Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-11-16
BUSINESS AND PROSPERITY.

81 400. coo, 900. 1t is now $4,000, 900. 900.
The interest on our present debt Is Sl,2Oo,Oo0-
O90, or more than the countrys DEBT before tue
war.
before the war. Now it costs five billions.
This is the price of war and It must be paid
by taxation. which must be shared by all;
Labor and wages are twice or more hisher
than before the war.
Goods which we all use cost more to US be-
cause of high wages, taxation ana war inhauoh
Imitation has been and still is being squeezed
out" This has reduced the cost OF merchandlse;
We still have high standards OF labor cost ana
No one must expect that food, merchandise,
rents, ETC., will go back to 1914 prices, ana
wages. salaries. incomes remain where they are.
Prices this winter are down to bed rock, as
they are based on lower material costs ana In
Whether these lower prices hold for long or
not depends-on everybody. You. ]. lis and
If people hold back in buying, thinking prices
will go lower. prices will rise instead.
Making a lot of goods is the only way Tor
If workers are not employed they have no
money to spend.
II workers are not employed goods become
scarce and prices rise.
Our real problem Is that OF employment for
Employment means money kept circulating all
over the country. 1t means more goods at lower
prices.
the country going.
Hold hard to your job. Work better. and
harder. We must ell spend our money wisely.
We must replace extravasance with thrift.
Your business and your income will shrink II
we allow unemployment to become general.
Examples: $4,000 men out of work In Detroit
don't mean cheaper automoniles because tney
5000 families without money to spend for
clothing. shoes. fuel. food and rent.
employees. That doesn't help business. or re-
duce prices. but does mean about $40, 900 less a
week in money 20 spend. The starting OF a
Cotton and wooden mills idle all summer and
to spend. And hundreds of thousands of yards
OF less cloth that would have been cheaper.
Keep up the pay roll.
Keep the wheels moving.
Let us create and produce and lower prices
normally through industry. thrift and hard work.
Fight unemployment.
money circulating.
There is a great deal of common sense in what
The Shoe Retailer says. 1t is based on the
golden rule and II we would all live up to that
rule there would be no trouble with business or
anything else. The trouble is. people will be
extravagant at times and the temptation to
~profiteer is too great for some to overcome. After
all, it is a matter Of confidence. Most business
is based on confidence whether it be from the
eealer's or. the customers point Of view. Once
that confidence is shaken the whole fabric of our
business world is shaken.
Take the two examples cited by The shoe
Retailer: $4,000 men out of work in Detroit
because of the slowing up of the automobile in
dustry means that people have been extrav-
agantly buying automobiles in the past and now
they have stopped. People have been making
SO much money during the war that they want
ed automobiles. Those who could never afford
automobiles before found that now they could
afford them and they insisted that they be Of the
best with all the latest equipment, etc. Those
who had automobiles before bought better onss
and many bought two or three. Money was the
least of their worries. How to spend 1t so as to
have the best time possible was the only prob
lem. This was extravaganza brought on by the
wealth produced by the war.
This orgy of spending is about over. People
now are not buying a new car every year. Those
who had two or three are contenting themselves
with one. 1t is the inevitable reaction that was
bound to follow such an abnormal period as the
world has just passed through.
For several years the automobile manufactur-
es have been working night and day to supply
the demand and they have been charging for the
automobiles all that the trafic would bear. Now
that the reaction has set in they hnd the coun-
try overstocked with automobiles. Those that
have cars are making their old ones do. Those
that had two or three are getting rid of all but
one of them. So the slump is bound to be felt in
a great automobile manufacturing center like
Detroit and, naturally. with the slowing up of
The industry the men are out OF work. 1t would
be foolish to keep on making automobiles when
people are not buying them. In fact. it would be
impossible to finance the business without the
money from sales coming in all the time.
1t is SO in every line work industry. The sober
ing up time has arrived. The people as a whole
have been drunk with extravaganza. The spree
is over. While they rest up-sleep it off, so to
speak-thipgs are going to be quiet for a time.
And il they are not buying as they did formerly
it is natural that orders are not going to be
placed for goods. This means a curtainment at
the mills. II the people are not buying as they
did formerly it follows that the department store
does not need the large staff Of clerks and sales
men as it did when the buying was at its height.
Everybody realized that such a period of ex-
travsgance as we have Just passed through could
not last forever. The careful. farseeing business
man probably sensed It before anyone else. In
placing his orders for the future he did not order
SO heavily. During the rush the manufacturer
was very Independent with the retailer and filled
his orders as he saw fit. The retailer had TO
take what he could get and be thankful. But
when the slump nrst began the retailer felt free
to retaliste and he showed the wholesaler as
little consideration a. the wholesaler had shown