Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-01-27

must have been a friend Of his who
added the sage advice. Never sell
short on the Omitted States"
As a manufacturer. | feel disposed
to face the future with both of these
maxims in mind. The reason | look
forward with u feeling of confidence
is that | can see nothing in the situa-
ton to warrant any other feeling !
When nation has most of the money 4
in the world etaphorically speak
ing-and the world owes II a heavy |
debt besides. | should Say that il oc- I
cupied an advantageous position, If (
YOU find, in addition to this that the /
same nation has on hand no surplus
or oVer-supply of any essentials. it (.
would seem to me that this consti- /
tuted another heavy asset. Looking !
around, | am not able to find that we
are overstoCked in anything of con-
sequence whether y be locomotives
or freight ears, wheat, fuel or what
not. In other words, it would look as
though we were facing huge future
with clean stocks and empty shelves,
and an enormous capacity to produce.
We have had two magnificent crops
in succession, and are promised an
other; our supply of essential minerals
is as far from exhaustion as ever; and
bank balances and savings bank ac-
counts are mounting steadily higher
! and higher in spite of the enormous
popular investment in government
securities.
This nation may, for aught ! know,
pass through another panic in years
TO come. But as | study the situa-
ton ! am forced to the conclusion
that if a panic ever does come, II VIII
have to be produced by some new
I ct.
by some cause that has never created
panic before.
If | wanted to sit down and work
at it, | suppose | could have as many
doubts and misgivings about the So
called reconstruction of America as
the next man But, in the face of
the facts / have just cited and a vol
ume of other evidence | cannot even
| touch upon in this review. I am not
able to bring myself to the point of
doing it, Moreover, l never did like
that expression about facing crisis.
or confronting a problem
NV experience with problems is
that they cease to be problems as soon
as you stop confronting, and begin to
grapple Fortunately, most Ameri-
can business men feel the same way
and not only feel that way but act
that way. which is a great deal better.
For instance, it is only few weeks
since every little group of American
business men who sat down to lunch
| together seemed to be terribly eXer-
csed over the precise manner IN
which we were all going to resume
business" Some of us grew very
| heated and predicted dire calamity
unless the war industries board agreed
to act as nurse to American business
for at least a year to come. others
took the opposite side-and painted a
picture just as black, and lust as
gloomy. -
The truth of the matter was that all
of us We're ''resuming'' Just as hard
and fast as we knew how, while we
were still talking about it in our
spare moments. The only spare mo-
ments an American business man has,
by the way. are during the lunch
hour and the talk he INDUCES in att
that time about crises and calamities
is often just his way of enjoying him
self.
Seriously, isn't IT, a fact that most
! of our national problems are solved
before the editors of the monthly
magazines ever get chance to talk
bout them? It's all right to discuss
the conditions of today-they should
manufacturer, that it pays also to
try to dig a little deeper If | find
myself inclined to be Hurried by
something somebody did yesterday or
threatens to do tomorrow, | try to
take long deep breath count ten,
and repeat to myself: Never sell
short on the United States"
How are fundamental conditions IN
America? They are wholesome and
sound, and do they look as though
they furnished a solid foundation for
the future? That's the main question
i'm fact the only one. For instance,
seem to discern. just now. a certain
fear of too much radical thought I'M
America Now, I've got stubborn
idea that as a matter Of fact we are
one of the most progressive conserNa-
tive peoples on the face of the earth
TODAY. It wouldn't surprise me If we
were actually more conservative I'M
the long run than our good friends in
Great Britain. When ! say that ] am
thinking of the rule, and not the eX
ceptions | am thinking of the homes
and of the bulk of the people, and
not the groups, | am thinking also
of useful instrument known as the
constitution.
But | am thinking above all. that,
taxing Dy-anu-ldTSe. we are d well
intentioned people, and a good ma
tured people. We don't always do the
right thing by each other. but we've
got the disposition to do it--and that's
long step toward the solution. over.
in Europe some classes of people want
peasant. over here nobody wants
them.
1t seems to me, too, that the Amer
lean business man-the manufacturer
has come out of the war with a
broader conception of his responsible
ties. I don't think he has the slight
est disposition to shirk these re-
! sponsibilties It seems to me that he
! has awakened to the discovery that in
4 the operation of his business there
| are two groups of people besides him
! self that must be given full consid-
! Grafton.
| believe, further that the more he
| has thought and will continue to
! think of this double responsibility, the
more clearly Il will dawn on him that
! it is good for him, and good for his
business.
/ In one of these two groups Is the
man who buys his product-his mo-
tor car, as it happens to be in our
7 case. In the other is the man who
/, helps him build that motor car. The
manufactures stands in the middle,
owing a responsibility to each of the
! others The truth of the matter is
/ that he is a sort of a trustee bound
i in his own interest to protect the III
/ terests of both If he tries to shirk
\ on either side, or play one against the