Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 86.djvu/397

Rh We are now in a more cheerful frame of mind. On every side one hears the hope expressed that we have passed through the worst of the effects of the European war. It was inevitable that the sudden outbreak of the struggle, coming without warning, should disorganize the machinery of production, and cause universal hesitation, retrenchment and caution. It is argued that the American business man has had an opportunity to survey the situation, to ascertain to what extent his trade has been affected by the new conditions, and that now, after five months of study, he is prepared to once again push forward along the lines which have been least affected by the changed conditions.

This more cheerful frame of mind is stimulated by the news leaders in our daily press. Mr. Charles M. Schwab's alleged interview, in which he asserted that there were over $300,000,000 of orders for war materials in process of manufacture, has been given the greatest prominence. Every mill which has received a contract or to which an inquiry, real or alleged, has been directed concerning the sale or manufacture of blankets, automobiles, cartridges, rifles, cannon, clothing, harness and saddlery, oil, copper, and in fact the vast range of articles which are being consumed in this struggle, has been given prominence.

In spite of this optimism we must realize that in New York City over one hundred thousand men are out of work, while the army of unemployed in the entire country is estimated by responsible observers to be as high as one million in number. As Judge Gary, of the United States Steel Corporation, has well said, the need for aid for the unemployed is perhaps greater than the need of the sufferers in Belgium. Nor does such a conclusion proceed from any failure to appreciate conditions in the devastated regions. No one can understand the want or misery which will afflict millions of deserving, thrifty people in Europe. With the German casualty list much delayed, thereby minimizing the totals of killed, wounded and missing; with France and Russia unwilling or unable to announce but a small fraction of their losses in men; with the English losses largely to come, because only a small proportion of the allied army has thus far been made up of her troops, the world has yet to realize the tremendous destruction of workers which the war has already entailed and which each additional day will bring. Any estimate of this loss is at best but an approximation, but it seems likely that the first six months of the war will involve a loss of life greater than the entire loss on both sides in the four years of our civil war. Sociologists and the medical profession will, for a generation, be investigating and reporting upon the consequences, direct and remote, of the killing and maiming of such an enormous number of men.

It is natural, under such circumstances, that popular attention should give little or belated recognition to the tremendous losses in property which have occurred and which will occur. Popular interest seems to be chiefly concerned with the destruction of the architectural