Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-20
REIMBURSEMENT
Of BUSINESS
NECESSARY
Short Crops, High Prices and Low
Tariff Necessitate Constructive
Commercial Planning,
BY 8. C. FORBES,

ne west Is again CIlulns the EAST
for having lost every drop of red
blood. Western business men can
not understand the caution exercised
by their Eastern brethren.
Well. which Is right-the optimis-
tic West or the conservative East?
Being obliged to breathe the con-
taminated air of the effete East, my
views are doubtless affected thereby.
I think prudence calls for a careful,
non-risky course commercially.
The crops are not good.
That is one big, dominating. gov
erning fact With our rapid growth
in population. we need larger, not
smaller, yields Of every variety of
foodstuff We need more. not fewer,
cattle-but the number is decreas-
ing 80 alarmingly that law restrict
ing the slaughter of calves should be
promulgated. We need a generous
rather than a niggardly supply OF
cotton.
The airy reply of the blind opti-
mist at-any- cOst is that prices will
rise enough to compensate the
plies that light harvests are, there
fore, a blessing instead of a curse.
That is nonsense. People must
have a sufficiency of food if they are
to remain fit and do a full days
work. The price of food is a ire
mendously serious consideration for
the great majority of the cOuntry's
inhabitants. High prices ARE a
curse. They spell hardship for the
great body OF the people. They
bring. not general prosperity, but
general depression and discomfort
On the crop question. therefore,
the East's disappointment over the
grave damage to crops Is well based.
Then the East can not forget that
we are on the eve of enforcing the
most radical tariff revision our
manufacturers have ever had to con-
tend with. True there has been less
whining than in former tariff-refOrm
years. But that does not necessarily
mean there will be no disturbances.
Among local banking and business
circles there is much underground un
easiness on this score-far more than
is publicly expressed. A good deal
Of scattered trouble is feared.
For my part. / have great faith in
the ability of American business men
to adapt their affairs to meet changed
circumstances. do not believe
foreigners are to NOV down Ameri-
san manufacturers. | do not believe
the total amount, or even value, OF
our manufactured products will be
less in 1915 than ii was in 1910.
believe there will be a quiCkening of
effort. a speeding up of energy, re-
doubling of enterprise. especially in
invading foreign markets. We will
not go backward but forward. We
have the natural resources, we have
the men, we have the capital, we
have the brains and we have the am
bition. We lack needfu experience
in meeting European competitors in
neutral markets We lack American
banking facilities in the Latin
American countries that are crying
aloud for our exploitation. We lack
courtesy and adaptability in dealing
with other nationalities. We lack
appreciation of the importance of
small export orders. We want to run
before we creep in our conquest of
oversee markets.
There must he a period OF read
iustment TO the new conditions pre-
Cipitated by the Wilson tariff. The
Easts apprehensions of temporary
uncertainty, nervousness and more
or less embarraS sment. may prove
well founded. Indeed, there have
been quite a number of failures dur
ing the last three months, and more
concerns are being carried" than
the West realizes.