Montana labor news., 1932-11-10
PRESENT CRISIS
IS
OF WORLD WAR
Held as Growing Indict-
ment of All War.
By GILBERT E. WYATT.

tic and long-continued economic col
lapses as long as the nations take
up arms. Banal? Trite? Perhaps.
But one of the most striking in
dictments, not only of the World
war, but of all wars, as disrupters
of peaceful and orderly progress,
has recently been contributed through
a remarkable research conducted by
two economists.
Professors Warren and Pearson of
Cornell University have, by the most
patient delving, compiled the his
tory of wholesale prices from 1850
to the present.
This discloses that every war of
major significance in which our
country has engaged has been the
cause of an economic convulsion, i'm
Dictated by skyrocketing prices i'm
mediately upon the Inauguration of
the conflict and followed by a debacle
of collapse when it ended.
Wars Roller Coaster.
The prices of 1910 are used as
the base. In 1850, wholesale prices
were about 60 per cent of those of
1910. From then to the Revolu-
tionary war, they enjoyed a steady
and rather even rise. When the
Revolution began, however, they
zoomed almost straight up until the
end Of the war, to a peak of about
two and one-half of those of 1776 and
more than 1875 per cent over the
average for the 1872 years. Right
with the close of the war came an
equally abrupt fall, reaching a bot
tom shortly before 1890.
Here the effect of the Napoleonic
wars becomes evident in a sharp
rise to a level maintained until our
entry in the War of 1912. In that
year.. another ascension occurred Of
something like 80 per cent in prices,
followed with an equally abrupt
slump at the end of the conflict.
From then to the beginning of the
Civil war was a period of compare
tive stability in which prices swayed
back and forth across the average
line of 1910 without great fluctua-
ton, even during the stormy Jack
sonian epoch.
Civil War Skyrocket.
But, coincident with the beginning
of the Civil war, in the very year of
1861, in fact, wholesale prices dou-
bled. A long and sharp decline again
followed the declaration of peace,
which continued until reaching a bot
tom in the panic of 1894. Recovering
from this depression, prices showed
signs of stabilizing at exactly the av-
erage of 1910 until the beginning of
the World war, when the usual al
most perpendicular ascent of war
times occurred, reaching a height
more than 1875 per cent over those
of 1913. The effect of our entry in
to the war was Immediately reflected
in a still further accentuation of
the rate Of increase. Owing, per-
haps to the severity of this conflict
and the resulting depletion of goods,
prices did not begin their postwar
tumble until 1920. This year the
inevitable aftermath of all great in
ternational conflicts could no longer
be postponed. Prices fell straight
down, losing over SO per cent of the
wartime rise in this one year. At
the end of 1920 they reflected efforts
at sterilization, but the effect was
short-lived. The landslide since 1929
is simply a continuation of that
which began with the end of the
World war.
Peace Market Steadier.
Another interesting revelation is
that living conditions, as indicated
by prices of commodities, show a
remarkable disposition to achieve a
long, steady and comparatively even
rise whenever free from the dis
t%urbances Of war. Compared with
the insane gyrations of wartime,
the fluctuations in peace are slight
and c~ompensating within notably
short periods.
This remarkable piece of research
also offers tangible ground upon
which to base speculations as to re-
covery. The trough of prices follow
ing each war period indicates that
we are nov approaching a bottom.
Perhaps we. will go still lower, as
we did following the three previous
big wars Perhaps we have ac-
quired recuperative qualities which
will enable us to achieve that sta
bilization of prices fundamentally
teresting information for their read
ers were they to direct letters of