OCR Text |
Show rtfr&srtt fi (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) EUROPEAN STANDARDS AND OURS I HAVE SEEN something of farming farm-ing conditions of Europe the narrow nar-row strips of land, of which every available inch must be cultivated that the farm family may eke out a barren existence; the little huddle of buildings along one side of the road in which the farm families live; the horse and cow and pig occupying oc-cupying the first floor of each building; build-ing; the farmer and his family occupying oc-cupying the floor above;' a manure pile in front of every building, each ounce of which must be carefully preserved that the few acres may be kept fertile and productive. In such crude homes there are no conveniences no toilets, no facilities facili-ties for a bath, no telephones, no radios, and never an automobile. In these villages there are no stores, no schools, no newspapers. They represent but a small settlement settle-ment of peasants. One generation follows another. There is no opportunity oppor-tunity for advancement, and among these people there is no ambition to achieve more than a mere living, as their fathers and grandfathers did for generations. Such are the general farming conditions con-ditions throughout continental Europe. Eu-rope. Such is the general standard of farm life in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and throughout the Balkans. Germany has announced that she proposes to establish throughout all Europe a uniform standard of living, liv-ing, with the German standard at the top and serving as a model. That is the aim of Nazi rule. It is a condition born of European methods. Such a condition would not, and must not, be tolerated in America. Here we have opportunity. Thousands Thou-sands of our farm boys and girls achieve prominence in all walks of life. They are encouraged to work for self-improvement, encouraged to cultivate ambition, and out of it all, we are continually improving the American standard of living. That is the American way. DEFENSE TAKES TIME AND CAPITAL WHEN WALTER CHRYSLER bought his first automobile in 1915, they were making them one at a time, and his Buick car cost something some-thing over $5)uff. It turned him from a railroad mechanic into a top-notch top-notch automobile manufacturer, but it took 30 years to perfect mass production pro-duction methods to the point where hundreds of better cars could be built in less time than it then took to build one and so they could be . sold at a small part of $5,000. It took a long period of designing, developing and building machines to do the job. Now we are asking industry in-dustry to step into mass production of tanks, cannon, airplanes and other oth-er defense implements practically over night, and are inclined to condemn con-demn American industry for not making good. The machinery used to produce automobiles will not produce any of the war implements we are asking for. New machines must be designed, de-signed, developed and built for the new job. Not one of each, but hundreds. hun-dreds. The first mass production job is that of tools. Today there are employed in the manufacture of automobiles well over one million men. To provide tools and machinery for each man to work with has cost many billions. To provide tools and machinery for mass production on war implements will mean an expenditure of close to eight billion dollars if a million men are to be employed on the job. It takes not only time, but it also takes money to do the job. Government Govern-ment restrictions as to financing have made it an almost impossible task for industry to provide any such sum. When the threat of war, or the war if it comes, is over, that eight billion dollar investment in tools and machinery would be practically prac-tically valueless. If industry is to protect us and provide for our war-time needs, we must give industry a chance as it applies to both time and money. SEEING AMERICA THE WAR in Europe is causing Americans to see something of the beauty and grandeur of their own land. Trains are heavily loaded with tourists now seeing America, who in previous years had thought of travel only as a trip to Europe, to the Far East or a Mediterranean cruise. An eastern friend tells me he has finally found that the western west-ern boundary of the United States is not the Hudson river. HUNGER MORE PERILOUS HUNGER WILL kill more people in Europe during the next 12 months than will bombs and bullets. Estimates Esti-mates of those endangered by lack of food range all the way from 15 to 60 million and such conditions at a time when America is piling up surpluses of food products. War accounts for but a portion of the difficulty. Lack of a practical, workable, world-distribution system is even more responsible. Americans Ameri-cans can well afford to study thai subject. |