Looking into the future;

              HASKINS & SELLS
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
NEW YORK SAN FRANCISCO
CHICAGO LOS ANGELES
DETROIT BULLETIN SEATTLE
ST. LOUIS DENVER
CLEVELAND ATLANTA
BALTIMORE WATERTOWN
PITTSBURGH LONDON
NEW YORK, APRIL 15, 1918
Looking Into the Future
S E V E R A L years ago a man in conversa-tion
predicted that the people of the
United States would some day feel the pinch
of food scarcity. The other party to the
conversation laughed.
Who would have believed ten years ago
that a large part of the civilized world would
to-day be engaged in war? Who would have
believed two years ago that the railroads of
the country would now be operating under
government control?
Wise men are they who can predict what
will happen after the war. Foolish are they
who attempt to prophesy. The man with­out
any imagination is doomed to be a
plodder. The country which waits to do
things until the economic necessity arises
rather than because a scientific program so
dictates is lacking in foresight.
The close of the war will probably see a
new situation. There will be international
relations which we shall find strange.
Economic adjustment will be necessary.
Capital will be needed for reconstruction
purposes in Europe and for the new enter­prises
engaged in the conduct of foreign
trade. The employment of capital in this
country will have to undergo a rearrange­ment
in order to become adapted to the de­mands
of industry.
Labor also will require readjustment.
Those who return from the war must needs
be received into the industrial organization.
The unfortunates who will be maimed must
be fitted into new vocations.
Reaction from self-denial of the creature
comforts during the war will probably bring
about an increased demand for luxuries
which will develop into extravagance. The
boom which followed the Civil War, and by
which wars are usually followed, will prob­ably
materialize after this war is over.
If one prophecy may be permitted it is
that altogether there will be great activity
demanding the services of the accountant.
"Cost-plus" contract experience during
the war may have stimulated a desire for a
greater knowledge of, and more precision
in, cost keeping.
Large and involved adjustments, between
the government and private enterprises,
growing out of government control may
arise.
Taxation may increase in amount and
point of complication and demand greater
attention.
Foreign trade; the transition of capital
from a war to a peace basis; the financing
of Europe's reconstruction and develop­ment;
all will bring their problems.
We should fit ourselves for the duties and
responsibilities to come.