Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1914-04-24
IN COST
OF LIVING NOTED
L~ESSENING OF BUSINESS ACTINI-
TIES AT PRESENT NOT PECULr
lar TO L. S.-DECLINE HAS
BEEN GENERAL WORLD OVER.
FEAR WITHOUT RAISE
SECRETARY REDFIELD IN PROS
PERITY ADDRESS DECLARES
NEW TARIFF DID NOT BRING
THREATENED RUSH OF IMPORTS
BIZ Associated PrcSSl /.

V
Chicago. ILL.,. April Secretary
Rclfield Of the Department Of Commerce
made "A prosperity speech here last night
before the Industrial club. lie took for
his topic "A Sense Of proportion" and
contcndcd that any lcssening Of business
activities at the present time was not
peculiar To the United States alone: that
a moderate and general decline Of the
cost of living has been noted all over the
world and that the new tariff law had
not brought the rush of foreign importa-
lions whi.h was threatened. Mr.. Red
field referred 10 the railroad rate situa.
tion and expressed the hope that the In
t~crstatc Commerce commissions decision
on the application Of the Eastern rail
roads for freight rate advances would
soon be decided.
1T is respectfully submitted for your
consideration that the following state
mcnts are correct" said he.
Il. The adoption of the present fiscal
policy of the nation has not been follow
ed by the rush of foreign importations
which was threatened.
- On the authority of experienced
and unprecedented observers Of different
nations there has been progressing for
some months. and il now in progress. a
moderate and quite general decline in
prices To a lower level. a part of a move
mcnt Of "A similar character going on
throughout the world.
-. A general depression i'm business
has long existed in many countries
throughout the commercial world.
hTe public has through press and
platform these many years demanded a
reduction in the cost of living. That re
duction il now going on. Il il possible
il should come without rcadjustments
which howeve healthful are temporarily
difficult? Are business booms born out
Of a falling markets?
If American il i'm despair / do not
know il. There are difficulties here.
No man is born into the world without
pain: and the evolution from higher IA
lower prices. from highly centralized in.
dustry into a more normal and Demo
cratic type. will not be accomplished
without difficulty; but to treat the pro
cess a If il were either dangerous on
disastrous is like mourning because a
man child il born into the world. Let
Us look more closely into the business
facts.
Let Ms view the business situation
neither minimize . magnify il. neither
l~ocalize IL nor ernaralizc ID. Let ~ look
ut the facts n they are. not in their mar.
o and immediate parochial signifi.
cance. California j. not in distress with
her Astounding crops. Kansas knows no
weakness in the presence Of her wheat.
New York with nearly eighteen hundred
millions in her savings banks alone faces
no Immediate necessity. We are free
from the terrors Of an inflexible cur
rcncy. We are becoming free from those
who mistakenly thought il would he long
profitable to monopolizc. We are read
justing ourselves upon an altered eco
nomic basis. Speculation is not rife.
Our merchants are not oyersta-ked. Our
competing power was never a. strong
as now. Such dullness "a there was. has
been i'm part the bringer Of a higher eff.