Amarillo daily news. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 19??-current, 1920-09-26
AMERICAN ENTERING SECOND STAGE
0FP0sT- WAR TRANSITION, DECLARES
F|NANCERAT NE RCHANTs' MEETING

Special 10 The News.
NEW YORK. Sept s5.--In an ad
dress NJ the fifth annual banquet ol
National Retail Tea and Coffee Mer
chants Association. al the Hotel Penn
sllvanin. New York City. Francis n
Slsspn. Wee President of the Guaranty
Company of New York. said In pars
o. follows.
We ar. entering the second stage
Of our POSTWAR transition period. The
momentum Of economic forces gencr
atcd and accelerated by the war II rap
idly expanding itself ns is evidenced
by the lessening ~ industrial activities
IN many lines Initiation has been ar
rested: the era IL eNtravagant cxpcn
diture IL ending: devastated europe
again beginning To produce. ~ II nj
tested by the rising tide u Imports
and nlackenIng activity In number
tied conditions. even more "ritcal "
respects than that through which We
have Just passed,
"Th.r. seems 10 bc every indica
tlun that the peak u high prices IN
commoditics generally has boon
lasycd. and that the process Of read
.iustmcnt 60 lower and more Norman
levels " under way. This. Of course
viii affect AL busincss. and must be
tArkonc,l, with In any business plan
There has been stead ydeclinc W
commodity prices as n whole IRON feD
iuary Of this year, when they reacllcc
their neak. 10 this date. In Eoihe hnes
these dolincs are more pronounc'u
than others. In manufactured prod
ucis this is rue az yet In only hiehl
degree but Il IL certain TO DC reilectea
there also. .
DeeiinInE Prices and Business Activity
, And, Ms was 20 We eNpectec IN
prriod N declining commodity prices
an dslackenlng activity In ruinpei
a Industrial lines. both che number OF
commercial failures and liabilities IN
yolyed are increasing. In july, Ton IN
Stance. the defaults In mercantile ana
industrial lines nu,nbcrct ssh. with ia
iilItlcs q. nearly 90 riliion dollars az
eompareI with only ihs failures ana
liabilities 81 ji.2 million dollars ~
,iulr. 1919. The defaults Tor AuguS'
numbered SO. with liabilities amour"
ing Co more than % million dullari
and sharply exceeded those Tor Augus
a last year, while tile liabilities. du
90 an unusual number OF large re
verses. arc well above the average ioi
August. The large failures last mont
e,ocesle.l those. for any August An"
1925, and the liabilities involved ny
,hesr defaults are the heaviest &c
ported for tho period since 1917.
while these failures nave n"'
reached alarming proportio " AT al
they indicate that certain nor" OF less
palnfui readjustmenis are takint
rlscc in trade aid industry Ihey
should point their neral. namely ina,
IN a declining mlrk,t II Is tho part o.
wisdom to be- short ON commOuitn'
and long on credit. II has been 80 ~,
q rvc,l that the highest degree of skii
il REQUIRED to carry business eh,e,
prlscs safely through rcriods OF taIl
ing prices eve,, when the 10" u
moderate proportions. 4,
''This ~ not the time Ia borrow },
order 10 carry large stocks ~ sooa
~ : stimulate the production o, nor
o. ..n,inl commodities Hut '"mhhrr','
i.ans are no, being denied to any "
tus,ry that r. endcavorlng 30 increas
"a production u essential; goons
rth.pc the Federal Reserve b"ar
sg consistently Observation-Disclosures
IN the question ~ 10 what are essen
lll and non.CSsgntial CoinMnlliL,H.- IN