The Glenwood post., 1910-09-24
it's too bad somebody didn't say

is too bad somebody didn't say
word about conserving common sense.
.'That's what this country needs
right now-to conserve common sense.
There S an article by Col. George Har-
vey in the September North American
Review dealing with the Conservation
of Common Sense that well illustrates
the business condition of this country
right now and gives as the panacea
for the business paralysis, the sugges-
ton that our business men use a little
common sense-just ordinary sound
common sense. | wish business men
everywhere would take that advice.
~ can see no reason for the fears
| which seem to possess our business
men. | have preached a return to the
farm policy for years and expect to
continue to do so; but that's no reason
for fear on the part of business.
"Money and business are, of course,
very careful and it is right that they
should be, but not to the extent of
cutting off their noses to spite their
faces. Especially when it is so un-
necessary and they need the noses, too.
"Here s little excerpt which, to
my mind, bears down hard and strikes
at the core of our present ills:
' In the disestablishment of credit
we find the most obvious cause of the
prevailing depression. The link that
connects labor with capital is not
broken, but we may not deny that it
is less cohesive than it should be or
| than conditions warrant. Financially,
the country is stronger, than ever be-
fore in its history. Recovery from Il
panic so severe as that of three years
ago was never before so prompt and
comparatively complete. The masses
are practically free from debt. Money
is held by the banks in abundance and
rates are low,
Why then does capital pause up
on the threshold of Investment? The
! answer we believe to be plain. 1t
| awaits adjustment of. the relations of
| government to business. Such, at any
rate, is the plea, and pressure is con
stantly brought to bear upon execu-
tives and courts to make haste
dividual remains even wider within
result in less speed. Great compiler
tions growing out of nightly chang
ed conditions call for the most serioNs
consideration. To settle a grave ques
tion offhand is only to invite disaster
Better not settle it at all until rel
sonable certainty can be felt that it
can be settled right. Stability is ever
Capitals primary requirement. But
the adjustment which it now demands
cannot be effected in month or .
year and never can or should be com
plete. Elasticity is the prime requisitl
of changes essential to development.
g But Capital is notorously timid
In the present instance, too, it is alb
Solutely foolish. No decision of an,
court can permanently impair any So
called vested interest. Confscation is
undreamed of, as compared with only
4 few years ago. The disintegratiof
IF properties does not involve theil
destruction. Moreover, the sharp re
volt against all combinations
that achieve great good no less thar
those that work injury-as clearly
| yielding Ito study and reason. Nc
sane person now maintains that bust
ness-esPeeiaily manufacturing can
or should be done as it was done half
a century ago. In broad sense the
day of the individual competitor j,
past, but the opportunity, of the in
dividual remains even wider within
the corporation. The sole prob
lem consists of determining how
| government can maintain an ev
en- balance between the aggregation:
of interest, on the one hand, and the
whole people, on the other, protecting
the latter against extortion and saw
ing the former from assaults.
| '' The solution is not easy to find
for the simple reason that the situa
tion is without precedent. But is not
progress being made along sane and
cautious lines? Surely no menace u
property or to human rights lies in the
striving for such a solution. Both
will be safe guarded by its certain
finding -