Show economic highlights alia chak effect the duner dinner pails dividend checks anil and tax tat ta t bills of every individual when the first world war bi broke uke out a slice thacula rs holiday fullow followed eil lu in this country by tile the rudof 1914 ithe allied governments yere were seeking war materials from american factories on a vast beale and the eky way vas the limit so fo jar as aatrice price was concerned the allies evia even bid against each other thus adluh bt prices zooming zoom lug A long time before buying became even comparatively orderly aud and efficient if anyone thought tb diat at mail mad kramble was waa duo due to bu be repeated when tiiu the current wa way came luto into being they were just about loo per IM r cent 1300 fore the war was actually declared dec larud both prance lra uce und nud britian had purchasing slug com aulis aul salons lons lu in this country these thee commissions worked cooperatively not at cross purposes purchases were made ly by direct contact with manufacturers thus eliminating the need for brokers and when late lu in january tho the two comm commissions I 1 s were merged under the name of the anglo french purchasing board it became evident that the allies were out to get the most for their money and are working us as closely together in matters us as they are itt in military affairs one purpose of the new board is to eliminate price boosting corn com petit petition iod und 0 overlapping Ver lapping of functions another very important purpose Is to keep in friendly contact with the us ILS govern government meat and to eliminate possible friction that might matir occur if allied purchases seemed to hamper our ofir owai own preparedness pare pa redness duess program the heads of the board are well known busl lihs ness men long experienced with american finance and industrial methods biggest allied demand Is still jor for airplanes so far britain alone inns has placed orders for some worth according to a wall street journal article allied total aircraft buying may run to the astounding figure nf inasmuch as our total air craft output last year was only 5 WO this if it materializes will call for tremendous ex of our aircraft industry it 1 iq believed that the allied purchasing clin sing agents will attempt to get part of the work done by ti tractors actors such as automobile con cerns cerns ln in order to speed matters matte i rs up this ali la government la Is obviously concerned lest iest allied war buying reach the point where there would be an aa inadequate supply of war materials left for us to prevent this the president has appointed a committee headed by secretary representing the Trea treasury gury war var and navy depar ments whose duty Is to coordinate foreign war buying with our own defense deife uso program mr air hits has said that thai our own needs must be filled first hits bus expressed th the opinion that our capacity for producing airplane engines for fighters 14 if insufficient to meet the th demand the allies may thus thua b be forced to pare their exceedingly ambitious present program pro giam ive earu the 1110 makes makers of war mater juls have benefited front tile the war the producers of other commodities have suffered british demand for tobacco for instance has practically prati cally disappeared H Bui utip rope e has no gold to spend for luxuries severe restrictions have likewise been placed on fruit purchasing at the expense of american agriculture despite this however and tie despite sPILe tile the almost complete loss of german and polish trade our exports have been remarkably high the european neutral no less than the belligerents have significantly upped their purchases fron f i om us ua summing up it looks as if tile the war will not lot dislocate our economy tit at time or materially affect prices but when war ends it seem possible that we can can avoid it slump many mally a great factory geared to war production will find that its reason for ei existence has vanished overnight war booms make postwar post war depressions 1 I ofis the key to Eu ropes future may lie lu in the balkans As captain J 17 11 craige says all through history it has been easy to start war in tile the Balf balkans caus hard to stop them 11 if the balkan tates states could got get together aud and form a cohesive neutral bloc their chance of being invaded would be small they would have an army of close to first i line troops adequately equipped and backed by h a sizable air force but the balkans are a crazy quilt of mixed un unfriendly nationalities never in history have they been able to work cooperatively or to adjust their opposed and divergent ambitions biti and policies police s seems to be looking to italy ford for protection as does Bul bulgaria garla turkey and greece ar are the the allies friends though turkey has specifically said she will U not tot aid britain and france should they go td war against the U s 8 R rumania country 0 oi oUa the state which Is really on the spot now while the allies albea hayo have pledged their aid in ease case of need they are far away germany is right next neit door and is Is phra phrasing her demands in unequivocal language chances aro are that kumanga Ruman lit 1 will be forced to go a long wayla way ip doing the bidding it if tills this war Is dobec to become e a real world war wear most autho authorities ties think the starting point wit will be the balkans birthplace of many a add devastating va war of the past |