Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-09-22
AT LONE AND ABROAD

ServatlSm TO reallZo the wonder in actuantleS.
AT LONE AND ABROAD
DY AN odd and dramatic coincidence, the
- cherries survey Of European trends and
conditions bv Sir Philip Gibbs and the wholly
different summary Of economic affairs in the
United States which Franklin X. Lane pre-
pared from an extraordinary array Of data
gathered by one of the great Baltimore
financial institutions were published on the
same day. No American can read these
parallel reports without experiencing q star
tied sonsc Of his own good fortune aud the
good fortune of his country.
1t is probable that Gibbs, sensitive. ardent
and knowing, because of his terrible years at
the front how great price was paid By men
who hoped to win something tangible for a
world that seeks peace and light. sees too
many immediate dsappointments in the Old
World. Yet he has been able to perceive
beneath the passion for diversion in Eng
land, France and elsewhere only discourage
ment that verges closely to utter despair.
The peoples who were closest to the war
were left somehow without normal powers
of recupcration. And the confusion and
conflict of national motives that ensucd upon
the partial failure of the Versailles plan
make matters worse. On one hand are ma
tons impoverished and in idlencss because
of lack of coal and raw materials for their
factories On the other are peoples whose
demands for high wages and high profits are
driving up the prices of these necessities to
figures which needy peoples cannot meet.
There is little normal ambition left in Aus
tria in Germany or in France. Such ami
nation as is apparent in continental Europe
seems to be directed toward new military
iS in tbo
World. And the power to come back ap-
pears to have gone utterly out of more than
one country.
survey made with great care over every
section of the United States shows that this
country is passing naturally, without stress,
hardship or friction, from conditions Of war
to conditions of peace. The national mind
is cool and balanced. Labor has been moved
from the hectic atmosphere Of emergency in
duStries and transferred to the activities of
peace time without shock or stress.
In few of the Middle Atlantic manufac-
turing areas there are slight evidences Of
unemployment. Everywhere else in the
country there is plenty of work at high
wages. The immense transference Of human
energy from war activities to the labor of
normal times has been smoothly accomplished
without intervals of enforced idlenesS. Crops
porous, and all the banks in the country re-
port an increase in savings.
What is even more significant Is the drift
OF mass opinion, which seems to be generally
unaffected by hysteria Of any sort In Italy
workers have been scizing the metal factories
without thinking of the credits and raw ma
terial without which they are helpless. Here
so mildly socialistiC plan as the nationali-
zation of railways is universally opposed by
people whose opinions are usually supposed
to be presentative-farmers small business
men, skilled workers and the like
The country seems even more TRANQUIL
minded than the politicians. 1t is able TO
take n calm measure of parties and issues.
The drift is toward the Republican marty
everywhere, but it is not so strong as it was
Il few weeks ago. Wages are still! high but
lahor's productivity is not increasing. Here,
of course, is the effect of propaganda di-
rected by those who wish labor to believe
that it is Systematically abused and over
driven. But business men seem content to
wait cheerfully for the mood to pass and TO
do the best they can meanwhile without per-
mitting their spirits to be depressed.
The contrast between America and Eu-
rope is not a matter that should stimulate
our national vanity. Tho situation abroad is
too tragic TO permit cOmplaCenCy on this side
Of the world. We do not deserve all tho
credit for our good fortune We were 5000
miles away from the battlefclds. Shocks
that left some of the old nations ouakinp
were not even felt in the United States. And
yet, if we were 5000 miles away from the
actual conflict, we have been even further
removed from some of the delusions for
which all Europe Is now paying so terrible
"A price. Half of the troubles of France,
England and Italy might he said to be due
to incxpert banking and business methods.
The French fnancicr has been going far
afeld for his opportunities. lie will lend
money in Algeria or in Asia when he will
not lend it to his own people at home. The
British scatter their energies They have
to hold an immense organism Of empire to
gether with bonds that are none too strong
and with an expenditure of strength that
leaves them little energy for other matters.
So internationalized is commerce and bank
ing in Europe that crash or a quake in one
part OF the world will have instant reactions
in hundred quarters far removed.
Fortunately for America, it is in itself a
great field for its cnterprsing citizens. Our
good fortune now is simply the good fortune
that falls naturally to people who are able
to stay at home and mind their own husi. g.