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90 coal. But we do not get enough anthracite coal, whatever be the reason. Until petroleum is satisfactorily adapted to use as domestic fuel it looks as if the eastern part of the country will be poorer in that respect. Our supply of lumber diminishes. To a certain extent iron and steel and cement take the place of lumber, but for some purposes the latter is indispensable and the diminishing supply of it is contributory to the high cost of houses and therefore to the inadequacy thereof.

It is such things as these that determine the scale of living of a people. The enjoyment of a greatly increased national income expressed in dollars may not be helpful at all. Money is merely the medium for the exchange of goods. The real question is how much goods have we to divide, not how many dollars.

A secondary question is how we divide the goods that we possess. The economic factors that naturally determine that are so complicated that no body of men can even hope to have the intelligence to regulate them. In trying to do so muddles are sure to ensue. When economic factors were allowed to operate freely a natural equilibrium resulted. Unbalancing of those factors by economic interferences may produce the situation wherein half the people may enjoy an improved scale of living while that of the other half is impaired. Something like that is being experienced in the United States at the present time.

In the consideration of this subject we must also take cognizance of the far reaching effects of the prohibition of alcoholic drink. I do not think there is any doubt about its having been of economic benefit, although I am opposed to the whole thing, or rather the way it