Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-26
BY Charles M. Schwab.

Why all this talk about hard times:
| If people would only stop talking abou,
them there wouldn't be any hard times
! We should take a broader position here
| in the United States. America is the
cynesure of the world; the United States
is the biggest part of America; New York
| is quite part of the United States.
| Don't let us worry about these little
| furries in the business world. The recent
| troubles have been a most healthy check
| upon our financial Ills. The country is
all right We are not going to the dogs
far from it.
| The tendency of business must always
| be upward, ever upward. That is the way
we are all going-upward. If my opinion
is worth anything. 1 would predict that
| for the next ten years We shall enjoy
the greatest prosperity the country has
ever experienced. This is no idle dream
either, but an assertion based upon the
concrete information that comes to me
from all over the country.
Demand Greater Than Supply.
The demands of the forty-six states in
our Union are so vast. so insistent. that
no one can predict where they will end
Today and always our demand is so great
| that our mines and manufactures, our
agriculture and our myriad industries
are so taxed that they can hardly catch
I'D. We are always behind in our supply.
Even today we are taxed to fill the de-
mands made upon our industries People
may laugh at this, but 1t is true. That
is the kind Of an optimist I am. am
always optimistic when I get talking
about the United States-our possibilities
are SO wonderful. our resources SO mar
velous No land in the world enjoys
such opportunities as ours.
Now comes the scoffer and asks why,
then have we had this recent depression
1t isn't hard to answer him. Some one
got frightened-it matters little who 1t
was Then somebody also got frightened.
and then somebody else, and then every
body got frightened.
And right in the face of one of the
greatest AGRICULTURAL years in the history
of the country!
I am naturally bull on this great land
of ours and / could see nothing in the
talk about far-reaching depression. Set
backs are natural from time to time
after the tremendous energy and expan-
But none of these setbacks can go far
enough to destroy that which has already
been done.
Balance Wheel Does Good Work.
l think it is fortunate tina. there Is
great balance wheel in our country winch
checks our pace when 1t gets too rapid.
This causes the inevitable showdown; 1t
enables the engineers Of finance to oil the
machinery A little caution and conserv-
atism and then the machinery can be set
going at higher speed again. grinding out
prosperity for everybody who has mind
to work.
The recent contraction was no sign or
real hard times, no proof that the country
was in peril There had been over-dis-
tention of credit. Business had over-ex-
handed. This was not in the United States
alone. 1t had extended all over the world.
For the volume of money in circulation
there was too much business being done.
The United States, always trying TO De
ahead of its rivals, had gone too far. but
the error has already been corrected.
Some Of the great Industrial corpora
ton sought to enlarge, to improve faster
than their business warranted. They look
too many chances when confidence was
unbounded. and credit unlimited. Men
were able to finance projects which were
not demanded by the times. Then came
timidity. People with money got fright
ened here and there. Capital began to
contract. 1t is always shrinking IN times
when anybody gets nervous.
Suddenly some Of the larger corporations
found it difficult to borrow money 10 meet
their increasing obligations. The banks
were called upon for more than they could
do Because of the extraordinary disten-
sion securities that were good enough for
anybody could not find the ready marker
they enjoyed during the boom period, and
the trouble was on.
Period for Economy.
Business men had to curtail: everybody