UNEXPECTED RESULTS OF INTERDEPENDENCE

We do not always realize how dependent we are upon one another
until something happens to disturb our accustomed relations. We
best realize our dependence upon the telephone when it is out of
order. The recent great war produced conditions that made us
conscious of our interdependence in unexpected ways.

For example, if we had gone into a store to buy underwear in the
early part of the war, we would have found that the price had
greatly increased, and we might have been told, if the salesman
were well informed, that the high price was due to the manufacture
of airplanes! The explanation is that the wire stays used in the
manufacture of airplanes are made of steel wire from which machine
knitting needles are also made. In the early part of the war all
of the available wire of this kind was taken for airplanes, thus
limiting the supply of knitting needles and consequently of knit
goods.

The manufacture of airplanes is also said to have affected the
price of fish! The nets used for catching certain deep-sea fish,
such as cod, must be made of linen, which is invisible in water.
The linen which had been used for this purpose suddenly came into
great demand for the manufacture of airplane wings. Since
airplanes were necessary, linen fishing nets were sacrificed and
the price of deep-sea fish went up. This, of course, created a
demand for other kinds of fish, and the price of the latter also
went up.