Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-08-03
From Other Viewpoints
More About High Prices.
ny JOHN MOODY.

y great many people in the habit of
pointing to the aftermath OF the Civil War
and taking it for granted that conditions 1T
present are based on the same fundamentals and
that we may reasonably expect the same sort
of outcome.
The whole country has been full OF o-caicd
panic talk for five six years. We hear
through interviews of business and other men
and through talk in the street there is fear of
scmc sort of a panic ahead.
We have heard great deal of that kind of
talk, especially within the last three or four
months. but as a matter of fact panic talk
has been popular in certain quarters ever
since the war opened in 1911.
Now II viii so back TO the pcriod after
the Civil War we Will see what happened then
after 1864, 1864 and 1866. We looked up some
records of that period. and particularly news
paper comments OF business men and OF
politicians and commercial leaders of these
1866 and 1867.
I'VE are heading for a crash.' Imitation is
something frighlful. The extravaganza Of
the people is something that cannot last for
any great length of time without bringing on
a panic" THE incfGc!cncy of labor Is q So
rions matter The expenditures for luxu-
rics are alarming"
AS matter OF fact the comments In Tho
year 1866 could be fitted in absolutely with the
comments that we see made by public men
this day: II we did not notice the dates we
could think We were reading about the vcor
1919 or 1920 instead Of 1866 or 1867
From that time to 1873 We had great
business activity We had boom we had
some dchation in commodity prices YES but
we had enormous increases in the volume of
business and Improvement in credit cond!-
tons
we went through great period Of develop
mcni in this country from 1866 TO 1871 but
mere were factors working at tina, time which
brought about that period Of ;,rosocri,v ,ybich
OF course. are not working now
the panic of 1879 was brought obou+ Mo-
maps as Il result OF war conditions. partly as Il
result OF over speculation. IL was normal
panic, a natural panic and we suffered half
dozen years OF depression before this country
got its feet. '
Commodity prices did not really get b,c,. "a
normal and 10 the prices of 1850 mia .hon,
1880 In other words. ii was twenty vc,rs
from the time prices hcr,p 81 - -! !.''S
got back to normal. Ivy
our condition compared with that following,
me riNH War is this: We emerged from n
world war during which the civilized conn
'rics OF the world Increased their dch.s 10
the extent of something like 500 Oo0 con oon
We have increased our government debt iron,
4 normal sum TO something ,,,,o sS- 900
900 INC S-''ooo'-
We came into the war after ii had been
gong ON Tor two years and half Prior to
,hht ,ims the United states had been getting
i'ou'onSiy rch. This country had bee, rar-
italy financing the war. had been f.ciinc
the peoples OF Europe. had been supplying Inc
armies more or less with munitions ana .,,,
pies. business activity had been ahnormoljv
developed The country had been ro,,,n,H,
richer and richer and richer
While the country getting richer condi-
tons had changed. The basis of valuation had
gradually changed until the cost Of produc-
tl"n had gone up 10 100 per or /. Won
put II IN the other way the purchasing power
OF IN" dollar had gone down 80 per cent
When the war ended the expectation was
that general business activity would undergo
a slump that this great imitation which mad
been brought about during the war by the var
needs. by the expansion OF banking credit and
al other factors that this great imitation
would begin to he slowly eliminated. IL would
be slowly eliminated through IA failing OF In
demand and In the course of n year or two we
would get back something like normal levels
again. That was the assumption. We did not
do that.
There Is a certain irreduciblc minimum of
goods that people must have In order to exist
at ALL They may reduce the standard of living