Industrial Progress and Human Economics

Excerpt

CONQUEST OF PEACE.

Before the war Vermont and the nation were approaching a serious economic crises. The war has accentuated the gravity of the situation, but has also demonstrated certain human characteristics that can be enlisted to correct our course. We found during the war that we were ready to take heroic action whenever an occasion demanded it—that there was a solidarity of purpose of our people. This characteristic must now be invoked. We must meet the conditions that confront us by unity of public opinion and team work.

The conditions that confront us do not involve the possibility of immediate invasion of our country by a hostile nation, but they carry a burdensome penalty if we fail to take the right action. Happily we are not required to risk our lives or even work harder, but we must recognize the plain facts that we are not sharing in the general economic progress of our neighboring states.

In war the nation that wins the victory imposes a burden of tax on the conquered nation. In the conquest of peace the victorious nations also impose a burden on the losers. This burden is just as real as the burden imposed by war, for in both cases the losers are paying tribute to the winners. This applies to states, to communities, to families and to men. The situation calls for prompt attention and concerted action by the people of our state and country.

In the conquest of peace success comes to those people who produce the greatest value with a given expenditure of energy, or, in other words, to the people who at the end of a day's, a year's or a life's work can measure their return in the largest value. Dollars constitute our measures of value for they are our medium of exchange of our products of labor. If, to accomplish the same result, the man with inferior implements must work harder than the man with the best implements, it is very easy to see who has to pay tribute to the other in the market where values are compared and payment made for values.

Owing to the advance that has been made both in invention of implements and methods and in the organization of workers, there is now a marked difference in the value of the product of a day's work. A study of this situation shows the supreme need of action that will direct our energies as individuals and as a state in a way that will bring the largest value for a day's work.

We must choose with care our work, our equipment and our methods of combining our efforts. There must be team work within each industrial plant and each plant must be in tune with the whole competing world.

As a people we have not lagged behind, in fact we have been leaders in many important branches, but our enterprise has known no state boundaries, and many of our men and women have gone to other states. Hence, while as a people we have been leaders, as a state we have been lagging behind the more active industrial states.

Vermont is very close to the most highly developed industrial center on the face of this globe. These centers, through coordination, invention and choice of work, have been able to produce greater values per man per day....