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and furrows of America to raise the food that was to feed not only our 

 armies and the armies of the Allies but also the civilian populations of 

 our Allies and of the neutral nations as well. The first colossal contribution 

 we threw into the scales of war was food in almost unlimited quantities, 

 food that kept the submarine from starving England into submission. 



This is a great story. I wish I had as cheerful a one to tell now, but 

 the story since the signing of the armistice has been of a different kind. 

 Our history during the past year and a half is more like a nightmare or a 

 delirium than anything else. It is an incredible thing that this nation of 

 ours, the richest nation that the world ever saw, with more gold than 

 we know what to do with, more food than we know what to do with, more 

 coal, more iron, more copper, more of every kind of wealth than we know 

 what to do with piled around us in profusion and confusion, for a year 

 and a half has been headed down the hill of industrial bankruptcy. 



How has it happened? Every country in Europe has reasons for its 

 depressed condition. All of them are short of money, short of food, short 

 of iron, short of coal, short of copper, short of all the raw materials, cotton 

 and everything else. They have gigantic, real, material difficulties that 

 stand like mountains in their way. How has it happened therefore that 

 we with no big difficulties except mental and spiritual ones have been going 

 down hill financially and economically every day since the signing of the 

 armistice, while slowly but surely they have been "coming back?" 



SELFISH POLICY CLOSED MARKETS. 



What is the cause of this extraordinary situation? It required almost 

 an act of genius on our part, within a few short months, to transform this 

 the richest country the world ever saw into a country that for the past 

 year has been losing money faster than it ever made or lost it before. 

 We had but to obey the dictates of common sense and common decency 

 and a pahtway of prosperity stretched out before us like a vision of enchant- 

 ment. But we suddenly decided to throw into the scrap head the ideals 

 that had given us driving power, and lifting power during the war. We 

 wrapped the mantle of a purblind selfishness around us. Like Pharo of old 

 we hardened our hearts and said, "the war is over, from this time on we 

 are going to look out for ourselves. Let Europe take care of itself. We 

 will sell them nothing on credit. If they want anything let them pay cash." 



Then what happened? The farmer was hit first. He had the biggest 

 surplus, and that surplus was like a millstone around his neck, every day 

 dragging him down, until the prices of corn and other farm products got 

 below even half the cost of production. In some of our states prices went 

 below a quarter of the cost of production. 



I have been working on this problem during the past year, almost 

 totally neglecting my own business. I have been in Washington most of 

 the time. I told some of the business men in the East, "You don't listen 

 now. You think it is only the farmer that is hit. But there is a silver lining 

 to this cloud. We are all tied together. If we go down you will go down, 

 you business men in the east. If we have no money to buy with, you 

 will not be able to sell us what you manufacture. Although you make 

 money faster than we do when you make it you will lose it a lot faster 

 than we do when you begin to lose it. If necessary, we can eat our corn 

 and our chickens and our butter and our vegetables. If necessary, we can 

 burn our corn, and then practically the only thing we have to pay ready 

 cash for is coffee, sugar and taxes. But you business men have got a 

 weekly payroll that has to be met and it is pretty nearly as large in times 

 of panic as it is in times of prosperity. The first thing you know you will be 

 harder hit than we are." I told them that six months ago. They were 

 polite, but unbelieving. 



But in Chicago the other day I was talking with a multi-millionaire 

 and he almost cried. He said, "I have never known in all my life such 

 times. There was no time during the war when our financial and economic 

 conditions were as bad as they are now." And that is true of practically 



