Evening journal., 1920-11-01

experience that the human race has
yet had. You can call = 'inna.ionr
II you want TO, as many people have
kot INTO The habit Of doing. But in
Ilatlon means merely that We have
niyre monty than We have consun-
ahle products and therefore we have
to pay more money TO buy consum-
/ able products. But it is simple as
a & that the very fact tint We have
more money means in Itself that we
nave relatively less cOnsumable prod-
ucis and That the one economic way
10 equalizs the relation between
money and cOneumable prO 1;lcis is 10
Increase pr iduction. Less production
therefore = merely a more base
name, because it Is the bqs,s caus,.
Ddck OF vhat people call imitation.
The fundamental fact Is Simply this
When var takes a certain proportion
or iaDor away from the production Of
normal commodities less norma. COM
m0ditles are produced AMI prices 20
Up. When he war is over and labor
goes back to the product on OF normal
commodities more OF them are pro
duced and prices come downEif labor
docs go lack to producing.
When men came back from the
army after the world wdf they had
the same incentive Of high wages and
high pro1. that existed after the
Civil War They found an almost
miraculous increase of equipment,
OF new factories and new machinery
and better methods VIII ioh could be
used to produce more goods in pro-
portion to the labor applied, so that
prices could have come down and
still left big margin to keep wages
and profits up, just as actually hap
nnnnH uffnr tho Civil Mon
At the end OF the World War our
railroads, had unquestlonably. gone
down in efficiency ~but there was
ample equipment and ample labor inn
mediately after the war to bring the
railroads promptly up to the stand
ards OF the rest Of American industry
We also did not have in 1918 any
great new West TO develop, but we
have very prosperous and progress
slve Jnstead Of a wasted and impover- |
ished South. We also still. have far
more natural resources than we have !
either the labor or transportation IA
cllities TO develop. and we now have |
a merchant marine that makes the |
resources OF the whole world more
in 1865.
AT the end Of our war, America had
the economic leadership OF the world !
within her grasp. Our own stores Of |
all kinds Of moderI commodities were |
lepleted and the whole American peo- |
pie with its war profits and high |
wages were ready TO buy and pay fOrt
billions OF dollars worth Of products
which America alone right after the
war could furnish. From being So
D0OOO,000 in debt TO Europe, we had
Of EurOpe's capital to
idd TO our own immense increase of
,apital with which TO finance the pro
luctlon or these commodities. As has
been said, we had an immensely in
'reased equipment OF factories and
naehlhery ready, or easily made
'eady, 10 turn out these products.
All this demand for more products.
III this capital and equipment ready
o produce more products, waited
merely for the return Of labor from
he war and from war industries.
Labor came back from the war and
var industries, but instead OF apply-
ng Itself with the new energy and
Kill we had learned during the war
@ the new resources we h ad gained
turing the war to produce the vast
md the whole world expected inst a
art OF labor Immediately wasted
34OOOOO work days on Strikes and
orced other labor 10 waste hundreds
{ millions more work days because
4 strikes.
Look at the high COST OF strikes
rom this point OF view. The war
lade 1t necessary to take the labor
I some 6,OO0000 men away from
cling applied TO the production of
formal commodities This resulted i'm
uch a reduction in the amount Of
ormal commodities produced thai
rioes went up 100 points-5O points Il
year. Then these 6OOOOO6 men
upposedly went back to the produc-
ION OF normal commodities. hut in
he FIRST year after the war. because
( strikes or labor ineflciencv 49,
.hich, because OF what we know |
bout the efficiency OF American la
pr can only be laid to the spirit OF
trikes-they so failed to produce the |
oods the country needed that prices
vent up GO points still higher. or
lore IN an they had in any year dur
In other words. the rise in prices
uring the war and the rise in prices
Ince the war have been due primarily
exactly the same cause.-the fact |
lat tremendous bodies OF men were |
OF applying their labor to the pro
uction or normal commodities. There
just thls difference in the situation.
IMMENSE numbers Of men could not
pply their labor to normal prOduc-
on during. the war because their
luntry needed them. Immense num-
eis OF men VIII not apply their labor
normal production since the war
ecause they prefer. or are forced hv
lelr leaders, 20 aeitate and strike.