Automatic Age

14
AUTOMATIC AGE
T he
In
C o in
T he
M a c h in e B u s in e s s
E ven t of W ar
B y 0 . C. L i g h t n e r
/^ O M P L A IN T is made that war talk is hurting
business. Many concerns in the big money
hesitate about going ahead with plans that might
be interfered with by a war. This fear reaches
clear down to the small fellow.
In our opinion there will not be any war worthy
of the name. We offered to bet a business man
two to one that neither England, France nor
Russia would engage in war this summer, and ten
to one the United States would not engage in war.
Anything else in the war line that could happen
would not affect business in this country.
The coin machine trade would be one of the
first to feel the effects of war. It would be classed
as a non-essential immediately. Chance machines
would be banned and factory employees taken
away and put in munitions plants. Even vending
machines might be declared non-essential and
their manufacture suspended. Raw materials
would be diverted to munitions plants and essen­
tial industries. Many of the operators would be
drafted into the army. The worst catastrophe
that would come to the remnant of the industry
left would be immediate inflation of money. Dur­
ing the last war it was thought that it could be
financed through on a 50-cent dollar. Everything
immediately jumped to twice its normal value and
a little more. Emergency currency was issued.
The gold standard was suspended and prices
soared in every line. With the enormous debt
that we have since accumulated, no one could
guess where commodity prices would go. Cer­
tainly more than double. The purchasing power
of the dollar would likely not be more than 25%
of its normal value. Gold stocks would be drained
to South America or other countries where there
was little chance of disturbance brought about by
war.
Still worse, a horde of tax-collectors who even
now hound business men to distraction would
pounce on every industry to wring from it prac­
tically every dollar of profit. Taxes, already un­
bearable, would then amount to confiscation. The
country is in poor condition to go into war and
industries like ours might as well plan to close
up shop if we get into it.
Still graver troubles will beset us, and that is
the mob hysteria that war breeds. It will gen­
erate class hatreds to an extent that no one knows
what will happen. There are of necessity, a lot
of injustices committed during war time and the
reaction to these would let loose all the trouble
© International Arcade Museum
May, 1939
that has been brewing beneath the surface.
Who can tell what mania would sweep the
country under excitement such as the enactment
of prohibition during the last war?
But we do not believe there is any chance of
war. In the first place it is well known that there
has been an agreement between Germany and
England that Germany should have a free hand
in central and southeastern Europe in exchange
for forgetting about the return of the German
colonies. France is a party to this agreement.
England and France have already sold out south­
eastern Europe so that they might keep the pos­
sessions they took away from Germany after the
war. All this hullabaloo is only to bring pressure
to bear on Germany not to take too much. England
has only 27 million people. They could not place
an army over in the seat of trouble. Everybody
who has been to England knows the attitude of
the English people. As long as they are not at­
tacked, they are not going to get into any more
wars. Let’s suppose we here in Chicago and
other American cities lived for four long years,
day in and day out, week in and week out, month
in and month out— for four years during wrhich
we could not expose a light in our home, no street
lights— where if you went out at night you went
out in utter darkness— where there was constant
fear of bombs— where you had to carry your gas
mask— where food was strictly rationed— where
there was every form of sacrifice and suffering
and frightfulness. Would we be quick to darken
our streets again and go through another period
of that kind? We wouldn’t, and neither will the
English people. The English have everything to
lose by going to war— more debt, more men killed,
more sacrifices.
They will lose India forever. The insignificant
army they have over there could never keep that
country down. The Japanese would smash their
Singapore naval base and take all their oriental
possessions. It is true the Japanese army is busy
in China but not their navy. England’s colonies
would pull away from her one by one. Every one
of the British colonies has already passed resolu­
tions through their Parliaments notifying the
Crown that it will be entirely up to them in the
future whether or not they want to support Eng­
land in her European brawls. She will lose the
North of Ireland which will be taken over by the
South of Ireland. She is going to do a lot of
diplomatic bluffing and make a lot of noise— but
she is not going to fight. Anyone who has talked
to the English has heard them say that they are
going to lose their Empire in the next war. They
have wondered for 50 years how long it would
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