These are the two facts of greatest economic significance to us.
To the country as a whole they defer some of our pleasures till after
the war. Uncle Sam will cut down for the present on his eating and
drinking, his clothes, shelter, and amusements in order to share his
rations with Europe. Instead of the pleasures foregone he will
invest--not in new enterprises at home, but in old ones--American and
possibly European also--purchased of Europe. We can never have our cake
and eat it too. In this case we shall let Europe eat some of it on
condition that she in turn shares hers with us after the war. Moreover,
we shall trade off a relatively small piece of our present cake for a
relatively large piece of Europe's future cake. In other words, Europe
will fill up the great breach in her income now impending by inducing us
to make a small breach in ours. The result will be that the course of
our real income, that is, economic satisfaction or enjoyable
consumption, will imitate in some degree that of Europe. This is,
reduced to its lowest terms, the chief economic result of the war.
But to many the question is, do we gain or lose, as compared with what
might have been the case if there had been no war? I do not think any
one can answer that question with certainty.
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