The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1922-06-15
OPTIMISTIC VIEW Of
JOHN H. HAMMOND
Worlds Greatest Engineer and
Economic Expert Points to
New Prosperity
Return to Normal Conditions
Is Matter of Mutual Aid,
Is His Assertion
BY loHN HAYS HAMMOND.

BY JOHN HAYS HAMMOND.
EDlToR'S NoTE-John Hays Ham
m0Hd, often mentioned as the VOrldS
greatest engineer, and one time men
toned as the probable Secretary of
Commerce in President HudiHgs
cabinet, is in addition to being a
great engineer 4 highly developed
economic expert ana authority on in
terHdtioral problems. His conten-
tioHs as outlined in the following ar
ticie gipe food for thought and the
more they are studied the more pos
dbilitieS are open for the average
man 10 absorb.
The world just now seems to be
deep in the slough of despond and
nations in working out their own
economic salvation seem to be trying
to pull themselves out of the mire
by their bootstraps. If they would
adopt a policy of mutual helpfulness
and reciprocity and exert themselves
to exticate their neighbors, nations
could soon again reach terra hrma
and thenceforth the road to that
seemingly elusive normally to which
we aspire would be safe to travel
with only the ordinary obstacles in
cident to the onward march of civ
ilization. This would be the spirit
of enlightened self-interest, which
until the coming of the millennium,
is the only dependable motive for
the cooperation of nations, or of
individuals, and the only enduring
basis for international or for indus
trial peace.
The spirit Of enlightened self-in-
terest preSupposes the recognition of
the principle of economic interde-
pendence. One must emphasize the
qualification of intelligent self-inter-
est, for unintelligent self-interest is
largely responsible for lack of re-
medal cooperation. There could
be more useful campaign of educa-
tion than to impress upon every class
of every community its dependence
for well-being upon the general well
fare. This is not preachment Of
an ideal, nor merely the enunciation
of an ethical principle, but is the
aim to develop the power conception
of that great underlying principle
which inevitably must be the guide
in human relations. This concep-
ton does not in any way imply the
subordination of high ethical stand
ards to expediency.
MUTUAL BENEFITS.
In order TO attain cooperative en-
deavor essential to national industrial
efficiency, we must recognize the in
terdependence of the industries of
the country and the mutually of
interests. We must realize for ex-
ample the dependence of agricul-
ture on the prosperity Of the manu-
featuring industry, for in the manu-
featuring centers ii finds its best
market, and that conversely all in
dustries are benefited by the pros
perity of the farmers, since more
than fifty per cent Of the country's
purchasing power is derived from
the products Of the farms.
We must realize that the tariff is
an economic and not a political prob
lem and that it should be treated
accordingly in tariff legislation, and
that the keynote of our economic
and fiscal legislation must ever be
to preserve unimpaired the integrity
of our domestic industries and the
purchasing power of our incompara-
bic home market-a market which
absorbs more than ninety per cent
of the products of American labor,
in value twice that Of the total trade
of the entire world.
We must realize that in the build
ing up Of an American Merchant
Marine, which is indispensable to the
adequate development of our foreign
trade, there must be no provincial
ism; that for example, our great mid
die west, which contributes almost
one half Of the total exports of the
United States, is as much a benefc-
iary Of an American Merchant Mar
inc as are our seaboard states.
As TO IMMIGRATION.
II is important that defnitive
policy be established, and that the
admission Of immigrants be chiefly
determined by the labor required to
supply the needs of our domestic
market, plus the relatively small per-
centage Of products destined for ex-
port. 1t is better in the long run to
suffer from a temporary lack Of la
bor than to face the danger Of a con-
gested labor market and consequent
unemployment with resulting social
distress.
There has been great improve
ment in the labor situation, not only
in this country but abroad, within
recent months. Productivity has in
creased very considerably, although
BY nc means has it reached the de-
gree Of efficiency essential to in
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