The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1944-02-24

WdT Is now Ine supreme factor In
the economy of the United States Over
eleven million of our picked young
people soon will be enrolled i'm the
armed services Back of thes forces on
the fighting fronts is much larger
army engaged in the struggle of war
production and transportation. BY the
end of 1943 our annual rate of pro-
ductiOn was over 100 billion dollars in
goods and services. OF this total
amount One-half -95 billion dollars
worth of products-went to one CON
sumer, the American war program.
Total, global was had indeed brought
many transformations in our economy.
1t has greatly increased the number
now employed. 1t has extended the
hours of work for many. 1t has brought
about great shifts in the number eng
gagged in the different occupations 1t
has taken many thousands of families
from their homes and concentrated
them in the great war-production areas
1t has greatly increased the number of
women workers. 1t has drawn older
boys and girls out of the schools and
put them into the army of producers.
1t has also brought about great changes
in agriculture Marginal lands are
cropped once again, and farmers are
working long hours to make up for the
younger workers now in the armed
forces. 1t has further mechanical agri-
culture
The stimulus of war has not only
doubled our output of goods and serv-
ices, it has vastly extended our in
dustrial plant. 1t has been recently
estimated that prior to 1899 America
had accumulated about 40 billion dol
lars deprecated book value) worth
of manufacturing plant and equipment
while during the short space of three
war years-mid-1939 to mid 1912.
we added the remarkable total of an
other 20 billion dollars worth of
plant.
Total war has brought many new
governmental controls into the econ
Omy. One of these is the Instrumental
ity of "lend-lease' which one economic
writer has recently said might prove
as significant in foreign affairs as the
Atlantic Charter. This was a weapon
Hitler did not suppose the democracieS
could devise. AS everybody also knows
we now have ''priorities," ''price-con-
trolls" "Subsidies," and "rationing."
Through these and similar controls we
have been able to achieve planned pro-
duction and distribution for both mill
tary and civilian needs. In spite of the
huge amount which has gone into the
national war effort, the goods and
services available for civilians have
not radically declined. Certain groups
have experienced reductions, but these
are due to more equitable distribution
of goods among the whole population,
not primarily to a decrease in the total
amount allocated to our civilian con
sumers.
This record in production has its I'M
plcatiOns for-American organized labor.
We now perceive the remarkable pro-
ductiOn potential of our economy. This
national achievement calls for drastic
revisions of traditional estimates of
what is possible and what is reason
able. An economy of relative abundance
is not Il myth, it is a demonstrated
fact. Labor should not let the Ameri-
can public forget the new levels of
living, both materially and cuturally,
which we can enjoy, once the war is
over, if we can successfully organize
for national security, sustained pro-
duction, and full employment. Science
applied in agriculture and industry has
wrought a revolution. 1t has made it
possible for all to have comfortable,
well equipped homes good food, ade-
quate medical care and opportunity
for leisure. So far as costs are con
cerned, we can also afford Il public
educational program in which each
child will have chance to develop
his distinctive interests and abilities.
The conception which should be the
premise of all our postwar thinking is
that ''we can afford whatever we can
produce
No strategy of labor which is merely
concerned with winning a more equal
distribution of Il low national income
is adequate. The day by day struggle
for Job-security now needs to be ASSo-
ciated with an inSiStent demand for
the organization of Il national economy
which will make high production and
full employment possible. The states
manship of organized labor will be
tested by its response to this both
critical and promising domestic sitlla-
ton. The time calls for bold leadership.
We of labor also need to remember
that this record in production was