paper, and it can be manufactured with a bare minimum of operators. How soon will ramie enter the scene? Rayon was held off twenty years, but eventually these new materials are plunging into the competition. Meanwhile we buy suits that wear out quickly, linen and other goods that the laundry makes fast work of, and we print on paper that tears easily and uses up our forest reserves. Why?

“The technologist is able to produce an automobile that would really be of service. Designs are all complete for a machine that would have a Hickman or a boat-type bottom, individual wheel suspension, exposed steel parts that would not rust, frictionless bearings throughout, and would have an average life of 300,000 to 350,000 miles without a general overhauling. But just think what would happen if this car were produced! With a production capacity of 8,000,000 cars per annum, we could replace all cars in operation in the United States in three and a half to four years. Except for replacement business resulting from damage, there would be no subsequent demand for automobiles in this country for the succeeding fifty years! What would become of earnings, stocks, bonds, and employment?”

“Shoes? It’s the same story over again. The technologist can produce leather today that is waterproof and has a wearing quality that would make an average pair of shoes wear two and a half years. But our shoe industry, running under capacity as it is, could supply the nation with a ten years’ supply of these shoes within a period of eight or ten months. Believe it or not, the shoe industry has a capacity of 900,000,000 shoes per year. Where is the market?”

“These are examples taken at random from behind the scenes. Is it any wonder that our present log cabin methods of conducting business are being crushed underfoot? Can there be any hope in palliatives and remedies in Washington? A few stabs here and there will be no use. Our stocks of raw materials alone are enough to slow up recovery indefinitely. We have enough copper on hand to take care of all of our needs for two years without mining an ounce. We have enough cotton to make unnecessary the raising of an acre of it next year. The consumption of rubber is at the lowest point in ten years, but the stocks on hand in America or on the high seas consigned to

Editorial Feb33 6

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