Evening star., 1928-11-10
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

From it, I CLEAN few illustrative facts.
He says:
1.-The almost unbelievable sorcery Of
industry during this truly incredible dec.
ade since 1918 has been so continu.
ously amazing as to lead the more in
expert bystander to be ready for almost
anything in the field of material achieve.
ment. The whole wide world of busi-
ness has been linked together by new
meshes of intimacy which have pierced
the age-long barriers of eStrangement
and suspicion and have drawn together
hitherto remote peoples and resources
and markets in a manner entirely un-
matched, not simply in any previous dec
ade, but in all the centuries Of record
ed economic history. E
"The triumphs of aeronautics and of
the radio, of wireless telephony and
electrified traffic, of automotive trans
port and synthetic chemistry, found
their origins very largely in the truly
dazzling succession Of experiments and
widespread frantic efforts under the
grave pressure of wartime necessity.
The roots Of many Of these
astounding accomplishments Of the
latter half of this decade reach back to
numerous wartime precedentS. .
It is this mighty force that has made Of
these 10 dramatic postwar years the
incredible decade.
Taking the 1913 production Of GER
tain common industries as 100, their
world output in volume in 1925
has been estimated as follows: Petro-
leum, 277; pig iron, 98; raw steel, 118:
mechanical engineering, 108; electrical
engineering, 201; copper. 140; lead, 1872;
zinc, 116; silk. 156; rayon, $780, pulp,
157. and coal tar dyes. 10l. ..
ITO take another example, the worlds
developed water power has jumped from
23, 100000 horsepower in 1920 to S3.-
100000 in 1926, an increase which is
far out of line with the growth of the
number of workers. 1t depicts. there
fore, most vividly the further harness.
ing of the forces of nature to ease the
burdens of mankind, to make industry
more efficiently productive at less cost
in sweat and drudgery of mankind.
4 k:x
The development in the output of
pig iron Is minus, and pig iron is
usually taken as the indicator of in
dustry in general This condition is
explained partly by the changes in ma
tional control of iron mines from Ger
many and Austria to France, and the
Austria Hungary by the war. There
have been improvements in making
lighter steel frames for buildings, re-
sulting IN great economies. Efforts are
now under way to produce steel directly
without first making the ore into pig.
Important experiments are being made
with deposits of iron sands in Japan,
which may revoIutionize the industry in
the Orient. During the decade, Ameri-
cas- share in production of pig iron rose
from SO per cent Of world production
to SO per cent.
American supremacy is further indi-
Gated in the increase Of the proportion
of machinery supplied to the whole
world from this country: before the war
1T was so per cent; by 1925 It had
grown to So per cent. In contrast with
the manual labor Of the several coun-
tries, the development of the nations
is significant of the rise in civilization.
In America, In 1913. SSH per capita
OF machinery was in use: in 1925 1t
amounted to $23.66 per capita. In Eu-
rope IN 1928. the machinery used
amounted to $l0.19 IN Great Britain,
500 In Germany, $3.45 for France and
Sl.O2 for Russia. Even In Australia.
1t was only $11.07-not equal to The
United States of 1918.
There is special significance In what
DR.. Klein is pointing out, in its influ-
ence upon paciflcation of the world of
the future. Americans have invested
since the war. more than five billions of
dollars in the rehabilitation Of war
stricken Europe, in addition to the Gov
ernment debts still owed the United
States. amounting to more than eleven
billion dollars. Nations cannot maze
war without immense expansion OF
credits, and so long as American finance
holds the purse-strings Of the world
Americas irresistible influence will be
for peace. The billions of American in
vestments and credits back the multi
lateral treaty most effectually.
All this development, and especially
the Observation-Disclosures of business re-
lations, makes for closer understanding,
closer sympathies between nations and
constitutes real foundation for world
peace-a u"'ty of interests in peace-a
prelude f. concert of nations" Ef-
forts to unite the nations first in a
league agreement were vain, but with
the new conditions Of mutual sympathy
the dream may ultimately become pos
sible and real.
lcopyrisht, 1913. By Paul v. coiiinSJ