New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-01
GRASP PROSPERITY,
REDFIELD URGES
Secretary of Commerce
Issues New Year Greet
ing to Merchants.
go TO WORK; QUIT
TALKING MISERY"
Figures Gathered by Depart
ment Support Hopeful Views
of Its Chief

Washington. Dee ST. Heartencd oy
months Of close study Of the business
outlook Of the cation, Secretary hed-
6eid Of the Commerce Department
Wrote to-day a New Years greeting "a
the merchants and manufacturers OF
tie country bidding them, ln charac-
terisfic language, 60 reach out Tor inc
prosperity he sees within ther gTasl
There Is no warrant, Mr Redheld de
clares. for gloom or despair The l.i
effects OF the European war on Amen
can enterprise are passing ana new
yistas for commercial ventures are
opening with each new da. hlS mes
sage follows:
"lf you want prosper -n your own
share 10 bring DO. and .o % now
,set that addition on your shop going;
81 will cost you less to-day than SIX
months hence. l. trade "a bit dull in
.he works. Get those improvements
beeun. Prices are low and likely to
rise. You've been thinking Of that CON
tract work. better start 10 yoursei De
fore things get the start Of YOU.
This country slows down bit now
and then. but 10 never stops growing
and 10 always moves up ana not down
We don't know what 10 means IN most
of the United States 20 have. real gen
rral distress. Think Of Belgium ana
Poland. % Man with g gToucn, ana
stink into your hole and pull ID IN
after YOU. There think OF your SINS
and your blessings and come out with
your courage in working order.
There are lots Of good American
examples Of pluck. DO you remember
San Francisco and Galveston and On
csco- Boston. Charleston. Baltimore
ard DAYTON and many others Ike them +.
Remember Thoma. a. Edison and lots
OF others Of your fellow citizens VINO
showed pluck wher things were haro.
"Nothing's che natter with the man
with crouch, except an absentee
heart and missing nerve. Cheer up 60
20 work. 90 your level best, QUIT taIH-
ing misery. The wars over yonoer
moi here. Men are slaughtered yonder
they are living here. It's al CLOUDS
there clear day here.
Get out and sell some goods. Plant
some more acres; do more work than
YOU planned Talk cheerful talk and
You'll find this country Of ours pretty
good place after all
To support the Secretary's hopeful
views are the figures gathered by ms
department as 20 American foreign
commerce since the outbreak OF the
great war. Since August, when the
monthly trade balance Of the nation
showed a deficit Of nearly S2O,0OO,OOO
through excess of imports over eX-
ports. the situation has been complete
iv changed. For December alone II rs
estimated the export excess Will reaen
100000. 600 or more, with one eXcep-
ton the highest mark Of the last two
years.
The war caught the country UMPIRE
pared. in that a tremendous import eX-
cess had been rolled up in the four
months preceding its outbreak. with
the August total included, American
merchants were in debt 70 foreign
manufacturers and producers nearly
$40. 100000 by these figures alone
Since then. including the December es-
timste. the export excess has reached
- totsl Of S174 OOO. 900. The floating debt
Of the United States 10 foreign coun-
tries has been paid in goods, Secretary
Redfeld has declared, and he looks
now TO the near approach Of a day
when the United States will take her
place as a creditor nation, no longer a
borrower.