In transportation we suffered great waste and inefficiency. Enormous quantities of goods and millions of men had to be carried huge distances. The courses of the world’s traffic were dislocated and realigned. Considering these conditions we can understand the needs for the immense production of fuel in 1918, much of which was consumed in work that added nothing to the wealth of anybody.
On the face of the production data the American people did not have annually in the period 1914-20 any increase in the quantity of raw material over what they had been having previously. In 1913 the average was about 11.5 tons per person. In 1917 it was 11.9; in 1918 and 1920 it was 11.7. In every other year since 1913 it was 11.5 or less. Nor is there any good evidence of the exercise of increased man-power in manufacturing, carrying and trading, but rather are the indications the other way.[1] If there had been no war the probability is that the American people would have proceeded along the even tenor of their way, adding annually to the national wealth by accounts varying a little according to whether it were a good or a bad year, but in general accumulating at a rate a little in excess of the rate of increase in population.
Now, out of such surplus of production that we may have, out of the surplus above what we need for our own
- ↑ Following the collapse of the boom, which was clearly evident in the third quarter of 1920 the first response on the part of labor was “speeding up,” the change in attitude being instantaneous and dramatic. The auto- mobile tire makers in Akron, Ohio, who in 1920 made about 1.4 per man per day at the middle of 1921 were making about 2.8. Of course, this was only partly the result of “speeding up,” part of the improvement being due to “weeding out” the inefficient, the latter being the first step in conforming to curtailed demand and declining prices. Experiences of this kind were characteristic of many branches of manufacturing industry.
