ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN EUROPE.

This article focuses on the major features in the European economic situation after the World War I, the land area in Europe is practically unchanged and the fertility of the soil has apparently not been greatly reduced. The devasted areas, quantitatively insignificant, have in large mea- sure already been restored. With labor, the problem is not quite so simple. In certain countries the population has been appreciably reduced, particularly that portion of the population which is at the most productive age. With plant and equipment (capital goods), the problem is, of course, much more difficult. Undoubtedly Europe is considerably short of the supply of capital goods that would have existed had the war not occurred. France has rebuilt a large portion of the destroyed areas, and, in the process, indirectly stimulated construction and related industries by continuing to run art annual government deficit of from twenty-five to thirty billions of francs. No one can deny that Great Britain's production and trade figures would have been much larger if the army of unemployed had been set to work at public expense building houses, factories, roads, etc.