n
THE SUNDAY BER: OMAHA', JULY 2. 1922. 'N
Business in U. S.
Is Affected by
Europe's Plight
Many Sigm Point to End of
Depression Period, How.
ever, Asserts Fi
nancial Expert.
By DWOHT W. MORROW.
, i. Xargmm 6 ., la Ik tWw'
UmIUM.)
What relation doe the financial
vhahilitation of Kurope bear to
American business? That if the
juration your president hai assigned
to me (or discussion this morning.
What doea "financial rehabilita
tion" mean? My dictionary telli me
that the strict meaning of "rehabili
tation" U "restoration to a formet
status." Now, that doesn't happen
very often upon this earth. Few
things in life are ever restored to
a former status. We may I think
we will get back some day to a
stable Europe, with an orderly finan
cial system, but we have little reason
to expect that it will be the same
Europe that we knew in 1914. It
is not easy to tell what kind of a
Europe it is going to be, but I think
we have moved far enough away
from the war to realize that some of
the dire predictions that were made
three years ago have not been ful
filled by the events. For instance,
we heard a great deal about the per
manent abolition of the gold stand
ard. We do not hear so much of that
at the present time.
Currency Stabilized.
England during the past two years
has handled its budget so rigorously
that intelligent people are looking
forward to a full resumption of spe-
. cie payments in England within a
short time. In both France and
Italy the unit of currency has tended
to become stabilized. To be sure,
the paper franc and the paper Jira
are selling substantially below the
par of exchange, but the fluctuations
from day to day and from month
to month are not as violent as they
were two years ago. Merchants are
now better able to estimate what
foreign currencies are worth when
measured in the currency of their
own country. I am speaking only of
the countries of western Europe. The
information from Germany, from
middle Europe and from Russia is
still too meager to enable students
of financial conditions to form defi
nite conclusions.
How will the financial rehabilita
tion of Europe help America?
Unsound Expansion.
I think the answer to this ques
tion must largely depend upon how
much our commercial depression has
been due to the financial chaos in
parts of Europe. It is too often con
sidered that all of our troubles are
due to the failure of portions of Eu
rope to recover financial equilibri
um. Rut this is by no means true.
The depression in the United States
and in England has been due in large
part to the fact that a 'great emer-
. gency dejTjanl-for., goods in 919
led to unsound expansion. With the
disappearance of the emergency de
mand the temporary prosperity
passed away, and for the past two
years the world has been working
back through much pain and trivail
to a readjustment of valun.
Two years ago our thought were
all on the high cost of living. Then
the reduction of price came. This re
duction helped the consumer, but
hurt the producers. Inasmuch as
every man is both a producer and a
consumer he has to balance off his
gain in his capacity as a consumer
against his loss in his capacity as s
producer, and, as in every economic
readjustment, the net loss or net
gain has fallen unequally upon dif
ferent classes.
Economic Area Crows.
I'nder the present organisation of
society, where large-scale production
is the practice in every civilized
country in the world, our foreign and
our domestic trade are so Inextricab
ly bound together that no man can
tell how much of the domestic trade
that he engages in is a part of the
processes which go into our foreign
trade.
The most arresting economic fact
in the history of the last 150 years
has been the. widening of the areas
of exchange by the increased means
of communication. One hundred and
fifty years ago the work of any one
man would affect only the few peo
ple in the neighborhood. Almost
everything that man consumed was
close to his home. With the coming
of the railroad and the steamship
and the telegraph and the telephone
our economic areas have kept grow
ing wider and wider. Our foodstuffs
are no longer produced in the com
munity in which we live; the product
of our own labor may go to the re
mote corners of the world.
As an illustration of the great
change that has come in 100 years
we mave recall that in the fiscal year
ended June 30, 1921, this country ex
ported goods to the yjlue of over
$6,S00,00O,00O and imported goods to
the value of more than $3,500,000,
0000. One hundred years ago, how
ever, the exports from this country
were only about $70,000,000 and the
imports were about $75,000,000. That
is to say, in the last 100 years, while
our population has increased tenfold,
our exportshave increased ninety
fold and our imports fiftyfold.
