The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-04-22

EDITORS NOTE-Rorer w, Babsor
IL one OF the foremost statistical an.
! inornies In America. The appended
article is worth while study and refIec.
ton.
BY ROGER w. BABsoN
| Get business going and keep 1t go
| ing That summarizes Americas
greatest need at the present time.
The end Of the war has brought new
problems, which must be solved Just
as were the problems of the war 1t
| seH-Dy quick and accurate dag
nos1s and prompt and adequate
| method OF treatment. Fundamentally
| all our troubles since the signing oil
the armistice have come from just one
| thlng-a tendency to wait, to go slow
| rather than to accept things as they
are and keep going ahead.
During the war it was patriotic tc
devote as little money to nonessentials
as possible. During the war it was
patriotic to wear out old clothes and
old shoes, to dispense with pianos and
automobiles, to do without Injuries
and to make the necessaries Of life
give more than normal service.
That was also wise and right during
the war. But now the conditions have
changed vastly and for the better, I'm.
less we are to consider the war pros.
perlty better than normal times. AT
the present time there is shortage
OF almost everything that people need
to eat and to wear. There is a short
age of homes-one million dwellings
IN this country and about as many IN
England. Every normal constructive
enterprise was checked by the war
Now that peace is here, constructive
enterprise should go ahead at more
than the normal pace in order that
we may make up for lost time
Get business going and keep it 60
ing."
But it is useless to appeal alone to
business men to get business going
No business man, however good his in
tentions may be, can make the public
buy his wares against the will of the
public. No business man, however he
may desire the resumption Of normal
conditions in America, is big enough
to bear the whole burden alone The
successful meeting Of the present
crisis is a cooperative enterprise, just
as winning the war called for the
whole genius of the American people
toward cooperation. Every man, wo-
man and child must do his or her part
II prosperity is to come now.
How, then, are we to get business
under way at once? How are we to
restore America to peace-time condi-
tons without the unpleasant expert
ences that some of the allied nations
in Europe are undergoing?
To my mind the whole problem
comes back, in the final analysis, to
the ultimate consumer. 1t is upon
the consumer, the great general pub
lie, that we must depend Business
can progress only in SO far as it has
public support. The interests of labor
depend upon the interests of the bust
ness man.
During the war we have deprived
ourselves of many things that we ac-
tually needed. Many Of us are now in
a position to satisfy the desires that
we could not meet year ago. We
know that the American public today
probably has a greater purchasing
power than ever before in history,
Labor has been steadily employed dur
ing the war and hundreds of thou
sands of workmen received good pay
and also made much money in over
time and Sunday work. A great deal
of this has been saved and is now
available for the resumption of bust
ness on a normal scale.