The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1915-08-17
BUSINESS IS GOOD.

your puSluGSS duu LASu UOS1u W NUN
again. Taken in its broadest sense,
business is good. The nations busi-
ness is good and your business will
be good if you will begin to boost it.
Get little enthusiasm and hand some
of it to your neighbor. Tie question
of hard times and depressed business
is very largely mental one at this
time; by talking and boosting and
stating facts, you will very largely
overcome this mental condition.
Did you ever stop to think how many
thousands of men in all lines of busi-
ness in Richmond are drawing tie
same salary or more than they did
three or fou- years ago? These peo-
pie have the same purchasing power
they always had. People must wear
clothes, shoes and hats, and buy gro
ceries and pay rent just as they have
always done. They can not do with
out the shoes or the clothes and they
can not make them last but just so
long. The general stocks of merchan-
disc throughout the country are de-
pleted and must be replenished. There
is no question but what there has been
a tendency on the part of buyers to
make small purchases; therefore, the
stocks of goods are not as large as
t. ose usually carried. This means that
there is going to be flood of buying
orders placed with the jobbers, and in
turn with the factories, and some
body's order is going to be at the bot
tom of the list and some merchants
are going to fcave to wait for their
supplies. Then they will begin to Won
der why they did not place an order
sooner. If you are wise merchant
you will place your orders in time, for
the rush is surely coming.
Any student of business men who
wat0- es the signs of the times is
bound to be impressed with this.
Aside from the fact that business has
adjusted itself on more economical
and sounder basis in the last few
years, the additional impetus given
to our trade by the enormous buying
orders received from Europe will make
business (3um. The. balance of trade
in favor of this country is piling up
at the rate of hundreds of millions and
it is going to continue, for we have
the material to sell and the nations
at war must get them from us. Our
enormous wheat and oat crops will
soon be turned into CASH by the farm
ers The hay crop is good and the
corn crop is gigantic, and ali of them
are bringing splendid prices. Right
here in Virginia the crops were never
better. With abundant rains and
splendid growing season, tie farmers
and country people are going to nave
plenty of money this fall and they are
going to supply their needs and pos
sibly buy things they have done with
out for a year or two. AS indicated
by tie stock market, money is plenti-
full and investors are quick to see that
the prices of good standard stocks
have been very low. Of course, some
of the war stocks, so-called, are rather
skyrocketty, but the prices are based
on the fact that bona fde orders are
on hand for enormous amounts of ma
terial and the profits are in sight.
Business is good from this broad
viewpoint, and if you, Mr.. Business
Man, are still talking hard times and
bad business, look around you and
get a little optimism in your system
and talk it to the other fellow. Just
because you have had bad day or a
bad week or a bad few months, do
not think all lines of business are the
same way, for if the business man
continues to say business is bad, the
fellow with the money, who ought to
come out and spend it, begins to think
so, too, and he holds on to his cash.
Getting back home again, right here
in our State, the Newport News ship
yards have more work on hand than
ever before in their history, with
many ships on the waiting lists to be
docked for repairs. The same condi-
ton exists in the Baltimore and Phila-
delphia ship yards. The water-borne
commerce of the world is headed to-
ward the United States; owners are
looking to US to build new ships and
repair those that need repairs. This