Evening star., 1927-11-05

The findings of the Bureau of In
ternal Revenue. supported by the sta
tistics of the National Bureau of Eco
nomic Research. will make men en-
yious. dissatisfied with themselves and
skeptical of figures which cannot lie
This is because it Is alleged by the
above named high authorities that we
are more prosperous than all the
dreams of avarice. wealthier than
Croesus, ana growing more so every
day.
Nobody ever before was so rich as
we are-we Americans. No people ever
maintained so high standard Oh ilV-
ing. And when each of us looks at MS
personal bank balance and then back
at those highbrow statistics. VINO can
helm being indignant and dissatisfied!
1t is just as easy to overdraW lhe ac'
count today as it was when we were
so poor and so happy" in the days
gone by.
Resides that, there are the pestlt.
erous cynics who take the JOY out OF
dollars by pointing TO their reduced
purchasing power. and telling us tnat
il takes two 50-cent 1927 dollars 10
equal one 1913 dollar, hence our
banker should not fiatter us by 1nti-
mating that We, too. are piutOcfats.
because there is no red ink on our
account.
Our average income in 1920 was
sS23 of the 1913 coinage, but show
ed up as $1.S51 in the modern money
both being measured by what tney
would buy of the necessities OF ilte.
In 1926 we MADE S1.1S6 of 1913 SIZE
hut $2,01O of this latter'day character.
The one great lesson that - thus
demonstrated is that the face value OF
a dollar is of little significance: what
counts is what it will buy in what
we need-or think we must have.
Nevertheless. our marvellous pros
perity is not a chimera. 1t is the
product of peace, of industry, of the
natural resources, and, above all, or
sound business methods, added to un-
precedented progress in using inven'
ton to lengthen the arm of industry
The last half century has made more
progress in labOr-saving invention
than all previous centuries of historic
civilization, and nowhere has that
progress been so great as in the
United States. The faulty of ascrib-
ing our prosperity mainly to the inn
pOverishment of our foreign markets
through the misfortunes of war is
demonstrable. We do not thrive at
the expense of those nations with
which we deal. but in spite of their
distressful condition. Our surplus en-
ports would be in greater demand and
bring higher prices il the people to
whom we would send them were bet
ter able 10 buy.
y X II
The greatest manifestation of our
national growth in business is made In
the increase Of our mails. Up to the
time of John Wanamaker's admins
tration of the post office, in the nine
ties, the greatest annual approprla'
ton for mails amounted to S11o,oo4,'
go: now it is s736.000.000. Last year
a single firm paid in postage S9.2oo,-
600, and several firms exceeded ST.
OO0. 900 each. If we had no foreign
trade whatever, the marvellous home
market would give America unprece-
dented prosperity. 1t preserves us
from the curse of unemployment and
from doles. 1t avoids useless waste
IN transportation. 1t creates de-
ma nd for our natural resources. which
we might have difficulty in finding.
outside OF our own land. among
people too poor to import such com
petition with their own resources.
Prosperity. like love. "begins at home"
We Americans boast of our advance
over all the world and over all ages,
in the use of inventions. Yet many
of the very things of which we are
proudest are of non-American intro
duction. and some date beyond even
the Christian era We may almost
not quite-sigh with William Knox:
o why should the spirit of mortal he proud
For we are the same our fathers have been:
We see the same sights our fathers have
We drink the same stream and view the
And run the sarae course our fathers have
run.
When any one looks with awe at
our great Steel Corporation and won
ders at our skyscrapers, made possi-
BILE through steel and American in
let us not forget that steel
was used thousands of years before
Columbus discovered America. A steel
implement has been found under the
of the Great Pyramid
built 5000 years B.C., and Ii Is con- /
ceded that iron could not have cut :
the great stones of the pyramids. /
The .irotES mentioned In the Bible |
RI Gaulohvs i,npv racoouizad aS steel 4