Omaha daily bee., 1917-06-24
What Business Thinks
By Frederic J. Hask n

Washington, june Zl:-lhe Amer.
can business man is just about as ex.
ssperated now as heNever hopes to
be. You can tell it By looking al
him, if he does not tell you himself
in long outburst OF righteous indig.
nation. Several things are the mat
ter. The war, for one thing, and the
weather for another, but worst OF all
is the wave OF economy which has re-
Gently swept the country. People,
complain the business men, are on
the verge OF hysteria. They won't
! buy even the things they actually
need. Instead, they are boarding
their earnings in the bank against
some obscure future emergency which
can't be understood at all.
This is the sort OF thing that
brings on psnic,' declared promi-
uent New York merchant at a busi-
ness meeting the other day. 1T simply
must be stopped"
Feeling among the retail trade is
becoming very bitter towards the dis
tribution OF thrift pamphlets and
tracts. One trade journal even goes
so far as to voice a suspicion that
certain society women and govern
ment authorities are merely using
the economy propaganda to get their
names into the papers. Not long ago,
a gentleman made speech to num-
Der OF Red Cross women, in which
he reproached them for wearing silk
dresses. No woman should be seen
wearing a silk dress while the war
lasted, he said. 1t was extravaganza.
The effect OF this announcement was
10 make the manufacturers and re-
tailers of silk well-nigh apopletic.
They did not hesitate to express their
private opinions OF the intelligence OF
the gentleman in question. Why was
it an extravaganza for women to wear
silk dresses, they wanted to know,
when silk dresses were the cheapest
wearing apparel on the market? Look
at the advertisements of any wom-
ems wear or department store, and
you will find silk dresses selling way
below voiles, linens and even the low
ly ginghams-once the ornament OF
the kitchen.
This is the kind of misstatement
we had to put up with for the last
six months" says the owner OF a
large Philadelphia clothing establish
ment. "Six months more OF It and
there will be apanic."
II may be inserted parenthetically
that the purpose OF this article is to
give the business mans point OF view,
and not to present an argument. We
have been looking at events with the
binoculars Of the buyer for long
time, but occasionally it is-interesting |
to change about and get on the other
side OF the counter. The difference
is enormous---as enormous as the dill
ference between riding in motor
car and hurrying across in front of it.
The business mans point OF view |
Is not pessimistic. Ne believes that
the war is going to bring greater pros
pcrity than ever before. Production
will necessarily be much greater; the
employment OF labor will be greater,
and the circulation OF money greater.
Moreover, the $7,000,006,000 in bonds
now being raised by the government,
will be spent in this country. Ameri-
can manufacturers will get the bene-
fits OF 1t. There is only one danger
in the whole prosperous outlook
the instinct Of self-preservation which
is causing people to hoard
Irwin Cobb has defined the chief
characteristic of twentieth century
America as hysteria rather than ex-
The business men agree
with him. We are apt to rush to
extremes, It appears, without think
ing, and If YOU get us excited enough
we will even save money. Thus, when
YOU start out to work up an economy