18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



February 25, 1919 



The tendency to shorten hours, if carried beyond a reasonable 

 point, must curtail production, thereby restrict wealth, and conse- 

 quently the workmen 's share of it, like other people 's share, must be 

 less. Manufacturers generally are showing an open mind and a liberal 

 attitude toward the shorter hour movement. They want to go as far 

 as possible with it, but they recognize the limit beyond which it is im- 

 possible to go without destroying industry. 



The same conclusion holds true in regard to increased wages as to 

 shorter hours. The striking shiiibuilders at Seattle demanded eight 

 dollars a day. If their work produces that much wealth, they should 

 liave it; but suppose it does not, should they have it, auyhow? If so, 

 where is it to come from? Since wages can be paid only from the 

 products of labor, ii one set of workmen receive more than they pro- 

 duce, some other set must receive less. That point is often overlooked. 

 There is interdependence, more than some people think. 



It is pretty difficult for the individual workman to ascertain just 

 liow much he is producing; but it is not so difficult to strike an 

 average for the whole industry; and if cost is above the value of 

 production, that industry must stop. If shipbuilders will not work for 

 less than eight dollars a day, and the ships which they build cannot 

 earn enough to pay it, the yards must close. If coal miners in Eng- 

 land will work only tive hours a day, and the coal which they dig 

 will not seU for enough to pay the wages of the miners, the mines 

 must close. 



It is no answer to this to say that accumulated capital should be 

 <lrawn upon to make up the difference. The accumulated capital, in 

 these two instances, consists of the shipyards at Seattle and the un- 

 mined coal in England. The Russian Bolsheviki have drawn upon that 

 kind of "accumulated capital" to pay unearned wages until the coun- 

 try has gone to the devil and the people are starving to death. 



In a more general way, aU the accumulated capital in the country 

 is represented by tangible property, the farmer 's fields, the railroader 's 

 bridges and tracks, the lumberman's trees and mills, the merchant's 

 calico and nails, and so on. These things are for the laborer 's benefit 

 as much as for anybody else 's. The only accumulated capital in the 

 form of cash consists of the coins in the stocking which the miser hides 

 in the ash can to keep them safe. 



American Money to Finance Our Foreign Trade 



WHEN PEACE HAS FINALLY BEEN MADE and the war is 

 officially declared to be over, one rather important change will 

 take place in this country 's practice. It will lend no more money to 

 the allies as governments. The United States, up to this time, loaned 

 them about eight billion dollars. 



That change in policy will bear directly on our exports. The money 

 which this country has been loaning to the allies has been spent, al- 

 most to the last doUar, in this country. The fact is, very little of it 

 ever left the United States, but it was held here to be used in paj'ing 

 for goods bought by the nations to whom the money was loaned. It 

 was simply placed to their credit, and when they bought supplies 

 from us, they gave an order on the United States government for the 

 amount, and the government paid the seller. So far as the buyer and 

 seller were concerned, the transaction was closed ; but the transaction 

 will not be finally closed until the government that borrowed the 

 money has repaid the loan into our national treasury. 



Transactions of that kind have totaled about eight billion dollars, 

 as stated above, and have added enormously to the business which our 

 people have been able to do abroad. It will not continue after peace 

 has been declared. After that time, those foreign governments must 

 finance their purchases with money procured in other ways. They 

 may, and probably will, borrow from American banks and individuals. 

 If so, they will continue to purchase goods here with American money ; 

 and their purchases will depend largely upon the amount of money they 

 may be able to borrow on this side of the sea. 



Our business men are striking out for foreign trade; yet, it wiU not 

 do to forget that foreigners cannot buy unless they can find the 

 •wherewith to make payment. Willingness to buy and ability to do so, 

 are two things, and the latter is as important as the former. It is 

 possible, and it is usual, to make payments between citizens of differ- 



ent countries, in commodities rather than in real money, it becoming 

 an exchange of products, negotiated through banks and associations. 

 If our foreign trade returns to that basis, no great amount of actual 

 cash will be needed in closing deals ; but foreign trade for some time 

 must be largely cash transactions, for at present the countries with 

 which we expect to trade have little to sell. They will have more 

 when their factories are again running full. Meanwhile, they must 

 have cash, and after. our government quits furnishing it, it must be 

 raised in some other way. Plenty of it exists in this country. At the 

 close of the year 1918 the resources of our national banks exceeded 

 twenty billion dollars ($20,042,224,000). That broke all records in 

 our history. Enough money can be spared to enable foreigners to 

 trade extensively with us; but if they borrow money from American 

 banks, it should be under the stipulation that it shall be spent in 

 America in the purchase of what our people are prepared to sell. 



Angle of the Housing Problem 



THE MOVEMENT LOOKING TOWAED BETTER HOUSING 

 conditions for the people, particularly for the common laborers, is 

 taking form in various parts of the country. In some places the pro- 

 posed laws have the backing of certain cities; elsewhere the state is the 

 unit in which the movement centers ; while some headway is being made 

 in having congress pass laws applicable to the whole country. Grand 

 Rapids, Mich., has enacted a housing law ; a state measure of a similar 

 kind is before the Hlinois legislature, and the movement is gaining 

 more or less headway in many places. 



It is primarily a social movement. It is supported principally by set- 

 tlement workers in the congested districts of industrial centers where 

 living conditions are bad. The purpose of the movement is to provide 

 better living conditions for laborers and their families ; more air, more 

 light, better sanitary conditions, more wholesome food and better pre- 

 pared, and other needed reforms along similar lines, all leading upward 

 to better citizenship and more efficient people. 



The movement thus far has obtained its chief support from philan- 

 thropists, economists, and persons who may be classed as idealists ; but 

 it is time to inquire whether help should not come from that class who 

 prefer to be called business men ? Is there not something in the move- 

 ment which promises to make it worth while to persons who are little 

 influenced by anything except profit and loss, and who measure profit 

 and loss by dollars and dimes? 



The hard-headed and cold-hearted lumberman (if there be any such) 

 might ask why he should interest himself in cleaning the slums, taking 

 families out of basements and ramshackle tenements and putting them 

 where they can breathe good air and be rid of dirt, rats and cock- 

 roaches? 



The question should not be hard to answer, in terms of money. Bet- 

 ter housing conditions for the poor and improvident means more mate- 

 rials for repairs, more doors and windows, better floors and roofs, more 

 and better furniture. These must come from the man who has for sale 

 luml)er, hardware, cement, shingles, paint, and scores of other com- 

 modities. The wrecking of a block of shacks and the building of cot- 

 tages in their place, means business for many dealers, and labor for 

 many workmen. 



Taking that view of the matter, it becomes ppparent that the burden 

 of the movement should not be left to settlement workers, sanitary 

 boards and commissions, economists, theorists, and agitators; but it 

 should have the support of business men, as a matter of business. The 

 necessary steps for such support consist in, first, ascertaining the need, 

 then devising measures, and finally pushing the necessary measures 

 before city councils, state legislatures, and the congress of the United 

 States, until adequate housing laws are placed on the books and ma- 

 chinery has been provided for putting the laws into effect. 



The berries or beans of a small tree in Texas known as sophora 

 viras formerly an article of barter among Indians. An Indian has 

 been known to swap a horse for a pint of the red seeds, which he 

 made into a kind of coffee and drank for its intoxicating effect. 

 The beverage was apt to put him to sleep, and sometimes he never 

 waked. They called the tree "sleepbush." 



