The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-06-08
HAMMOND YLDS
OPTIMISTIC VIEW
GREAT ENGINEER AND ECONOMIC
EXPERT POINTS TO NEW
PROSPERITY
ECONOMICS, NOT POLITICS., IMPORTANT
Return to Normal Conditions Is
Matter of Mutual Aid, Is
His Assertion

BY John Hays Hammond
Editors NOte-JOhn Hays Ham
mond, often mentioned as the worlds
greatest engineer, and one time men
toned as the probable secretary Of
commerce in President Harding's
cabinet, is in addition to being a
great engineer, a highly developed
economic expert and authority on in
ternational problems. His conten-
ton as outlined in the following ar
ticle gives food for thought and the
more they are studied the more pos
sibilities are open for the average
man to 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 extricate their neighbors, nations
could soon again reach terra firma
and thenceforth the road to which
we aspire would be safe to travel with
only the ordinary obstacles incident
to the onward march of civilization.
This would be the spirit Of en-
lightened self-interest, which until the
coming Of the millennium, is the
only dependable motive for the CO.
operation Of nations, or of individuals,
and the only enduring basis for in
ternational or for industrial peace.
The spirit of enlightened self-inter-
est presupposes the recognition of the
principle of economic in%terdepend-
ence. One must emphasize the quail
ification of intelligent self-interest, for
unintelligent ~self-interest is largely
responsible for lack of remedial CO
operation. There could be more u.s.
full campaign Of education than to i'm
press upon every class of every COM
munity its dependence for well-being
upon the general welfare: This is
not a preachment of an ideal, nor
merely the enuniation Of an ethical
'ob 10 Nv III " uCNClop
the power conception of that great
underlying principle which inevitably
must be the guide in human relations.
This conception does not in any way
imply the subordination of high eth
ical standards to expediency.
In order to attain cooperative en-
deayor essential to national industrial
efficiency, we must recognize the in
Independence of the industries of the
country and the mutually of inter-
ests. We must realize for example
the dependence of agriculture on the
prosperity of the manufacturing in
duStry, for in the manufacturing CEN
terS it finds its best market, and that
conversely all industries are bene-
fitted by the prosperity Of the farm
ers, since more than fifty per CEN
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 be ever
to preserve unimpaired the integrity
of our domestic industries and the
purchasing power of our Incompatible
home market-a market which abb
serbs 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 benefic-
larry Of an American Merchant Marine
as are our seaboard states.
1t is important that a definitive
policy be established, and that the
admission of immigrants be chiefly
determined by the labor required to
supply the needs Of our domestic mar
ket, plus the relatively small percent.
age Of products destined for export.
1t is better in the long run to sur
fer from a temporary lack of labor
than to face the danger Of a con-
gested labor market and consequent
unemployment with resulting social
distress.
There has been great improvement
in the labor situation, not only In this
country, but abroad, within recent
months. Productivity has increased
very considerably. although by no
means has 1t reached the degree of