Sanity in Reconstruction Legislation

Abstract

THE transition to the arts of peace presents to the statesmen and economists of America industrial problems more complex and varied than the transition, less than two years ago, to the arts of war. Our problem then was a single one. It was to concentrate the industries and resources of our country upon the work of supplying the materials needed, directly or indirectly, for war purposes. This, indeed, involved many phases. It required the creation of new facilities to produce instruments of modern warfare which we had not produced before. It required the increase of our existing war facilities, and the conversion of non-war industries into war industries. It necessitated the curtailment, sometimes the cessation, of non-war business, and the elimination of waste and unnecessary production, so that capital, labor and materials could be released to make things needed for the war. It required priorities in production and in transportation, so that war needs could be made and moved before non-war needs, and the more urgent war needs before those that were less urgent. But all these activities, and more besides, far-reaching and extraordinarily novel as they were, were only different avenues leading directly toward a single goal for which we aimed,-the mobilization of our resources, our capital and our labor, to the end that they should speedily produce the things necessary and helpful in winning the war, before producing things which did not contribute to that one great purpose. Now, with that purpose accomplished, the journey back to the basis of peace is begun, and there is no longer a single goal towards which we aim. Not alone from this country, but from every part of the earth, will come calls to labor, industry and capital for purposes as many as the ambition and the initiative of men and nations, free to strive for their varied commercial and industrial interests, can devise. On every side we hear measures suggested to aid us in our 323