Evening star., 1920-12-15
URGES RESUMPTION
OF NORMAL BUYING
R. H. Williams, Banker, Sees
False Economy in Pres
.ent Methods.
TWILL CHECK SHUT-DOWNS
New Era of High Prices If Re
cession Stops Production,
He Predicts.
WILL CHECK SHUT-DOWNS
Special Dispatch to The Star.

~kNNAAi DisfoNu 10 10e StaT.
NEW YORK, December ls.-Re-
sumption OF normal buying must
take place IL a possible combination
OF high prices with low wages and
unemployment is to be avoided. Roger
II. Williams. vice president of the Ma
tlonal Bank of Commerce. declared
yesterday in an address at the eighth
annual meeting Of the Converter's AS
ISOLATION at the Biltmore Hotel.
To my mind there is mo- greater
service than can be rendered today to
business and to the public than to re-
estaDi1sh q normal volume of biiy-
ing, Mr.. Williams said. ITO do this
IT seems to me business and the pub
is through the processes of business,
either directly or indirectly. that
most of the so-called good things Of
ilte are accumulated which we all
snare. or try to. Unless business is
being done. unless there is a fair dis.
tribution of activity, there can be no
prosperity to divide, either between
employer or employe, business man
or consumer"
Sanity in buying and caution against
eA.ravagsnce A in purchases was coun-
seized by Mr.. Williams. He contended
that curtailment of buying is not
necessary; nor is il necessary to con-
sumo all OF our current production
without consideration of the future.
That is wasteful way of doing
business" he said
1t means extravagant production
costs and waste of materials in the
boom period. and in. the period os
depression it means deterioration of
goods not consumed. In both periods
therefore, 1T means great waste of
human endeavor. and in the litsy
ana!vsis the public pays the bill =
and obvious ways in which this restraint
of buying is inflicting injury With
goods flooding back on their hands pro-
ducers and distributors have had to
make abrupt curtailments of their ac-
tivities. resulting in unemployment and
in many directions in drastic wage cuts.
Not only are manufacturers and dis
tributers injured, but misfortune visits
the working class, with its resultant dis
content and unsettlement. But the in
effects Of the movement do not stop
even here. A recession in buying car
ried too far, and producing too great
stagnation In production and distribu-
ton. may result in a secondary era Of
shortages and a rebound in prices with
out an increase in real wages to meet
it. The result would be that the pres
sure Of the high cost of living on fam
lily economy, instead of following the
course of amelioration that has set In.
would again become onerous.
"Is there not a great threat in the
present situation of such unfortunate
results as these? Is not the recession
in public buying forcing industry into
too great a curtailment of production?
VIII not in other words. the public pay
greater price for its false economy
than if it maintained a more temperate
attitude both as to buying in flush
times and as to abstention from buy
ing in time such as the present? Is
it not true that any economic force
| which develops sufficient intensity to in
jure a considerable part OF the public
works injury in ultimate effect to the
body polite as a whole2 All must pay
a part of the cost" 49,. 49,