Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-15

YHAT would old Neanderthal
man have thought if he
wv could have looked down the
telescope of time and have
seen the genius of his de-
scendants so triumphant over nature
that 100000 people, inhabitants of
a. great Republic, were face to face
with plague of too much wealth and
comfort, and that they were soberly
devisinS plans for slowing down the
wheels of production so as to escape
from tyranny Of too much consump-
ton?
How in his cold, damp, hillside cav
ern, where he munched upon few
flSh and a Scanty supply of deer meat,
peering every now and then out
upon the wind-swept, frozen country
side, waiting patiently for the retreat
of severe Winter whose rigor had
killed his first born and visited famine
upon his household-how he might
have envied the generation at the
other end of his telescope vision
10000 years away.
What would w. J. Bryan or Robert
NJ. La Toilette say if some one told
them that trusts We're no longer an
unmitigated evil but necessity and
a benefit; that only restricted produc-
ton can protect industry from the eco
nomic calamity of overproductiOn and
the people from the distress Of having
TO eat themselves sick and clothe
themselves to a point of discomfort?
What would those thousands Of
"plumed" knights who have entered
the lists Of popularity with lances Of
gilded rhetoric against the griffin"
clawed and ''fire-breathing" monster
trust of Car Reeds vivid magma
Ton, TO rescue nation from the
clutches of limited. monopoly produc-
ton, think about this joke of industrial |
evolution? 1t Is safe to say MANY of
them would turn over in their graves
in horrible death nightmare, if it
were possible thus to register a pro-
test
But that is just what is happening
to America, says a distinguished econ
omiSt.- We are entering an era when
the technique of production has so
enormously speeded up production
that the Consumptive powers of the
American people are in danger of lag
ging behind
He Is Noted Economist.
DIR. Harold G.. Moulton. director of
the Institute of Economics. is one of
Americas best known economists.
The books that he has written on
transportation. money and banking
and international finance would make
small library. l questioned him
thus:
Question. DIR. Moulton, you say that
restricted production is being prac-
ticed by industry today in self-defense
from Overproduction. If that is true,
then we have in operation a general
trust system that stretches over the
entire I -
the oldfashioned trust was condemned
because it limited production and
raised prices. But if whole indus
tries are restricting production. the
trust evil has multiplied itself many
fold. Tell me something about how
this is being done and what the out
come will be.
Answer. In America today the
typical industry does not operate to
within 10 to 40 per cent of it's maxi
mum capacity. The iron and steel In
dustry operates from 30 to 80 per
cent of full speed The bituminous
coal industry is badly overdeveloped
and the plant equipment is worked
at only about half capacity. The
httumin0uS mining equipment has
capacity of from 800. 900 900 to
] 900 600 900 tons of coal a year But
the demand for htuminous coal by
the Nation is only about 400. 900 900
TO 00,000,000. The result is that the
hituminouS coal plants work only
half time. The textile industry is an
other example of an industry that
operates much below its ma Ximum
capacity TO avoid overproduction.
Farmer on Other Side
The overproduction of the farmer
as is well known. has been one Of the
causes of his economic distress. He
is trying TO correct this by cooper
ative marketing and attempts to fit
his supply to the needs Of the market
Only recently the department of AE-
r1Culture sent out a warming to the
growers of tobacco To limit their pro
duction by some hing like 10 per cent
in order TO avoid quitting the market,
reducing prices and destroying the
profit of the growers.
Perhaps the most striking economic
fact Of our day is the effort by indus
trial and agricultural as we'll as by
labor union leaders to restrain the
production for the purposes of stabi-