The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-01-01
Superstition In Business.

SupeFSGItgon IN BUSINESS,
Editorial in New York Evening
Post: Much has been said about the
psychology Of business; and it. is.
truly, an element with which every
wise student feels bound to reckon
in trying to reach sound conclusions.
There exist what have been called the
'Imperceptibles Of commerce. In adj
dition to the tangible things bought
and sold and the ponderable instru-
ments of exchange, there are the spir-
1t, the attitude, the hopes and fears
of those who buy and sell. The man
who can most shrewdly divine what
producers and traders are thinking of
and expecting will be most success
full in judging the nature and tenden-:
cy of the financial n commercial
situation al any given time. All this
has often been dwelt upon, and is full
ly admitted. But it is necessary also
to admit that, besides psychology, we
sometimes encounter superstition in the
market place. Accepting the defini-
ton of superstition as strongly, believ-
ing something for which there is no
good reason and which is impossible
Of proof, there can be no doubt that
It frequently Is displayed in the bust
ness world. Hard headed men, Of
cool poise in most affairs, authorities
in their own pursuits, will now n
then amaze you by exhibiting q cred
| ulity, a blindness to the true relations
of cause and effect, that would almost
be d~iscreditable in a resident of Da-
honey.
One of the marks of a superstitious
mind is that it passes swiftly from
one belief to an exactly contradictory
one. This second n is held, for the
moment, with as much tenacity as the
first; but the surest evidence that
either is based, not on reason, but on
superstition, is the rapid and almost
violent way in which the plunge is
made from one to the other. 1t is not
merely a question of following the
crowd and being in the movement.
The point is that those who swing
madly from one. extreme to the other
profess to be guided. in whatever di-
rection they are going. by overwhelm-
ing weight of argument. On Thurs
day a certain course, they will affirm,
is folly, the only end Of which is ruin;
but on Saturday they will tell you that
! the same course Is the height of wis
iom and bright with promise.
The particular thing we have in
mind, as the ingenious reader will
ave guessed, Is the extraordinary re-
vulsion Of feeling about the currency
and banking bill which set in the mo-
ment it's passage was assured. This
lightning transformation scene" was
enacted in banking circles, on the
stock exchange, and also, we are com-
PEELED to add, in some newspaper Of
fees. What had been banned was
blessed. What had been bitterly de-
nounced was. all of a sudden, warmly
praised. The pessimists were hidden
to take themselves out of the picture,
and cave both foreground and back
ground to the optimists. President
Wilson, who had been merely an aca-
demic meddler, with no just notion of
what he was about, became in a
twinkling a clear-headed n iron
willed executive who had conferred a
great boon upon the country. And the
bill itself, which was ar absolutely
unavoidable experiment upon which
no prudent banker would embark, and
which would mean endless confusion
and loss, somehow found itself trans
formed overnight into a splendid
measure which the bankers FASTENED
to say that they would gladly accept
and which was going to mean a ire
mendous boom in business,
We are not here saying which opin-
ion was right. But 1t is certain that
both opinions could not be right. And
, 1t Is also certain, in our humble judg-
ment, that business men could not so
other without bringing their authori-
ty into discredit. The thing has too
much the air OF hanging ones reason
up on a stock-ticker. If prices take
q sudden bound upward. this is to be
taken as conclusive proof that our
most careful reasoning and our deep
est convictions of yesterday are to be
we to discriminate such a procedure
from that Of a savage causing a
wound to heal by pummeling a fetch?
How, in other. words, can be explain
this rapid veering of opinion about
the currency bill, and about the en-
tire position Of President Wilson. ex-
cept on the ground that the process
Is essentially superstitious?
With tariff superstitions we have
been long INC painfully familiar. Some
Of the brood have been crawling out
OF their holes during the past few
|, weeks. For a considerable time, too,
the country suffered from a sort of
trugt superstition. This last was dis
lplayed by both the alarmed opponents
They were to destroy us and they
Il were also TO make lis all rich. But
we have now settled down to q saner
view. We do not live today in NOR
tai terror Of the trusts, nor do we hear
any more talk about their Teing the
ultimate dream of Industrial and com
mercial perfectibility. In like man
p pAopdpIy come IO&a
more rational view of the whole re-
form Of the currency and banking,
system which lis now on the noint AZ
getting legislative sanction. Extraya-
giant hopes and groundless fears. In
connection with It. will doubtless alike
disappear. The calm and steady view
OF the matter which should ali along
have been taken. but which only 8 few
have been able to maintain, Will later
become common. And none win have
~ reason TO be mortified except
those who, In ore day. passed nom.
fierce denunciation Of the bill to ful-
some Iraise OF