WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1929, Page 2

WELLINGTON NEWS

BASIS OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY

(Special Correspondent.)

7 WELLINGTON, August 12. Jn the ; recent report by the Committee on Recent Economic ..Changes in the United States of which President Hoover', is v the Chairman, there are many interesting, points accounting for the prosperity.of?, America. The report coyers the period from 1922 to 1929. More than 100 economists, .statisticians arid sociologists, under the direction of the National BureaiiEcononiic ;Research, aided "(the. otpnmission in-the research worker.liyjshe opinion of the committed ‘the hey' io.' the understanding of the 'United States’, recent economic development is “acceleration rather fi|ij»h''htructiiii'aL2 change.” •It was found during the course dS the survey that the changes had occurred not in form but in speed and spread. “Intensified activity” is the characteristic term used, Here are some of tlfe factors’ ; that’ have' contributed to pit^peri^y: ,“ The increased supply of power an’cl its wider uses; the multiplication by man of his strength and skill / through machinery; the expert division and arrangement of work in mines and factories, on the farms and in the trades, so that production per manhour of effort has risen to new heights; the quickening of the, instrumentalities ! through capital provided from the surplus income of a constantly widening proportion of our people—-all these represent an accumulation of forces which have been long at work.” , Regarding the extent of the last seven years of economic activity, it is pointed out that while the period has been one of intense activity with an “ outpouring of energy which piled up skyscrapers in scores of cities; knit the forty-eight states together with • 20,000,000 miles of -railways; moved each year over railways and waterways more than and .a .half tons of freight ;' thronged the Highways with 25,000,000 motor cars, carried electee-, ity, to 17,000,000 homes; sent each; year '3,750;000 Children to high schools! and more than 1,000,000 young men! and women to college; and fed and amused the 120,000,000 persons who. occupy one-twentieth of the habitable area of the earth ”—this activity has Tiieeh td' s be “ spotty.” ‘

Certain groups and industries have been more active than others, and certaip geographical areas more prosper-, ous than other,areas. Despite this the rising standard of living “characteristic of this period was widespread, and has

reached the highest level in our national history. One of the most striking and significant developments as shown by the survey may be found in of,pri.be • relationships off wriges and the cost ’of living. “ According to the best available statistics, between 1896 arid 1913, the wholesale price level rose on the average 2.3 per cent a year, but wages rose only a little more, so that.'their purchasing power advanced Only 0.5 per cent a year,’’ states the report. “ From 1922 to 1927 prices declined 'on the average 0.1 per cfent a year, while the purchasing power of Iwages rose 2.1 per cent a year.” The widening gap between wages and the cost of living—wages increasing while the cost of living was stationary—may be assumed to have contributed definitely to ’.ithe degree of prosperity which has characterised the period as a whole. With rising wages aqd relatively stable prices we have become consumers of what we produce to-an extent never before realised. iTbe'report states that in 1922 primary production has been increasing 2.5 per cent , a year, manufacturing 4 per cent a b year, transportation 4 per cent, '“..Taking 1919, a year of fair harvests base, crop production in 1922 wad 102,,1925 104, in 1927 106. Notwithstanding the reduction in the hours of labbqr per capita productivity in manufacturing from 1922 to 1925 was 35 per 'cent';' the productivity of farm workers lias increased at a rate probably never .before equalled. All these increases production have been joined to a corresponding increase in the consuming of the American people. A-nil important factor in both the Spe&K and spread which have characteri4{s£|he rqcent ecopomic development jikpS United States is given in the repprf\J’«ls follows: “The economic posiitibri '.pf this nation is in no slight degree .‘due to our possession ’of abundant material arid sources of power, to ,the fact that our domestic market is so large; and that there are no trade barriers between the States of our union. >We.can exchange goods without stopping’ them for inspection or the payment-, of duties between states. We fcaji. ,effect that transfer without the barriers of different languages or customs; Advertising is purely effective

because we liaVe so great an area with a common language which enables us td.talk to all people and to develop national consumption habits, which in tuj-iTvmake possible large-scale producjfcidni”