. In addition to the unpre-
cedented current demand for the
goods of all kinds On the part of
American buyers, a large part of
the outside world stands ready to
buy whatever we can produce. The
opportunity for world trade so
long sought is here but produc-
tin is tagging instead Of ~increas-
ing to meet the demand. France,
after her hardest efforts in her
own behalf, has finally come to a
realization that she needs the
help of American business men
to restore her pre-war prosperity.
Captain Hector Franchomme, one
of the leading manufacturers of
Lille, was recently quoted as say
ing:
1--WE have lost in DESTROYED
buildings alone l0,50O, 900, 900
f~arncs' worth of property. Our
full capacity for new construction
Eefore the war was only 1,50O.-
100000 francs. Now, with lack of
material, labor and money, it is
much less than that. So, if We try
to do this work alone it will take
us more than ten years to restore
conditions as they existed prior
to 1914 in this one item of re-
building destroyed homes and fac
tories. We must have cement