The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, JUNE 27, 1927. AMERICAN PROSPERITY.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 June 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, JUNE 27, 1927. AMERICAN PROSPERITY.

Why the United States is prosperous has been explained by various authorities. An American viewpoint is now presented, and that opinion emphasises what outside observers had previously offered tentatively. Mr E. M. I Miller, statistician of the National Bank of Commerce of New York, writing in the monthly review of that institution declares that measured by the true standards of economic welfare, employment, iwages production, consumption and accumulation cf capital, the people of the United States are living in a golden ago. So good have l>een conditions during the last few years that business men have hardly dared to believe them real. They have had a nervous fear that such remarkable prosperity could not endure, and have watched anxiously lest catastrophe, lurking around a corner, should swoop upon them unawares. Though it is a safe assumption that there will la? fluctuations from time to time in the volume of business and in profits as a result of temporary superficial factors and of conditions beyond the country, there are some reasons for believing that these variations may be less pronounced in the future than they were before the world war, but the accuracy of—this conclusion lias yet to be put to the test of long experience. The statistician named finds the origin of the good fortune of the United States to he fourfold. First, the natural resources of the country; secondly, the efficiency and enterprise of the rank and fi'e; thirdly, the genius of the industrial, commercial, and financial loaders of the United States; and fourthly, the availability of large amounts of capital, wliicli make the other conditions effective. In the absence of any one of these factors the present level of the prosperity of tlr? country could not have been attained. If there is reason to expect that all •trill remain operative, the people may have confidence in the outlook. Never before has a single nation, possessed

such extensive and well-balanced natural resotmes as those of the l uited States to-day, That the country produces two-fifths of the coal of the world, its reserves of iron ore arc 20 par cent, of actual known supplies, its supplies of zinc, copper and lead, its soil and its water power, its forests and ins agricultural lands, automatically gives the people a commanding position in the business of the world. A great transport system is available to carry the natural resources wherever tliov may he most economically used. In 'contrast with the co-ordination of resources in the United States is the situation in Europe. Ihe political divisions of Europe to-day are the result of natural boundaries which could not be‘profit ably surmounted by the transport facilities prior to the nineteenth century. 'ami, in consequence, although Bn:ope lias great natural wealth, even after centuries of exploitation, its resources are parcelled out among a number of comparatively small States, with barriers of tariffs and red tape between. Just as the utilisation of the material wealth of the United States has been facilitated bv transport, s:> the ambition and enterprise cf the working men and women of the country. and the ability .of the business leaders, are the result of influences lying at the back of the obvious facts. There is the tradition of democracy. To-day, of 79 presidents of class 1. railroads, 33 had only cainnu.n .school education, and began their careers in positions of the most humble sort. As long as emigration partook of the quality of high adventure the United States received the ability far which Europe was unwilling to make a phuc in its rigid ’.social and economic system. There is ever before the eyes of the American workmen, not merely the immediate wage reward but always the possibility of working up into places of responsibility and of power. T lie process of drafting up iroin beUw is ceaseless. In consequence, the working people of the United States aie ambitious and efficient, and all over the country arc men with ability, vision, and experience in training for great tasks. Another requisite is tools. Nowhere else has such a mechanisation of industry been attained. Ibe inventiveness which is so large a factor in the prosperity is itself a result of deeper causes. Shortage ot labour in the presence of rich resources, and a market for goods which can he made from them, is a tremendous impetus to mechanical discovery and improvement. The world war gave business in the United States a. tremendous increase. in the demand for goods—first for the war countries of Europe, and for markets cut off from their customary supplies, and afterwards to meet the war needs of the country itself. Though the after-effects of wartime credit inflation were serious, the availability of this credit during the struggle put into the hands of producers the means of expanding their plants and thereby contributed towards the speeding-up of production. ’ The war did another thing of immeasurable importance, and of many implications. It provided the United States wii.li a gold base for the rapid expansion of credit. The United States received the gold because at first it did not participate in the struggle. Afterwards, when it entered, its resources and productive capacity were adequate to the strain, and the surplus above its own requirements continued to be sent to other countries, whose gdd flowed to the United States in return. Thus, with a credit structure adequate to any demands put upon it, and with resources, labour, find leadership brought together under conditions calculated to stimulate enterprise to the utmost, a remarkable acceleration has taken place in national productivity in relation to population.