Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-01-09
bABS0N CIV
0TTUMWANl
CAPITAL |DEI
Head of Eastern Institu\
of Statistics Addresses
! Large Crowd Here
FUTURE OF A CITY
RESTS WITH PEOPLR

A large and interested crowd at.
tended the open meeting held in the
Commercial club Saturday evening,
when Roger w. Babson head of the
tBabson Statistical Institute at Welles-
Hey Hills, Mass, talked on Real Causes
,of Prosperity and Depression. The
men, many of whom were retail mer-
chants and business men of the city,
from their applause evidently agreed
with Mr. Babson's ideas, and following
his talk they asked him many quess
tions, which among other things, pre-
cipitated beneficial discussion Of the
public school problem.
Mr.. Babson opened his talk by say.
ing that there are two causes for ali
periods of prosperity or depression
He likened these causes to the source.
of the great Chicago fire. The first
canse, he said. was the lantern kicked
over by Mrs. O'Leary's COW, while the
second was the rotten building con.
ditions and the poor fire equipment OF
that day.
He predicted a great period of de-
preston in the United States immed.
ftely following the close OF the pres
ent European war and said that the
cessation Of hostilities there, the open
ing of the Dardanelles, the sending
back Of their soldiers into the fields
and factories is the lantern. Thou
sands of men. principally in the east
engaged in the manufacture Of muni-
tions and supplies of war will be
thrown out of their jobs when Europe
ceases to send in orders for their pro-
ducts. With the curtailing of the
enormous shipments of farm produce
to Europe. that same produce viii
drop in price, and the fall win be like
a drop from the tenth story to the
basement, for in times s0& sdepsY YicE.
.tpqiaes aaways go az mach below nor
4 mai. as they go above normal fn boom
times.
To trace up the time Of depression.
step by step, he said that with tho
stopping Of war. factories Will cease
to get war orders. They will then
discharge many of their workers. The
buying power of these workers will
be cut down. end they will not buy
as frequently Of the retailer. The re.
taller viii cease to buy as much OF
the jobber. and the jobber will again
curtail his orders to the manufacturer,
who in turn win let out more men,
the thing rolling up like a SNOWFALL.
until there will come what is known as
a time Of depression. Mr.. Babson pre-
diets worse conditions following the
close of the European war than those
which prevailed in 1893. The farmers
buying power, he says. will be cur.
tailed. perhaps not permanently, per
haps not more than year. but 1t
viii surely be lessened.
During this period OF depression, the
faw Of the survival OF the fittest win
be in operation, Mr.. Babson asserted.
and the result win be the wedding out
Of the weak and inefficient so that bus
/ mess will get on sound basis where
progress against becomes possible.
Then, as business efficiency in
crea$es. prosperity comes hack and
boom time follows.
In boom times the process is Just fe-
versed. In the last stages of a depfee-
sion the worker gets to where he has
to have goods and orders from the re
taller The retailer discovers that he
is short Of goods and orders from the
iobber. who in tnrn orders from the
NucftukVyA luc WVKA
ers are given back their jobs.
| When the boom has reached tangible
proportions. careless and ineficiency
creep in again and business is slowly
honeycombed in preparation for the
next depression. Depressions and
booms. Mr. Babson showed. move in
very definite cycles.
So Mr.. Babson states, as the real
canse Of the Chicago fire was the rot.
ten building conditions and the inefn.
cient fire departments, Just so is the
real cause Of periods Of depression and
prosperity the condition Of the people.
for a state. a town. city. and more so.
a nation, is but a reflection Of its p0o-
pie.
The most valuable factors of success
/ today. according to Mr.. Rabson. are
ambition and initiative. Faith, vigor,
enterprise. originality and cooperation
are other valuable assets. Of these
| factors. Mr.. Babson places cooperation
as the greatest and says that within
| the next decade more progress win be
made in cooperation than in any other
factor particularly between capital
( and labor. for neither can exist without
! the other.
| One other factor which must be not
! ed. said Mr.. Babson, is the law Of re-
action. that is, that only as much can
be gotten out Of thing as is put into
it. He cited South America and North
America as contrasts, in proving this
statement South America, he said.
was the example OF get something fe>5,
nothing The Spaniards had occupied
| South America merely for the purpose
of exploiting it. or in other words, to
get something for nothing. North
America, said Mr.. Babson, was settled
by the northern peoples of Europe,