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Show i' . -- - - MORE MONEY AND LESS LIVING With money going into their pockets at the highest high-est rate in the history of the nation, the people of the United States face a drastic reduction in their standard stan-dard of living. In March, according to the department of commerce, income payments to individuals, including in-cluding wages, dividends and other expenditures, were running at the rate of $106,000,000,000 annually. an-nually. This compares with $92,090,000,000 in 1911 and more than doubles the low of the depression. de-pression. Despite this increase in income, which means more spending money, the exigencies of the war require re-quire that metals, labor and materials be used for bombers, tanks and weapons necessary for offensive action. Consequently, there will not be materials or productive facilities to turn out the goods necessary to support our present standard of living. Leon Henderson, price administrator, predicts pre-dicts that the national level will be forced down in the next twelve months to the low standard of 1932, which was the low of all lows during the depression. Rationing will effectively regulate regu-late the consumption of certain commodities but the conversion of industrial plants to war production, pro-duction, eliminating the manufacture of civilian goods, will have a more drastic effect. It is interesting to observe that this prospective decline in the standard of living meets with the thorough thor-ough approval of the people of this country. Realizing the nature of the war forced upon them and the evil consequences that would follow defeat, the American people are willing to put up with any inconveniences necessary to defeat their enemies. This sentiment is apparent locally, where various volunteers have responded to calls for service and where many homes have been affected affect-ed by the absence of male members in military or naval service. There can be no doubt of the willingness will-ingness of our people to accept the Axis challenge and to meet whatever the war develops. |