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Show ) LOOKING I PeMe Witl:" p fjjfl By GEOrcr ? rEUSCN - V? AHEAD Piesideni ol Ik . i.j.g College 'SM ' Seaicy Arkansas 'iWvlfr?v . ' ' fe&VM BUSINESS depression is not the price of peace. If peace could be bought with agreements to undergo severe financial reverses and give up many things we have now, the American people would accept the terms bravely, almost unanimously, i Peace would be worth it but peace can not be bought that way. If war should end tomorrow, practically prac-tically everybody in the United iStates would meet a sudden setback in money matters. However, the best economic minds in this country believe be-lieve such a calamity can be avoided, Ithat hard times after this war are (not necessary. Among them are Bernard M. Baruch, John M. Hancock Han-cock and others whose profound knowledge of economics is nowhere disputed. . The recently published Baruch report, re-port, of which Mr. Hancock is coauthor co-author and in which many distinguished distin-guished students of business had a hand, is too big and important to cover in a one-column discussion. It sets up provisions absolutely necessary neces-sary to post-war prosperity, essential essen-tial to the life of Democracy and Private Enterprise. It proposes things this column has upheld as principles for two years. Prosperity AT PRESENT For Farmer America has prosperity. pros-perity. Factories of this country have never been busier than now; jobs were never easier to get; workers were never better paid. Many people are living well, dressing well, setting good tables. Workers always manage to live somehow but - - now, when they live well, rural people peo-ple prosper. Farmers get good prices for as much as they can grow because be-cause factories are busy. This scares many people: Two-thirds Two-thirds of what American factories are making these days, "66 23 measured by dollar volume (call it 50 billion dollars a year) consists of war goods stuff nobody needs in time of peace. But why worry if, as the report implies, peace can create an equal number of jobs or more ? Government TO SAVE our way Can Assist of life, we Americans' must be kept busy, but how? The report says by making mak-ing it possible for factory owners, to keep their plants busy. The pro-; gram has two main features: (1) To get government out" of business and (2) to facilitate the reconversion of war plants to peace-time production. All manufacturers of war goods will be anxious to switch quickly into peace-time pursuits if possible. Government Gov-ernment can help (a) by terminating, war contracts promptly and paying! plant owners for most of their war; work before finishing all the tedious' details of final settlement, (b) by moving government-owned machinery machin-ery from privately-owned plants,' clearing decks for peacetime produc-j tion, and (c) by cash loans. Moral support can come from Washington also, (a) By getting entirely out of business, government can encourage private competition most effectively, (b) By systematic disposal of excess war materials, government can save many markets from ruin, (c) By fixing a ceiling, on taxes, government can keep many! businesses going that otherwise would die. Sound economy, hard work and good sense will save Democracy De-mocracy and guarantee prosperity. |