VOL. XXXI,

No. II

The mobilization of the industrial forces of the world and the reconstruction of industry are the paramount needs of the day. For four years the energies of nations were devoted to conquest instead of to commerce. The world has been saved from domination by a ruthless autocracy and the ideals of popular government have conquered.

The peace that was won by force of arms must be conserved by the power of industry. Nations that have organized into armies must now be organized into workers. To save what we fought for swords must be beaten into plowshares, cannon into looms, and forts must become factories. The war was won by unity of command. Peace can be established only by unity of purpose. As men and women worked with one accord to win the war they must now work for the restoration of the essential conditions of peace. These conditions involve the re-establishment of industry and the re-opening of commercial relations. Progress along these lines is being made, perhaps, more rapidly than is realized.

For some time after the close of the war it looked as though the world were headed for universal chaos. The sudden collapse of governments that had withstood the catastrophies of many centuries threw large parts of Europe into disorder and anarchy and threatened everywhere the destruction of established civilization. Russia is a lurid example of the fate that menaced the rest of the world, a fate that was avoided by a narrow margin, as we are beginning now to realize.

Predictions were freely made that Germany would succumb to bolshevism; the Italian government was nearly overwhelmed with internal dissensions; England struggled for months to master disruptive internal forces, and the opinion was rife that a revolution would break out in France before the summer was over. The year following the armistice. fraught with world menace almost equal to that of the darkest year of

war.

was

Did the world just muddle through, or was there at work below the surface a saving and a stabilizing force? It would seem as though the latter

supposition were correct, and if it is, it was not the leaders whose names are front-paged in all the papers, but the rank and file of the people to whom the credit is due. The world has been saved-if saved it is not by plans, programs or orations, but by work. Crushed and hopeless as it was, it was in regard to Germany that the gravest fears were felt. And yet it was the German people who themselves bravely pointed the way, with their eight hours a day for work and then two more for the fatherland. It was the response of the working people to the need of work that saved more than one country from ruin.

How far along on the road to recovery the war-torn nations are no one can tell. If we look at national credit, the value of exchange, the ability to meet interest and debts, the picture is a gloomy one; but if we look at industrial reconstruction and advances the prospect is far more cheering.

Belgium, the first to feel the crushing blow of the German advance, is making gallant recovery and it is predicted that she will be the first of the belligerents to retrieve her position. Already all but thirty-five of the 1366 miles of Belgian railways destroyed have been restored, and much of the rolling stock has been recovered from Germany. With the exception of the devastated regions of West Flanders, Ypres and Dixmude, the whole country was put under intensive cultivation last spring, and the harvests, especially of wheat, oats, rye and barley, were satisfactory. Most of the minor industries have resumed operations. The sugar plants are working

at full capacity. Coal mining has attained 94 per cent of the pre-war standard. The wool mills have reached about 75 per cent of normal production. Of the cotton spindles 75 per cent are in operation, and 80 per cent of the looms. The cotton mills of Ghent were expected by January first to have reached a full recovery of normal production. Thirtyfour per cent of the window glass and thirty-six per cent of the plate glass factories have resumed. The metallurgical industries will require a year or two to recover, as they suffered more than the other groups. The Trade Commissioner's report says that of 9797 pieces of machinery taken away by the Germans 5069 had been returned by last October.

In France there is steadily growing evidence of the return of activity in the factory regions so wantonly destroyed during the war. The December report of the Minister of the Liberated Regions shows that on November 1, 1919, of 1986 establishments listed 1385 had resumed production in part or in full, a gain of 125 per cent over August. Of the personnel employed in the factories only 12.7 per cent were at work on August first; by November first there were 23.1 per cent. In the "Department du Nord," which is largely industrial, the proportion of personnel employed as compared with 1914 is 26.3 per cent as against 17.9 per cent on the first of September, 1919. I: Lille and its neighborhood this proportion has reached 34.7 per cent as against 24.5 per cent on the first of September, 1919. In the same district the textile industries in general

are employing 32.9 per cent of their pre-war personnel as against 18.7 per cent on the first of September, and 13.6 per cent on the first of August. In the cotton industry, the proportion reached is 38.1 per cent as against 27.3 per cent on the first of September, and in the wool industry, it is 48.2 per cent at present as against 32 per cent on the first of September, 1919. The wool industry in France is recovering most rapidly, the cotton next. In Lille, Louvain and Tourcoing 30,000 men, women and children are combing, spinning and weaving. Over 40,000 workers are now employed in the textile mills of Northern France which a year ago were razed to the ground or robbed robbed of machinery. Government officials and manufacturers agree that before a year passes production will reach half the pre-war total, and that within two years-with an adequate coal supply-the output of 1914 may be surpassed. The new French cabinet is evidence of the wide-awake industrialism of the republic. A financier was made minister of finance, an agriculturist minister of agriculture, and a merchant minister of commerce. The aim of the government is the restoration of French industry and commerce, and it found dramatic expression in the words of Premier Millerand: "Yesterday France had to win the war or die. Today she must produce or disappear." This spirit of France-atwork is beginning to animate the people and it will save France industrially as the unconquerable spirit of the poilu saved France in the shock of

Lens, the center of the coal industry of Northern France, has been placed a sign that all may see: "Lens Renaitra"-Lens will rise again. And so will France!

England has made mammoth industrial strides since the closing of the war. A trade balance of $4,000,000,000 at the end of 1918 has been wiped out by the doubling of her exports and the increasing income from shipping and banking. October, 1919, showed an increase in British exports of cotton piece goods of 74 per cent over October, 1918. Total British exports for November, 1919, showed an increase of over 100 per cent. In January, for the first time on record, exports exceeded £100,000,000. Exports of cotton textiles increased £15,000,000; woolens £6,000,000, and iron and steel products £4,

000,000.

January reports from the Manchester cotton district state that "prosperity is at high tide." In fact the chief alarm at present seems to be over the enormous profits that are being made. Reports state that the development of the Sheffield steel district has been phenomenal, the output now being more than double what it was before the war, while some important branches have trebled and quadrupled former production. British wool manufacturers are planning to recover their former trade and even increase it. Plans are under way for exhibitions of fabrics in London in April. and July, and a "touring trade exhibition" of British manufactures will be sent to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Regarding America, Sir Hamar Greenwood,