Salt Lake Tribune | 1916-08-02 | Page 6 | The New Era

THE NEW ERA. When Mr. Hughes, in his speech of acceptance, called attention to the need of a Jjigher efficiency in this country he Tras uttering one of the keynotes of the future. We have been wont to think that industrially, at least, we have been as efficient as any of the peoples of Europe. Agriculturally the American who coped' with the German farmer often found himself outclassed. But the need for an improvement of our methods is becoming apparent as the result of the European war. The war itself has taught some of the easygoing easy-going nations of Europe that they must organize better and work harder if they are to keep pace with the foremost and progressive industrial nations. Our own methods, especially those employed em-ployed by our great business concerns, have been the admiration of the European Euro-pean countries for nearly a generation. They have copied many of these methods meth-ods and have improved upon them because be-cause they were more inclined to eliminate elimi-nate waste than we have been. It must be admitted also that in the management manage-ment of our municipal affairs we have not only endured waste, but have even neglected to eliminate graft. The present indications are that an empire of 170,000,000 people will participate partici-pate in the future contest for the world's trade. Eussia appears to have "come back'1 in a military way, and the chances are that it will enter the . economic battle of the future, for it is apparent, even if wo discount the help Eussia has received from the allies, that the military recrudescence of the Slavs has been due to an industrial revival. re-vival. This revival probably will 'transform 'trans-form the nation after the war. Inexhaustible Inex-haustible resources and energy exist in the czar's empire, but they have been dormant. After the war Russia will be fully awake and well on the way toward leadership in the industrial contest. con-test. No doubt some years must pays before the people obtain the general education and industrial training essen tial to competition with such nations as the United States, Germany or Great Britain. . But when the fruition comes ' all of the industrial nations must look to their laurels. The competition for the world's trade I will grow more intense with every year, but fortunately the industrial nations will not be struggling for the same ; stock of wealth. The development of ! Russia, of Africa and of Asia will pro duce stores of wealth of which we have little conception at the present day. There should be trade enough for all. If Americans are to maintain their high position in the world they cannot j afford to falter now. They have been hard workers, and their energy, intelligence intelli-gence and training have not been ex- 1 celled anywhere, but close at hand is the competition of a re-awakened Eu- I rope. For this we must prepare.