Show business loses by war wall street speculators who on the beginning of war in europe rushed into the market to buy war babies may have believed that war was a good thing for business but it if so their view is not n ot shared by many big industrialists the heads beads of some of the largest corporations whose products are required for war purposes are emphatic in saying that war business does no not t pay charles belknap executive vice president of the chemical company of st louis is one of these in an article in the magazine a house organ mr belknap wrote we dont want a war we cant can afford tafford one he was speaking from the sole standpoint of business profit as he said it was a matter of course he was against war from the human aspect wars are invariably followed by business depressions mr air belknap said war disrupts peace tune time progress substitutes temporary profits and long term taxes for the long term real profits of planned research and development peace profits are greater than war p profits the article said that Mon sato has already paid back in taxes to the government three times its excess profits from the war and the bill paid yet similar views were expressed by T M girdler chairman of the republic steel corporation in an address before the founder engineering societies of cleveland he said the impression in some quarters that the steel industry welcomed war as a source of large and easy profits was unfounded and that the notion that war brings any genuine prosperity to the steel industry was a delusion and a snare ernest T weir chairman of the national steel corporation and president of the iron and steel institute asserted in an interview in pittsburgh that american industry must give up the profits and employment of any kind of business that might drag us into war admitting that the war in europe was tremendous tremendously ay stimulating to the steel business he said it was not a healthy condition condition and continued war never produces anything healthy theres a collapse when the war is ended and losses are incurred through heavy inventories and high prices |