Expansion Affects All.
This great expansion growing out
of the division of labor affects the
lives of us all. Increased means of
communication and large-scale pro
duction have 'made this wide inter
change of goods possible. New ma
chinery, advanced methods and com
munications have enabled raw ma
terials and manufactured goods to be
produced in great quantities and sent
far and wide over the earth.
But large-scale production has not
eliminated cycles in business activity.
Some people think that it has in
creased the frequency of these cycles.
In the old days, when the economic
areas were small, when the means of
communication were scanty, if a
drouth came in one section the mor
tality in that section was almost un
believable. The rest of the world
was practically without knowledge of
the misery of the afflicted rcgioi. It
is hard for us to appreciate that in
the 14th century two-thirds of all the
population of Europe died of the
black plague, a disease attributed' to
under nourishment.
Must Estimate Demand.
The business cycles while falling
less intensely uoou particular reg
ions are now likely to spread over
greater and greater areas. It a
collapse in prices starts in Japan in
the spring of 1920 it soon spreads'
over the whole world because of the
close interrelations of the great com
mercial nations. As a matter of
f-irt, it is snuiing thai what we re
gard ss overproduction does nut
come oftener than it does. Mom of
the processes of large-scale produc
lion, extend over long periods. It
is therefore necessary for every
business man to determine, not ihe
needs of a particular, customer into
whose face he C4rt look, as was the
custom with the individual dealer
who made goods to order 100 years
ago, but he must guess from the best
data available just what customers
and how many will come along at
the time his goods are ready for de
livery. The man who is making goods,
whether they be shoes, or textiles, or
steel products, must make the best
estimate he can of the demand for
his goods. That estimate influences
hi plans for plant extension. Some
of these estimates are made by care
ful study. Hut all human beings
are fallible and men are prone to
overestimate the period during
which the demand will last. And in
times of pessimism and depression
they fear that the ordinary consump
tion of goods will never begin again.
Moreover, when a great upheaval
like the world war occurs, the plans
of all people are rendered useless.
Lesson Learned.
What lesson can we learn from It
all? The great majority of the
people of this earth are sober, in
dustrious people, eager to do their
part in life in return for what life
gives them. They are not gamblers,
they are not speculators, they want
to eliminate as much as they can the
element of speculation from their
business. If the real facts of large
scale production can be thoroughly
understood it will be readily recog
nized that there are inherent risks
thai no human foresight cs, .'ulire
ty eliminate. 1 bote risks, however,
tan be rendered lets burdensome if
men will only accept the teaching
of pt epiritiice.
1 lie ovtrnroituciiun of goods of
any particular kind, the maladjust
ment of production and prices
brought about by the war and by
tlx boom that followed it, will past
away by the operation of the tame
natural forces that have operated ill
such periods in the past. It it the
business of sober and reatonable
men to remember that in timet of
optimum men are inclined to think
that a period of depression will never
come, and in times of depression
men of inexperience are inclined to
think that there never again will he
an adequate demand for goods. In
good times, when there it 5 per
tent more demand than supply, that
S per rent is apt to look like StHt per
cent. The same thing it true of bad
times. When there is 5 per cent
more supply than drmajid, that
overtupply i apt to look like SOU
per cent. With courage, with pa
tience, with tolerance, this arrat
country with its manifold activities
should soon pass through its period
of depression. In tact, the signs
are many that we are already upon
the upturn.
Food Traditions Broken
by Parliament Members
London, July 1. Members of par
liament are not following in the
gourmandizing footsteps of their
nredecessors. according to George
Willsher, manager of the parliment-
ary restaurant.
In the old days members of par
liament were connoisseurs on food
and wine, Wilshef says.'tiut the mod
ern legislator does not seem to care
what or wnen ne eais.
1,651 Carloads of
Trucks Shipped
Interesting Sidelight on Rtii
liens Conditions Shown liy
I. II. C Figures.
An interesting side-light on busi
ness condition in general, and par
ticularly in the automotive field, is
found in the figures shown by the
International Harvester company of
'America on the sale and delivery of
International motor trucks this year.
