Show economic highlights big question la in most minds today might be phrased like this illow hew is the european war vav going to affect me as an individual as a worker and as a factor in our society the answer to that must naturally vary with the work you do the way you earn your living in what section of the country you live and what your station in life is and the hazards of forecasting at this early eairly stage are aie obvious but going by the experience of the pasty past it is the safest het bet imaginable that the average man mail and woman is going to be affected by the european explosion and in certain definite ways first war is almost certain to have an influence on the cost of living in tills this country and an unfavorable favorable influence looking at it front from the point of view 0 of the e householder holder who has bag to pay t the e bills however there is no reason for believing as thousands of people apparently did in the first days of the struggle that prices are due for a prolonged trip to the economic stratosphere all over the country people rushed into stores to lay in heavy supplies of sugar flour and other staples As a result many localities reported themselves practically sold out of these commodities stores were forced to ration dwindling stocks this was panic buying which nat naturally aurally created a highly artificial price situation prices immediately so soared ar to completely unreasonable levels from which at this writing they have begun to drop the truth is that we have and have long had a heavy surplus of most commodities sugar stocks on hand recently lecent ly touched in an all time high this years world horld wheat crop was nas the greatest on record und and the U S crop while it did not set ot a record fur us was vas very large we have an ail excess of flour in storage sto ruge dont forget that the gov eri eminent has actually been paying out money in export subsides in an ail effort to find a market for some of these surplus commodities As a result even with heavy war demand considerable time must pass before commodity supplies are reduced to normal much less below normal the moral of it all Is that the consumer has no immediate real worry about greatly soaring prices prices will tend upward undoubtedly and if the war goes oi on long enough a very serious price problem could result but sudden price booms can only follow mass hysteria and the government has certain controls c 0 n t r ol 01 s long established which can be used effectively to curb profiteering and conscienceless speculation at the consumers expense second what about the effect of the war on business there Is no need to go in into the armament picture here if as the president desires the arms emba embargo rao is repealed in favor of the cash and carry plan the munitions industries and the basic industries supplying their needs will obviously boom the outlook tor for other bus bug iness is highly variable for example a prolonged pio longed war would create tin ail insatiable british french demand tor for wheat hides wool aud and similar necessities the producers of these commodities would find unlimited limited markets and good prices and they and their acres would prosper pi usper foreign consumption of other important commodities not so necessary to the prosecution of war would decline cotton and tobacco tire aie cases in point you can uve live a long time without either of these chinin commodities od I 1 ties but you cant live without gaitin kanc result is that tile the cotton people who have long faced a drastic problem of rising surp lusses aud and narrowing foreign markets maik ets may he be struck ano ther severe economic blow this mould be as disastrous to the south as the boom in III wheat would be beneficial to the plains states on oil top of that eliat 1914 18 experience indicates that even een at home in III a neutral country people buy less lii in war var time they make inake their lothes clothes lust last longer build fewer houses ns as a 11 result of oc uncertainty as to the future and certain industries I 1 suffer thus the economic effects of tile the war mir are aie regionally very different it la Is possible tha t one section of the country would undergo a severe depression while another see bee tion a thousand miles away experienced an inflated prosperity one thing to remember booms are aie entirely artificial they strain the resources of neutral exporting powers to the utmost of they last long enough find and when the war ft di Is over 01 er the most drastic kind of deflation must soon result that happened to us last lime chile when ft hem wartime war wai time demand had de developed eloped our productive product he facilities far beyond bo ond any conceivable conce hable peacetime consumption it Is said that the government Is studying ways and means to prevent pi event its happening again it if so it hns bag set about it a difficult task digiunna slie she Is prepared for a war nai of thre alnee c years giove JIo er there are aie some hopes it in may ly be a relatively lelath elv short war significant factor Is that tills this time none of the 1 went to war they went gi linly i with nith worried v 01 lied fittes faces to do hat both germans and julles allies think Is a necessary and distasteful job that attitude create sentiment for foi prolonging the glor toils lous adventure an E and a french in mail in were tide arguing over whose countey try lind hall the finest navy ua they thi old irishman in the cor iler iid to settle the argument tle liili irish lii li liao have the best nay navy ie e said aid in III li chauns elvens name where libie is the trible aim asked the other two to and what a fool ill id be tellin YOU ou lieu hen you ou might be a couple of aples said the irishman undue rastus lawyer was informing ht him in of the legal stains of ills his wat mat rl I 1 i ela in I 1 llo I 1 0 u ush s li ip 11 and his chances for foi divorce I istah stall brown I 1 lillo have fiend di I 1 kin hill kit get it a divorce on oil account of lier her father HL have no it 11 binse use to carry chii a suu gull V high din who ling lias beell Illi lety feel a i laick of if water ian for foi 0 o years M aih liis has quit be i HIM llo in rears a 11 innus lier 1 reak doii din altti ill III nut nu t lives disi IK hv illow kin ilow lio UK tile stock inar inai avi all feels lalli palls s tile willior sooner i or 01 later tint lint uin never heard lit aid ont m of the ci atles offer to run thi the caper li ain i for foi a week |