OCR Text |
Show f Fear of the Future X . Commenting, very' optimistically, on the spiritual element in O the economic world, Commerce and Finance has this to say: ' By faith Columbus voyaged across the unknown waters of jj the western ocean to discover the continent that we have inherited; by faith our forefathers developed it and established here a govern-p govern-p ': ment conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all mcrr are created equal; by faith we undertook and are successfully il , prosecuting a great war to secure a worldwide acceptance of that Tt :- proposition, and by faith the seemingly impossible has beep accom-J accom-J : plished in 'mobilizing the men and raising the money necessary fof j ? - that war. j Tj .. "And now as we seem measurably near- the end of the struggle : V there are to be heard the voices of those who predict that a long j 1 period uf economicdepression wilMollow- 4U sutxesTTcTminattonrt J "They say that wages and prices must decline, that great! j. r overproduction will ensue, that want and distress will be general j - . and that the costs of the war of which the present excitement has :'r made us almost oblivious will have to be finally met amidst great' . travail." How can peace possibly bring upon us such Jisasters as low wages and great overproduction? It is true that we will be paying the cost of this war for aj - good many years to come, but peace wjll find practically all the. " ft"'1;" "" rhnri nf awaryihinff, with thf rnited States.; f the great producer and provider, equipped as no other nation, with ! ?r: ships. This, to say nothing of the fact that this country, as the j ' " great creditor nation, will be drawing interest on billions of loaned money, directly or indirectly. ! Dtirinf our war period investment in nfw enterprises of oiSi-' ' nary charactcr'is almost at a standstill. Tens of thousands oi lac- tories and other industries have been altered for and devoted to production ' of war material. Peace means that these businesses must be changed back to production of peace necessaries, at a time when fh whole world will be demanding such as never before in I all human history. How is overproduction possible? What pos-:r pos-:r jiblc grounds for reduction in wages? Moreover, while the purchasing power of the American dollar -z Is. flow low and may further decline, the whole American people is - teaming to make that dollar go farther, the folks are conscientiously conscien-tiously studying their dollar, at the dinner table, at the shop counter, J everywhere. Not only are they saving dimes on the dollar at these ' points, but they are determined upon saving through government operations, such as control of transportation and taxation of excesses and abnormalities. However, scratch a pessimist deep enough and you'll always find a materialism. Nothing save faith, hope and spiritual inspira-' inspira-' tion has lifted us from the landing of Columbus' starving, mutinous - crew to our position as the greatest of nations, materially, and a pecpi n ginrinm spiritual! y. that it gives its lives and its wealth T. without stint that people all over the earth may be free, be fed and have a chance to be happy and prosperous as God Almighty intended. in-tended. ; - We hive bled, sacrificed and mourned in this war, but the nation's peace vision is aglow with all the colors of the Almighty's benefurencc, and the pessimists, the materialists who groan over depression de-pression in the future, over low wages and too much of food and clothes, are but as the grasshopper, the moth and the gnat. |