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Show COMMERCIALFUTURE OFWORLOBISCm United States Is Conceded a Prominent Place by a German Writer. GIVES VIEW ON PRICES Thinks Nations Will Have Difficult Time in Righting Right-ing Themselves. AMSTERDAM, Nov. 30 (Correspondence (Correspon-dence of the Associated Press). The United States assumes an astonishing prominence In all German discussions of Industrial and economic conditions after 'the war. Seldom, if ever, before in : European history has an outside power been so unanimously conceded a place a a determining factor in European affair af-fair B. Thua an article by Professor Franz Emlenburg, in the Review Wcltlvandcl, although dealing solely with probable commercial conditions in Germany after the war, finds them largely hound up wHh the possibilities of American workers, work-ers, and the article is filled with references refer-ences to the United States and its commercial com-mercial future as vitally threatening Germany. Professor TCulenburg believes that the hardships and privations which the Ger- man people have endured and the discipline disci-pline which they have learned have created in them a capacity for economy and hard work which will he their greatest great-est asset In the rebuilding of Germany after the war, and will be their greatest advantage over "leas well-disciplined peoples," like the English and the American. Chief Requisites. Discipline and rigid economy, he declares, de-clares, will be the chief requisites in the great world task of restoring prices to normol levels. "One of the greatest problems after the war will be that of prices," he says. "For Germany it will be a' question of life and death that prices shall fall again from the dizzy height which they have now attained. " He adds: ACfrr the war the level in prices in Uie' world market generally will remain high, not only in Germany, but all over tho world. The causes are not the same everywhere. In the neutral countries and the United titatos, it is less the shortage of goods than inflation that has led to the dearness of everything. In some cases these countries are actually swimming In gold, and this necessarily necessar-ily involves its depreciation. It conies to the same in the end, however, whether the cost of pro-wf pro-wf duct Ion Is increased for this reason . ti or for that. These countries will, therefore, continue to have . high prices for a considerable time after the war, and there, too, people will have to make up their minds to a permanent rising of prices. One Big Obstacle. j In addition, there is a special ob- ' stacle in the difficulty of procuring I1 labor. It is clear that South America, Ameri-ca, eastern Asia and tho United. States after the war will have a level' i of prices similar to ours. In these countries also the cost of production produc-tion will continue high, for similar reasons to those cited in the case f Gormany. The United States will for a long time have to do without the stream f workers which yearly flowed into that country. J jab or in the cotton, wheat and mining districts will be fcarce for years, and for that reason wages will be high. In view of the general scarcity of and demand for raw materials, homo prices for goods will alpo remain high. 1 The cost of production for manu factured articles in England, the ( United States, Belgium and Swit zerland will not be appreciably lower than In Germany. Thus the competition competi-tion in prices by the manufacturing 1 countries appears to bo practically on an equal footing. Even Japan will not be able to offer her manufactures at such low prices as to flood tho i world market. |