For some individuals, then, the European war will spell strict economy;
for a comparatively few, let us hope, ruin. For the country as a whole,
considered as a social and economic unit, a long war will introduce an
era of astounding prosperity. Never before has the country had, and
certainly it will never again have, almost a monopoly of the world's
trade thrust into its hands. The United States will have only one real
competitor, England, and, should the English Navy prove itself less
capable than is expected, or should England and her colonies be forced
to order a general mobilization of their armies, the United States might
conceivably remain the only great mercantile community to which the
world could look for supplies. No such eventuality need be predicated to
prove that the continuation of this war or a series of wars will create
a demand for manufactured goods such as our merchants have never dreamed
of. And they will command war prices. It means employment with rich
reward for capital and labor alike--a vastly increased foreign market, a
much greater domestic market, high prices, and a steadily voracious
demand for the entire output.
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