I'p to April 1, a total of 1.651 car
toads of International motor trucks
have been shipped from the factories
at Akron and Springfield, O., to be
delivered to purchasers. . Of the
total, 892 carloads were shipped west
of the Mississippi river and 759 car
loads were for delivery east of the
river. There carloads would make a
singte train 14 miles long, or ii av
erage tramloadt of 50 freight tart
each. The freight charges alone ap
iroiiii4ttf f.'47,lH0.
If all iliese trucks were plund in
service at one time they would be
capable of moving the IJ.tMHi.WNi.hale
cotton crop of the eniirc Unite!
States, the usual average haul, in
JO working days. The mileage to ac
complish i hip Uk would amount to
10.000,000, a distance equal to 400
times around the earth at the equa
tor. In giving out thrte figures, the
sales department Indicated that the
satisfactory growth iu truck business
war) partly due, at least, to the free
inspection service which has been in
force at the 92 company branch
houses for over two years.
Abolish Purport VUas
I'ariu, July 1. Passport visas have
been abolished between France and
Spain. This in no way affects trav
elers from the United States.
lluliby rort'iltly Itoln
Wife's llair; Divorcer
KaiiM City, Mo., July I. Re
cause lier husband was a cave man
and bobbrd her hair in drt'uuce of
her wishes, Mrs, Mae (1. Tork was
granted a divorce in Judge Thomas
II, Huckner's cg,tirt here.
t ii.. i . . .ml l l i .
pus. I oik irsiuvu ni liri nw-
luud, John . Tork, forcibly bobbed
her 'ir.
"Oon't you JiW bobbed hair?"
Judge Kuiknrr quitjcally asked.
"Well, it may h stylish, but I
don't rare (or it and besides my
husliaiiil mil ulue ran mine ftr rut.
,i ting it," the plaint AT explained.
The
Omaha Testing Laboratories. Inc.
Analytical Chemhts and Testing Engineer
W. H. Campen, Manager Telephone AT Untie Bill
BOS Lyric Building
We have the contract to test all materials and inspect all paving
in connection with the Douglas County road program for the year
1022. Through our services the taxpayers get better pavement
and proper thickness.
We Test Everything Under the Sun
Road Machinery
Little Red
Dump Wagon
Blade
Graders
Bulldozers
Bunks
Dump Carts
Dump
Wagons
Drag.
Scrapers
Elevating King of Hiivays
Grader Maintamer
Elevating
Graders
Feed Boxes
Fresno
Scrapers
Grain Bodies
Land
Levelers
Mangers
Mormons
Road Plows
Road Drags
Road '
Maintainers
Slip
Scrapers
Wheel
Scrapers
Send for Catalogue
Stroud (Si Company
OMAHA
Member
Associaied General Contractors of America
Member
American Road Builders' Association
Skill, Integrity and
Responsibility
A o
meriieaini iravnini:
oration
JOHN T. KERNS, JR.,
General Manager
Contractors of
Public Work
THIRTEENTH AND GRACE STREETS, OMAHA, NEB.
International Motor Trucks
Prove Their Value in Road Work
(International Model 101 Five-Ton equipped with dump body)
Only the Sturdiest Survive
HAULING conditions more severe than those which must be
conquered by the builders of roads are seldom found.
Their work must be done even when the going seems im
possible, for they are bringing us the GOOD ROADS we
must have.
The equipment they use must be built to stand the hardest kind
of service. For their hauling they must have trucks with a wide
margin of surplus power and endurance. Through loose dirt,
shifting sand, deep mud and up the steepest grades they must
haul their heavy loads of gravel, crushed rock, sacks of cement,
and the other road-building materials.
None but the sturdiest trucks can endure such severe use. Tho
real transportation value of a road builder's truck is quickly
proved. And that is why thereare so many International Motor
Trucks used for this kind of work. Their performance records in
actual road-building service, day after day, show that they are
built to survive that they are truly dependable, low -cost
hauling units.
International construction makes International Motor Trucks
worth buying. International Service makes them worth keeping.
Call at our Sales and Service Station and let us tell you whyf
International Harvester Co. of America
Sales and Service Station
Phone ATIantic 0705 OMAHA 714 South 10th Street