The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-04-24
LET'S
OUT some MORE J
OF A!ISIQ.|T!I. AR..
Tells Chicago Ildustfial Cub
That LeSseniag of Business
AetivitiesiS World Wide.
t.1,,lee,Arl.s &c

Commerce., made a prosperity
speech here before the Indus Lr1ai
Club He took for mis- topic a
Sense of Proportion, and contendedI
that any lessenlng of business activ-
tiles at the PRESENT time was not PEI
culiar to the. United States alone;
that moderateS and general decline
or the cost of living has been noted
al over the world ana that the new
tariff law had mot brought the rush
of, foreign importations which was
Rthfeatened. Mrs ,Reddeld referred
to the railroad rate situation and eA-
pressed the hope that tine Interstatel
Commerce Commissions decision on
the application of the eastern raii-
roads for freight rate advances
would soon be decided. s,----t-r-
Some Rash Statements.
at is respectfully submitted Ior|
your consid Grafton that the follow
ing statements are seorrect" s&tdlshe a
81 Tne adoption ofsfthe present
fiscal poI.cy Of the nation has 'nQt
been followed by the rush OF foreign
fmporhations which was threatened.
90 ON the authority or ex-
perienced and unprecedented obserF-
iers of different nations there has
been progressing for some months,
and Is nowl1in progress, moderate
and quiet general decline in prices
to lower level. part of a move
ment OF a similar character gong on
throughout the world. 5
80. A general depression in bust
ness has long existed N many eoun-
tries Throughout the commercial
world.
THE public has 5through press and
platform these many years demanded
reduction in the cost OF swing.
That reduction is now going on. II
Is possible 1T should come without
readjustments which however health
ful are temporarily difntult Are
business booms born out OF a falling
markets?
'Tf America is Ia despair do not
know it. There are diff1c ties here.
No man Is born into the world with
out pain; and the evofutIon from
higher to lower prices, from highly
centralized industry into more
normal and democratic type, viii
not be accomplished without diff
Guilty: but to treas the process as II
ii were either dangerous or disas-
trous is like mourning because
man child is born into rae world. Let
us look more closely into the bust
ness facts.
'ETIet us as we view the business
situation neither IninimIze nor mag
IT,,
alize it. Let us look at the facts as
they are, not in their narrow and
Immediate and parochial significance.
California is not In distress with tts
Astounding crops. Kansas knows no
weakness in the presence of ner
wheat, New York with nearly
eighteen hundred millions In her
savings banks alone faces no fmme-
diate necessity. We are tree from
the terrors of an fnf1exfble currency. |
We are becoming free from those
who mistakenly thought it would be
long profitable to monopolize. we
are readjusting ourselves upon an
altered economic basis. Speculation
is not rife. Our merchants are NOT
Our competing power
was never as strong as now. Sacn
part the bringer of higher Ell
ficiency into our factories.
"Ah! but one says, the fear OF
business legislation l have already
hinted at the fact that this legisla-
ton IL it had been desired to have
it hasty or rash might well have been
enacted long ago. Almost immedi-
ateIy after the presidents message
upon the subject, certain measures
we're introduced into both houses.
Three months have gone by. They
have been spent in discussion. Bust
ness men have been given an oppor-
tunfty to state their views, Time has
been taken to near from the country,
Furthermore, it will, I am sure,
be admitted to be just that Con-
gress snail be Judged by It's fruits.
and the present one has produced
several great. legislative enactments
Railroads Economizing.
'.But / confess to amusement at
learning in some quarters that bust
ness does not demand further legts-'
Iation, for therein business shows
that sense of detachment from the
general veal which has been It's
baneS. It may we'll be that the
public demands that which business
does not seek The point is that both
business must remember that US
voice is not the only one that is to
be heard.
"iRut it is true tnat our whole out
look is. affected by the absence from
our mark cts of our largest purchasers
and our largest employers. say ap-
sence, meaning that our railroad
companies are sharply economt2ing
because as they claim, their revenues
in relation to their necessary eN-
penditures are such that they can
not do otherwise. / shall not enter
uponja discussion Of the question
now pending before a Tribunal which
is abundantly competent to deal With
them. and no Just interference may
be drawn from what I shall say as
to the merits OF those questions.
think i am justified as a business
man in saying that earnestly nope
the decision will be reached With the
least, possible delay. It is not too
much to say that the prosperity OF
the nation is bound up In and inter
twfned with the prosperity OF its