Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1915 — YES, “AFTER THE WAR, WHAT?” [ARTICLE]

YES, “AFTER THE WAR, WHAT?”

Our Republican friends have : tisi? e:iwatly c.-y that was

conducted wit h great ardor through their press bureaus for several months, until it became so absurd that 00 per cent of the members of their . own party gave them the "horse laugh.'’ and so the slogan now is, ’‘After the War, What? ’’

The spellbinders and the high paid press bureau writers now prophecy that everything wilt go to the delimit ion bow-wow .-, as soon as the great European war ends. And yet most of the great asknowledged longheaded business men of the country say that prosperity is here to stay and is increasing by leaps* and bounds. It is probably true that some of the factories now employed in manufacturing munitions of war will turn their attention to something else that will be needed here or in the countries now engaged in the most gigantic war in the history o' the civilized world. For it will he many, many years before Europe recovers from this bloody conflict, and it must look to this country for much of its supplies which have heretofore been produced at home. This will mean great and increasing prosperity tor o! r own coil fi t ry, and the foreign trade so gained will be held in large pari, no doubt. As to the present conditions of the country, a New York dispatch of Nov. 29 says;

“Although i: is reported that 17,e<m carloads of ueightjtre held up in and around the port of New York *■ waiting transshipmen t by sea, some railroad officials say it will not be necessary for other lines to follow the example of the Lackawanna railroad in placing an embargo on the receipt, of freight for shipment through this port. As showing that an enormous amount of freight is pouring through New York, it was stated that .>46 vessels were loaded here within a month, the greatest ni inber in the history of the port;” ( buries M. Schwab, president of the Bethlehem Steel Co., said in an address at '-.Pittsburg on Nov. 23: “I learn today that every sidetrack along the Pennsylvania railroad between here and New York is crowded with loaded freight cars awaiting transportation facilities to foreign markets. “This mighty tonnage is being held up to the detriment of the country, because there are no ships to carry it. “American exporters generally are unhappy over their inability to find the vessels that will place their goods where they can be used.”

And this front Mr. Schwab, one of the leading manufacturers of the country. In commenting on Mr. Schwab’s statement in which he further deplored the lack of vessels to carry these goods, the Cincinnati Enquirer said:

There are now ordered or under construction in the shipbuilding yards of the Delaware river 82 vessels ot an approximate aggregate cost of $55,000,000. There are employed at these various shipbuilding plants upwards of 20,000 persons, and every shipbuilding plant in this country is offered orders beyond capacity for next year. '"There must he additional shipbuilding plants constructed in the United States atid there- must be great additions-to the capacity of the plants already established. The demands of this country alone fob vessels will keep all plants busy for the next ten years, while t c development of South and Central America commerce will call for lines > .ootio to oe uVvueu and control!-

ed by commercial interests in those countries. The congestion bt freight on the Pennsylvania railroad, as depicted by Mr. Schwab, will give ouir readers some idea of the immensity of the business of this country at this time. The New York Central, the Erie, the Baltimore and Ohio, all have the same evidences of high prosperity upon their lines and their sidetracks, and all can tell the same story of the need of the country for a merchant marine. The facilities of transportation for the United States must expand, must increase, to accommodate the expanding and increasing business of the country. New York, Chicago and other cities report unprecedented business. The Chicago Herald of Wednesday last said:

“Chicago trade is the best in years. Merchants are unanimous in calling before Yule business booming. Everybody has money. Without exception the managers of the big department stores and other establishments where holiday goods are sold declare the volume of ante-Yuletide business is by far the greatest it has ever been.” The Associated Press, after a thorough canvass of the United States, says: “Americans have more money for Christmas shopping this year than at any time since the record year of 1906, and are spending it. freely. Prosperity is evident in every part of the country.” Coming a little nearer home, reports made to the Auditor of State of Indiana for the year ending Sept. .90, show that the deposits of the 726 state and private hanks, trust and mortgage and guarantee com-

panies coming under state supervision were $ I 0,459,502 greater than the preceeding year. The total deposits aggregate $208,246,991. Overdrafts showed a decrease compared to the preceeding year, .while resources, surplus, accounts and loans showed a healthy increase. The Republican spellbinder and the Republican editorial writer is indeed in sore straits tor campaign thunder. President Wilson and his advisers have kept our country free from a mixiip in war With other countries, and the gold of Europe is coming to our shores by the shipload, figureatively speaking, and is finding its way through the busy marts of trade to all sections of the United States,

It is indeed not to be wondered that there is deep wailing and gnashing of teeth in the camp of the Republican politicians and would-be of-fice-holders.