The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-05-04
Speed up Business.

1 To the Editor OF Inc Idte lily
! There appears to be apprehens1Ve
conditions existing in good many
places throughout the country ana
| particularly in KeolSuk. The news
papers here and there have carried
many articles with reference to econ
| ouy. thrift. preparedness and other
kindred topics Practically all of the
advice contained in these these art
| icles is excellent advice, but there Is
time and place for all things and a
proper application as well as an 1ns-
proper application of economic prln-
| ciples.
| Some people appear to have taken
1 the advice contained in these art
icles as an admonition to quit buy
| ing, quit trading, quit business and
just sit tight.
Those who are actuated by such
motives are certainly lending aid and
comfort to the enemies OF America as
well as doing that which Is most Diet
rimental to the local community. Such
| a policy as that always brings depres-
sion, stagnation and hard times.
If everybody quits doing business,
quits buying and quits selling, it only
adds to the difficulties which our
country will undergo We could bring
about condition here in Keokuk in
a few days that would practically De
equal to any panic this community
ever saw If every person in the city
should quit business, quit working,
quit buying and selling-and just sit
tight for one week. The wheels OF
industry would be stopped and the
business Of the city and community
would be paralyzed and it would take
he fn from
a single experience such as that.
What this country needs above
everything else Is for everyone to
keep business going. There must be
no cessation in business. 1t is well
for us to economic in luXuries, and
eliminate waste. 1t is essential for
us to make our business more eff
ficient and more productive; but to
stop business, to block the wheels OF
industry-that is going to be most
harmful for the country as well as the
local community.
What President Wilson has en-
deavored to urge, as / interpret it. is
that America should speed up busl-
ness. that America should speed up
every avenue of production, that
where forty bushels of corn grew last
year, we should strive to produce
fifty this year.
The world is in a measure facing
what might be termed a sort Of econ
omic exhaustion. Millions Of men
have been taken from the productive
walks of life and placed in conditions
where all they can do is consume
and destroy. Such a process cannot
long continue without bringing about
economic exhaustion-a sort Of world
wide anaemia
When one is suffering fran ana.
emia, it is essential to life that he be
Supplied with more wholesome blood.
What the world needs today is to be
supplied with more producers. The
demand in all productive walks Of
life is greater than the supply. It is
this shortage of production that cor.
tributes to bringing about high
prices-occasionally boarding, stor
ing and market manipulation perhaps
add to this. The way to meet this
crisis is for us to keep business nor
NAL, to keep things going, to keep the
wheels of industry moving and IL
every way possible to speed up pro
duction-the production of food art
icles, the production Of all things es-