i6 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



May 



1917 



but the national and international demand for gum has grown up in 

 recent years, and it has become firmly established as a cabinet and 

 finish wood. 



It is not necessary for one to admire any wood in particular in 

 order to enjoy the luxury of rest and recreation in a place such as is 

 shown in the picture. The building is not the only attraction, though 

 it may be the chief one. The trees and the shade appeal in a language 

 of their own. 



The Diverted Billions 



ENOEMOUS SUMS OF MONEY will be taken from its usual 

 channels to meet the government loans, and the precise effect 

 on the business of the country cannot be foreseen. There is, no 

 doubt, that changes will take place in many plans which were 

 formulated before the government's needs were foreseen. If 

 money that was counted on to build a railroad, stock a store, pur- 

 chase machinery, or build a factory is used for military purposes, 

 it is apparent that certain plans will have to be revised. The 

 diversion of six or seven billion dollars from one series of chan- 

 nels into another is bound to have an effect. The government's 

 call for money is being responded to. by persons in all walks of 

 life. The money will be spent for war, which is the biggest busi- 

 ness on hand at present. 



Many persons are giving serious thought to the problem thus 

 brought to the front. Will the diversion of this money into new 

 channels cripple general business? 



The answer is, so far as opinions justify an answer, that in 

 some lines business must be curtailed, for want of funds. On the 

 other hand is the prospect that what is lost in one line will be 

 more than made up in others. The government will spend the 

 money in this country and will spend it rapidly. It will go into 

 circulation at once. It will be widely distributed. It will go to 

 farmers, railroads, machinists, lumbermen, and in fact, it is hard 

 to name any considerable class of people who will not receive a 

 share of the billions which will be spent for war. 



Persons who have nothing to sell which the government needs 

 may not receive any of the money directly, but they will receive 

 their share indirectly; for when plenty of money is in circula- 

 tion, everybody has a chance at it. Hard times are produced by 

 lack of cash in circulation, and a situation like that is not now 

 visible. The fear that something unfavorable will result from the 

 loans to the government is without cause. A considerable portion 

 of the sums which will be loaned consists of money now idle, and 

 no one questions that it is the idle money and not the circulating 

 money that hurts business. Every dollar of idle money loaned 

 to the government will be a direct help. 



The whole population cannot engage in business along lines 

 directly connected with the war; but a majority will be so en- 

 gaged from now until hostilities end. Business wholly outside 

 the war will be rare, for it has been truthfully said that in this 

 war it is nations rather than armies that are fighting; and it is 

 also wheat as well as rifles, and dollars as well as dynamite. The 

 money supplied the government by the people will help the country 

 to win, and at the same time will stimulate business in a way that 

 ought to benefit every man who works with his hands or head. 



Where Will It End 



TT IS WKLL TO TAKE A SERIOUS LOOK in an effort to see 

 1 where and what will be the end of the mania for increasing the 

 cost of every article and commodity that is produced, sold, or handled. 

 It may become an endless chain of increasing cost until a disastrous 

 collapse will come from the natiiral laws of adjustment. 



The railroads want an advance of fifteen per cent in freight. Pos- 

 sibly they ought to have it, but it does not appear that any real effort 

 has been made to find out whether or not they ought to have it. The 

 general public seems to have taken the attitude that the war and poor 

 crops have made everything expensive, and something must be added 

 to prices to meet the increased cost. Then the man who is charged 

 more for what he buys, adds to the price of what he sells, in order to 

 come out even, and in that way passes his increases in cost on to his 



customers. If they will pay him more for what he sells, what does 

 he care for an increase in price of what he buys? It does not come 

 out of his pocket, but out of the pockets of his customers. Accord- 

 ingly, he registers no kick. 



But his customers get busy and begin to figure how they are to get 

 even, and they do what was done to them — pass the increased cost on 

 down the line by adding it to what thej' have for sale. Why sliould 

 they object, so long as they can pass the load along to the next fel- 

 low? It is finally laid on the laborer at the end of the line in the form 

 of increased prices of what he buys, and in order to get even, he 

 passes it to his employer in the form of higher wages which he says 

 he must have. The increase thus gets back where it started — to the 

 employer or manufacturer. 



The manufacturer takes a fresh start, and decides that he must 

 again raise Lis prices to meet the new raise in wages. Thus it goes, 

 round and round, each man passing the load on, and not caring much 

 so long as he can put in one pocket what some one else is taking out 

 of the other. 



This is actually about what is taking place in this country, and the 

 danger of it is that nobody is standing up and making an effort to 

 break the endless chain of price increase. 



The present demand of railroads for another advance is cited as an 

 example only, and not because they are worse sinners than the rest. 

 They are simpl_y a link — a large link, it is true — in the endless chain. 

 Is it not about time that an attempt be made to stop the whirl of this 

 merry-go-round of price increase? Why not resist the railroads as a 

 starter, and make them prove that they cannot increase their net rev- 

 enues by cutting expense instead of going after their patrons for more 

 income? If a stand like that is taken, and successfully maintained, 

 prices and costs may cease to climb and business will settle to the sub- 

 stantial laws of supply and demand. If the race round the arena 

 continues, with each man chasing the man ahead of him and demand- 

 ing more money, there is danger tliat this attempt at perpetual motion 

 will end in failure and a general bustup. 



What $5,000,000,000 Means 



INASMUCH AS THE CITIZENS of America must back the govern- 

 ment to the limit in the present war, and as the policy seems to be 

 to place its cost on the present generation, all must look the matter in 

 the face and appreciate what we are up against. The National City 

 Company of New York City has compiled some wonderfully interesting 

 figures. As we, the people, constitute the factor which will make 

 financing of the task a success or failure, a few of these figures are 

 i|UOted here to remind you of your responsibility. 



The initial amount involved, $5,000,000,000, is: 

 5.14 times the present debt of the tlnlted States ; 

 4.S7 times the value of the estimated wbeat crop in I'JIG ; 



54.9 per cent of the value of all crops for 1916 ; 



24. .S per cent of tiio total raiiroad capitalization ontstauding as of June 

 30, 1915 ; 



14.5 per cent of the total bank resources of the United States on Novem- 

 ber 17, 1910, this total being ?34,489,531,000. 



Wliat citizens of other countries are doing is shown in the following 

 tabulation : 



Normal family iiuonie in England is $1,368 : average annual family In- 

 vestment in war loans is $699. 



In France, the normal family income is $1,000 ; the annual average fam- 

 ily investment in war loans is $358. 



In Ru.?sia the normal family income is $373 ; the annual average family 

 investment in war loans is $139. 



In Germany the normal family income is $970 ; the average annual 

 family Investment in war loans is $420. 



What are you going to do — back up the government financially by 

 giving your personal co-operation? 



In considering the rate advance bear in mind that it isn't yet 

 proven that the roads imist have it and that in many lines the pro- 

 posals mean much more than fifteen per cent. So even if your trade 

 association is handling the matter see that your local commercial body 

 establishes the true local conditions so that you may not come out in 

 the hole when the final decision is rendered. 



