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Show STUDY IN RELATIVITY A global war has given all of us a different understanding understand-ing of relative values of almost everything under the sun. A year ago we talked, glibly about essential and nonessential nonessen-tial industries. Guns, ammunition, airplanes and ships were essential. The lowly milk cow, or the hen cackling when she laid an egg, were just a part of the country scenery. But a year later, we have awakened with a start to the fact that milk, butter, eggs, and a thousand and one other products that seemed relatively unimportant compared to battle equipment, are today the indispensable things that keep our armies and our fleets in fighting trim not only our own but our Allies. Millions of people found, when preparing Christmas packages, that candy one of the articles that we have taken for granted like air and water was hard to get or unobtainable unobtain-able in many cases. And why? Because it was being sent literally by the shipload to all parts of the world, for our armed forces. The army nutrition experts find the American Ameri-can soldier is a better fighting man when candy is part of his diet. It is one of the things that soldiers buy most in railroad stations and camps. It goes into the mountains, jungles and deccrts in many forms as an army field ration. Here is a story of relativity. When the war started, whoever who-ever thought of a package of candy in relation to a rifle, a cannon, a jungle uniform, or a rubber life boat? In twelve months, our sense of values has indeed changed. From now on, the wise man will be cautious in classifying essential and nonessential enterprises. |