Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-29

StructtOn COulQ nave remaQe so COM
pletely the basis Of industrial life for
so conservative a people.
But while this much can be said in
explanation of the new vigor of French
industry, it must not be forgotten that
the destruction in human life rests upon
entirely different terms. However great
an improvement this new machinery
may be upon the old. the new genera
ton of France cannot but show a les
sened vigor from its irretrievable loss.
Germany has no wasted land. no dew
astated area. but its ability to recover
from complete financial bankruptcy
while still bearing the burden of repa-
rations is a fact not less surprising in
its way than that France 10 years after
the war should be showing signs of
greater prosperity than in 1914. I was
in Berlin when postage stamp cost
two billion marks. and when a single
taxi ride cost nominally as much as the
entire revenue of the imperial govern
ment before the war. There were no
| f1nanciers and economists to be found
anywhere in Germany who had not
yielded more or less to counsels Of de-
! spair.
The memory of AuStria's debacle was
fresh in everybody's mind. The French
were in the Ruhr, holding down the
heart Of industrial Germany. Every
one seemed to feel that Germany could
not recover from the blow that had
been dealt. The government was inse-
cure: taxation was impossible with the
shifting value Of money; for example.
the greatest automobile plant in Ger
many. with over 200 acres Of factory
buildings, was assessed at value
which the decline of the mark in a
snort time made less than the cost of
single automobile.
Germany Saved by Industry.
With these bewildering facts before
them. no wonder that the Germans lost
heart and expected to see their country
Sui more submerged by foreign domi-
nation. Yet few months later the
Rentenmark had been established by a
great act OF faith on the part OF the
German business world. GERMANY was
saved by the fact that throughout the
whole period of the financial crisis the
wheels OF industry kept turning. When
money ceased to be Of value, articles
OF commerce were bartered in its place
and with the return of financial sta
olilty, the great new factories that had
oeen 6ullt before the close of the period
OF innation were ready, with a vast in
crease In output, furnishing a new
oasis Tor returning prosperity. The
VISITOR to Germany today will find II
hard to realize that there could ever
nave been time when the very foun-
cations of German economic life were
tottering; and yet, that was the case
two years after the treaty of Versailles
There was, after ALL one devastated
area IN Germany-and that was In the
harbors of the overseas trade. I recall
a scene in the Port of Hamburg in 1922
when there was not a German shir
larger than a freighter at any wharf
or dock. Before the war Hamburg had
been the second largest port in all the
world. Mile after mile of warehouses
lined its wharveS, vet nearly all were
closed and the great cranes stood rust
ed on their tracks. Today Hamburg is
again where 1t was before the war and
Bremen is once more its rival for the
pennant of the Atlantic fleet.
1t is impossible to do more here than
to recall a few isolated pictures of the
economic progress of Europe in the
postwar period. But 1t is facts like
these which have made possible the
business craftsmanship of Owen D.
Young and his associates. That, how
ever. does not in any way lessen the
credit due to those who have finally
drawn up the balance sheet between
the late belligerentS. The Young
plan" is now a fact of history, and too
tlon. international finance has been
summoned to undertake a new task,
namely. to underwrite not only the
losses OF the war. but the guarantee Of
continuing peace.
Wages Higher Than In 1914.
There is, however, one immense gain
which has been made in the economic
life Of the world since 1914 which is
not so well known or understood THAT
the standard OF living for the common
man is higher now in European coun-
tries than 1t was before the War-as
stated previously in this ARTICLES per-
maps more important than any other
single thing that has happened. Even
IN England. which has suffered most
from the dislocation Of its industry and
commerce and its unsolved problem of
Unemployment, wages are higher than
Iney were IN 1914. The increase is not
mucn, perhaps, compared with the CO.
loSsal gain in America. but judged by
tne european standards the gain has
been real one nevertheless.
In spite OF rising prices. real wages
nave increased quite generally through
out Europe. Now. this fact is of great
slgnincance-and not only in the field
OF economies; 1t points the way to a
more hopeful future in the whole or
ganiSatlon OF society and politics. The
oemocrat1zation of wealth." as we
term the process, is sufficiently UNDER
stood In the United States. owing to
Mr.. Henry Ford's experiment and his
defense OF 1t. Contrary to the predic-
tlon OF Karl Marx, who saw only the
nrSt effects OF the introduction of ma
cnlnery, 1t Is to the advantage Of capi-
TAI 10 increase wages in proportion as
the machine itself becomes an efYictent
SUBSTITUTE for human labor For the
wage Garner can then buy the goods he
makes and. since there are more work.
ers than any other single class in the
world, the stability of industry can best
De increased by strengthening the buy
ing power Of those whose chief needs
are the stable articles of commerce,
Inns process of stimulation of pros
perlty at home is known In Europe as
tne naturalization of industry" That
u mas still obstacles In the way was
SHOWN by the opposition of European
employers to its introduction into the
agenda OF the international labor ONCE
at GeneVa; but in Germany, where In
ouSCry Is best organized. the philosophy
% Henry Ford Is being applied with re-
SuICS similar to that in the United
oIateS. what erect this will have upon
sreaC argument concerning economic
justice takes on a different tone in nroe
portion as labor becomes not merely a
beneficiary of, but a participant in, the
prosperity that is produced by the new
industrial revolution.
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