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Show Published Every Saturday BY GOODWIN'S WEEKLY PUBLISHING CO.t INC. F. P. GALLAGHER, Editor. JAMES P. CASEYBusiness Manager 8UB8CRIPTION PRICE: Including postage In the United. 8tates, Canada and Mexico $2.50 per year, $1.50 for six months. Subscriptions to all foreign countries, within the Postal Union, $4.50 per year. Single copies 10 cents. Payment should bs made by Cheek, Money Order or Registered Letter, pay able to The Citizen. Address all communications to The Citizen. Entered as second-clas- s matter, June 21, 1919, at the Postoffice at Salt Lak Act of under March 8, 1879. the Utah, City, 3 Phone Wasatch 5409. Ness Bldg. Salt Lake City, Utah. 311-12-1- , WHA T DOES FUTURE HOLD FOR CIVILIZATION? The human race sits at the great card game and wonders what cards it will draw for 1921. Perhaps the time will come when the worlds affairs will be adjusted so nicely that the human race will know just about ,what will happen during the period of a year or more. It seems strange that the race, in spite of all that it has achieved, has not been able to regulate civilization in such a fashion as to be able to predict with approximate accuracy the events of a few months. Civilization never will be stable to any comfortable degree until those who are a part of it can base their actions on calculations of the future. How odd it is that economic conditions involving hundreds of millions of human beings cannot be told as much as a year in advance ! A year ago the philosophers and guides of civilization were saying that if the toiler would but work hard to increase his output prices would fall to a reasonable basis and he would be the gainer. Among the toilers who heeded this advise were the farmers and now they complain that they have produced so much that they must sell at less than cost. And the workmen who have lost their positions bv the thousands are not as enthusiastic about low prices' as we predicted they would be. The workers were told that there need be no fear of He was assured that the time was far distant when the wants of the world would be met fully by the producer. It is true that the time still is far distant when all the members of the human race will be oversupplied with goods. The trouble at In some places crops are present is that there is rotting because the farmers would be ruined if they undertook to sell them at present prices. If these conditions could have been forseen a year ago no doubt a remedy or, at least, means of alleviation could have been provided, but we took the cards as they were dealt to us and wondered what cards would come next. We played the game as well as we knew how but always our plays were conditioned by the cards we held. When will the world cease to go it blind in arranging its business affairs for the coming years? Much of the uncertainty can be ascribed to the war. but even in times of peace, with no war clouds on the horizon, we cannot tell 'vhat the year will bring forth in an economic or industrial way. Socialists and Bolshevists were wont to tell us our system was Wrong, It was a statement that did not startle. Everybody knew that the system was wrong. Systems always are wrong in some over-productio- under-distributio- n. n. degree, even when they seem to fit their times most securely. New systems must be found for new times. Everybody knows that. But when prophets of the new time outline just the system that will fit the new order the wise cannot restrain a smile of slow disparagement. A year ago there was fear that Bolshevism might spread throughout Europe. Thanks to the war waged by Poland with the aid of France that catastrophe is more remote today than it was at the beginning of 1920, but the peril of it is not altogether past. A year ago Bolshevism had not even conquered in its own country. This year it has possessed itself of Russia and Siberia and has even taken control of Armenia. Constantine has returned to his throne and has upset the calculations of the allies. The problem of the Near East is. again on the knees of the gods. The League of Nations has failed and Great Britain and France are at odds. Germany hopes that the differences between these powers will become so pronounced that she need not abide by the terms of the Versailles treaty. On the other hand Great Britain, France and Italy, seeing that., their trend is toward destruction, may form an offensive and defensive alliance and let the league go by the board. And all the time trade rivalries, so productive of wars, are being created by the new struggles for commerce. The world is climbing painfully over the ruins of war, but it is still far from the broad and pleasant way. In fact, it does not know how far the ruins extend, and there may be more wars before mankind can settle down in peace to the work of constructing per- manently. The world outside of Russia seems sure of itself in one respect. It wants to preserve civilization. It is not averse to the adoption of new methods, but it believes that civilization, in itself, is a gain, that it represents progress and that the future must be founded on its achievements. Especially in the United States does this idea prevail. The return to conservatism is not necessarily retrogression. For example, it makes no difference to the American people whether the government or private interests own the railroads so long as the railroads are the efficient servants of us all. That is merely a question of method. But what is of overwhelming importance to our people is the preservation of the railroads and their improvement and expansion. The American people are not trapped as easily as are the' benighted Russians by socialistic panaceas. Americans care very little 9 |