Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-11-23
PREDOMINANT SPIRIT
OF CONFIDENCE IS
REFLECTED IN SURVEY

circulars have cautioned people con-
corning it, and while the readjust-
ment has come--in some instances
little too suddenly-in the main
it is healthy and to be desired. Th"
south is a favored part of America,
and America is the hope of the
world. We are not going to suf-
serious extent. We have had good
crops generally, and while the prices
are not as high as some particu-
lar growers of different commodi-
| ties would wish, yet in the inter
} est of the whole people shrinkage
| of values was necessary and proper.
When we get to normal, things will
be better. There will be less waste.
There will be more production: Con-
, sumption is greatest when things
; are cheaper. People are happier
when consumption is greatest, if it
be on sane lines.
"Our section should have been pre-
| pared, and 1 believe is prepared, for
pie have stood the test of very much
} worse times than these arc. They
have shown their patience, their
pluck and push during all wars, and
, consequent to them when times were
even harder than they were during
the wars themselves. I believe in
the southern people, have confidence
in them. and in little While be-
i lieve they will be more solvent and
n prosperous than ever before. I see
and future prosperity. 1t will take
some while naturally, to get things
on the new basis, but after they
J are there, it will be better for all
of u.s."
4 Fuller E. Galloway, president of
twenty three manufacturing, COM
u mercial and financial companies, La
! Grange: "Now that we are actually
experiencing it, any one can see
i that the present deflation and de-
Il preston is the natural reaction from
the excessive initiation of the war
= period. Trying, even painful, as 1t
may be for most of US, we should
take heart from the fact that 1t is
necessary preliminary to our get
ting back on a solid foundation in.
spring confidence and from which
Ia fresh start can be made. think
the most important thing is for US
not to lose our. heads or our nerve.
= This country has passed through
comparatively short lifetime. ana
remember feeling those of 1893,
1907. and 1914 in particular, because
!, l was actively in business during
our. fundamental conditions are so
4 much more sound and strong that
do not See how we can POSSIBLY
have as serious depression as any
, | OF those WHICH nave SOiO %
unless we become panic-strieken.
Marshal Foch said. in effect, that no
battle was ever lost unit! 1t was
first lost morally, which is only
another way Of saying that one IS
never beaten until he himself gives
up.
"In business as in war, the. man
who shows himself yellow justly
receives the contempt of his fe!-
lows. The present situation will
bring about supreme ,Tp test ,,, OF e char7
up and courageously meet each trial
as it comes will emerge stronger and
better fitted TO reap the harvest OF
the good times which Will surely
follow the present shaking out and
| settling down to a sound bedrock
basis for business"
J. K. ottley Optimistic
John K. Ottley, president Fourth
National bank, Atlanta: "A recent
. utterance of President-elect Harding
seems worth bringing to the atten-
ton of those people who view busl-
ness conditions through blue Cog
giles and who claim to see breakers
ahead:
when the war broke out 1t was we'll
..nigh universal observation that the
war cannot last more than six
months or a year, because economic
exhaustion will starve it to death
- That was the sincere opinion OF
majority of people who were sup.
posed to be wisest. Yet, instead OF
| ending in six months or year, the
war lasted four years and quarter,
the rate of economic waste was i'm
measurahly larger during most or
Il that period than, at the beginning,
ANYBODY had imagined it might be !;
vet, as a whole, the world came out
of the struggle with it's social or
ganization intact, and prepared to
take up the huge tasks of debt-pay-
; ing and reorganization. In very
| few years we will all look back
to this period of. ferment and I'M
rest which has followed the war,
and smile charitably at the predicoo
tions Of avulsion, or revolution, or
social collapse and economic d1sas-
ter. The truth is that at no pre-
vious stage in it's history has hu--
man society been so we'll organized
to maintain itself and care for its
units, human and social, under a
terrific strain, sas in this epoch. Bad
many parts of Europe, they are not
comparab Bile to those which prevailed
after the Thirty Years War or the
Napoleonic era. Whoever. wishes
row has need only to go back and
study the history of yesterday and
the day before.
Establishment is a process re-
curing steadiness and courage, plus
determined optimism. I can see
nothing to be gained by lamenting
| and fretting over conditions that
can be improved only by sincere
effort and a cheerful spirit OF CO.
|, operation AS have repeatedly
federal reserve system. is in fine
working order. In order that its
efficiency may have greater scope,
it should have the membership of
hn1 hot
people generally come to a clearer
understanding Of the benefits which
it is in the power of the system to
confer upon them, there will be a
significant gain in the number OF
portunity offers. therefore. it will
be important to emphasize this
phase of the situation.
THE period of conValescence is
always a trying one. There must be
The nation has been terribly. sick,
but she is in a fair. way to be all
the better for it, provided she will
think normally, exercise due control
and sit steady in the boat"
Mills ?. Lanes Vision
Mills B. Lane, president Citizens
and Southern bank, Savannah: AT
first blush, many would say that
conditions in Georgia are very Sc
rious. However, if you will go
} back and review the situation, you
! will find that prior to the war far
mers in Georgia owed large sums
!; of money on their farms to loan
| companies throughout the country,
!. as well as to local banks and mer-
chants, for supplies. The farmer,
however, during the past six years,
has made an unusual profit in the
production of cotton and other crops
of various kinds. all of which have
brought record prices, and during
last year the farmer had consider
able cotton on hand which was car
ried over from the previous years
production, as he had no use for the