The Coconino sun., 1921-01-07

to this country but to the entire world.
 The fact is that the year just closed was the true heir of 1919, and as such it reaped to the full the results of the bad seed sown in 1919, this referring to the extravaganza in buying for which the latter year was pre-eminent- ly noted, the piling up of unreason- able demands by labor, and the in- creasing of costs beyond the ability of people to pay who had already been taxed to the apparent limit to carry on a confessedly successful but im- mensely expensive war. The waste of that and earlier years, most of it un- voidable--becauserw is and always has been wasteful of life and proper ty--fnally demanded recks ming, and it's payment bids fair to be her itage for some years. In this respect, while this country has not had to pay the price in dead that other countries nearer the scene of active hostilities have had to shoulder, the effects of the conflict, the waste of liquid capital involved, the lowering of moral tone that followed the exaltation of the war itself, the extravaganza engend- cred, the heartburnings involved, the straits to which the ordinary man and woman, debarred from profiting by the conflict, were reduced, should act as guideposts for centuries to come and set the seal of civiliaZtion's dis approval and condemnation on those who would lightheartedly talk of war as solver of problems, or who, with the terrible examples visible on every hand, should oppose any reasonable means of rendering future conflicts impossible.
 A Glance at the Past.
 Whatever the causes-whether the overlooking of trade and industry with excessive costs-overproduction cer- tainly did not affect all lines-the ex- haustion of mobile supplies of money, as shown by the marking up of loans early in the year and their mainte- nance of credit until the late months, or the attenuation of credit to a de- gree where halt had to be called on the raising of prices of commodities to a point where further buying be- came imposible-the year 1920 will probably be memorable for what is now freely termed the buyers strike or the "revolt of the buyer" 1t would be difficult to fix the date at which this "doing without" movement first became noticeable as a market factor Necessity buying only was urged early in our war years as a national duty later it became an apparent necessity with a large par. of the public. Lost sight of for time in 1919 when the strain of war was lifted, it was again actively preached by public men when the snowstorm of strikes struck the country in the late summer of that year, and was powerfully enhanced by the countless exhibitions of extrava- gance to which easily extorted wage advances gave rise.
 Signs of public impatience with the steadily mounting cost of living grew as the year 1919 waned, but were ap- parently lost sight of that year. The momentum acquired in 1919 was sui ficient to carry trade generally at a very high volume throughout the first month of last year, but severe wealth CT, the tie-up of traffic and the acute , congestion of transportation noted earlier in the year, but eliminating in the winter and early spring of 1919- 20, slowed down trade generally in the second month, and the index numbers of February and March 1, marking nearly flat line on published charts, was a visible sign that wholesale prices were about at their peak. Brighter weather in the spring months and the approach and passing of Easter gave temporary fillup to trade, while prices were driven upward temporar-