The Washington herald., 1914-06-12
|DEMAGOGUE BOGY
! OF ALL BUSINESS
Vanderlip Says Congressional
Record Has Been Substituted
for Financial Chronicle.
TRADES ILLS DISCUSSED
Bank President Talks on Business and
'Polities-Urges that False
hoods Be Met.
TRADES ILLS DISCUSSED

/ ~s~-.~~ 90 f>s@-~
4 hoods Be Met.
\ New London. Conn. June n.-Frank A
vanderlip. president Of the National Cit,
Bank of New York. today delivered q
notable address before the New Yori
Bankers Association. which Is meetine
here.
Mr.. yanderlip discussed business and
| Politics." declaring that the ''Congres.
sional Record" had been substituted foi
the Financial Chronicle"
The address. however. was In optimistic
vein. and a plea to the business world tc
enter politics and not permit the false
hood of demagogues 10 30 unanswered.
The Presidents diagnosis of business
| troubles as being Psychological was
considered at considerable length by the
president OF the country's greatest bank,
and the conclusion reached that while
Mr.. Wilson is perhaps right. It may be
that the business world has good ground
for fear.
New GauEing Method.
Mr.. Vanderbilt. in part, said:
There was a time when We used to
gauge the outlook for business by the
statistics of the production and the dis
tribution Of products and manufactures;
by the state of the money market: by
the record of accumulated stocks: by the
condition of credits.
With such statistical data Of business
in hand and correlated. lit was then by
no means impossible to make a fairly
accurate prediction Of what the future
had in store for a twelve-month- We
can most of us remember a time when,
II given an accurate picture Of the crop
situation: the statistics OF bank clearings.
deposits and reserves: the data of foreign
trade, the status of transportation. and
the statistics Of the great Industrial fac
tors--such as steel, textiles and lumber
we could have formed a pretty intelli-
gent conception of what was ahead of
US in business way.
Then the statistics Of business were .
measure of the business outlook. 1t il
almost startling to note how far from
true that is today: how important has
become the adventitious factor of legis-
lation and legislative tendencies We
can no longer measure the outlook in
the terms with which business men are
made familiar through their daily rou-
tine. The Congressional Record Is crowd
ing out of its place of Importance the
Financial Chronicle. We are watching
and waiting for executive and Congress
sional actions rather than the ComptroI-
ler's abstract to gauge the status of
banking affairs The attitude of mind OF
the Interstate Commerce Commission has
become more important than the sta
tistics of railroad traffic. We read the
totals of our foreign trade to learn the
effect of changed tariff law, rather than
of trade tendencies. Reports OF the atti-
tude of mind OF the Attorney General
vie in interest with the crop predictions
of the Secretary OF Agriculture. Investi-
cations by bureaus. commissions. and
Congress form a more important feature
in gauging a market outlook than do
the plans for development or expansion
formulated by the executive committees
Of corporations. Plans for development
or expansion Of railroad or business en-
terprises have indeed been heard Of but
little. The factors that We have mostly
In mind are how new laws are going to
work: what new laws are next to be
passed; what is the prospect, not of crops.
but of Congressional action.
Trend of Opinion.
We are told that the trouble Of busi-
ness is psychological. In a sense, be-
lieve that the statement is correct /
believe that the lack of enthusiasm about
the future, the state OF pessimism that
surrounds many phases of business. the
disposition toward extreme conservatism.
the lack Of new plans for capital expend-
iture for railway improvement and ex-
tension, for new industrial conquest, all
have their roots in a state of mind.
rather than in the statistics of actual
business data; but I am not certain that
this state Of mind is grounded in un-
founded fears. that it is caused by legis-
lative ghosts. that 1t Is engendered by
baseless apprehension concerning legis-
lative tendencies and the trend of public
opinion.
"A survey of concrete business condi-
tons with such facts and totals as husi-
ness statistics show today would. how
years ago to have predicted that we had
straight ahead Of US the possibility Of
period of great expansion.
When asked what IL in the way of
making a similar prediction now, We
are told 1t is a psychological barrier. 1t
Is a state of mind-but truly it is not so
much the state Of mind Of the public at
arge-the state Of mind which we call
public opinion. and which through our
political machinery finally finds more or
less accurate expression in regulations,
decisions and laws.
View Things Broadly.
'I do not want to be understood as be- |
ieving that this state of the public mind. |
This quality of public opinion, is alto |
yether wrong. The basis that is back OF
The demand for legislative restriction and |
control of business 1 believe to be in |
arge measure made up of sound |
facts. The development of in |
1ustrialism within our lifetime has been |
II such a revolutionary. character as
and rightly to create a demand |
'or a body of controlling laws. such as |
we're never dreamed of by our fathers. |
Legislation in accordance with sound |
principles, formulated with JUS
ice and sincere human sympathy. Is |
what we should all be striving for.
II believe II business men will get |
themselves into a state OF mind where |
hey view conditions broadly. with a
and social sense. rather than |
,nly from their individual point of view. |
hey will apprehend better the direction |
n which the whole current Of political |
hought is flowing. and will feel less i'm
,atience with this legislative movement.
md vastly less pessimism concerning its
-esults."
Organisation of Business.
II would resent the charge that a legi-
innate presentation Of views was lobby
ng, and would SO organize the business
interests that we might, not by an ex-
penditure of money. but by q great ex-
penditure of time. thought. personal
work. bring public opinion to a better
of the needs Of business,
10 better understanding that legisla-
lion must be along correct economic
lines or 1t will bring disaster to all
would 90 organize the business men OF
he whole country that mere agitators