The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-11-30
THE MERCHANTS MOVE
(st. Louis Post-Dispatchl


A sound plan has been proposed by
st. Louis business men for reinvig- /
Grating American industry. The plan
is simply this-that Mr.. American
Merchant get back his nerve, go into
the market, place his orders for his
spring goods, and do it now.
Has the American merchant lost his
nerve? If it was banker who said
this, or lawyer, or doctor, or editor,
the merchant might resent it. But it
happens TO be st. Louis merchant
who said it. the head of one of the big
mercantile organizations of the coun-
try. The remedy suggested 10 of his
own prescribing. He is taking his
own medicine. He earnestly recon-
mends that all other merchants do
likewise. Indeed, he acknowledges
that the efficacy of his plan depends
upon its general adoption. It must
be nationwide movement
AS this merchant diagnoses it, the
present situation is largely the result
of timidity of merchants. They are
hesitating to buy now. They believe
that by waiting till the last minute
they can buy cheaper. Meantime. the
absence of orders which ought to be
placed now, is poisoning the entire in-
Idustrial system. The shelves of job
bers are grooming with goods that
ought to be in transit, or at least sold.
The timidity of the merchants has in
fected the jobbers. who are also post
poning their orders. The consequence
is that the manufacturers in many
lines have nothing to work on and are
running their plants on reduced time,
with reduced force. or, in some in
stances, closing down altogether.
Fear, the genesis of panic, is on the
job. What is needed is courage, mar
tshaled by judgment Courage and
Judgment are indispensable attributes
of business success, yet for several
abnormal years the American business
man has not had to exercise either OF
those attributes very much. Little
lacumen has been required to do BUSH
ness, with prices steadily rising and
| in the face of assured demand. That
time is gone. The American business
man has got to take off his coat now
and get right down to it. Discretion,
foresight, vigilance, management and
nerve-those constituted his equip
ment by which he won his success, and
those qualities must be drafted back
into service now.
OF course, the merchant must have
the support of the banker in. his legi-
innate enterprise. That goes without
saying. Happily, with our present
banking system. the banker can stand
behind the merchant. Our modern
financial machinery enables him to
do so. The spectacle of solvent BUSH
ness houses crashing down into insol-
vency belongs to the archaic past.
It is the American merchants move.
As soon as he moves, with a quick,
confident stride, the effect viii be
magical. Immediately the jobher win
get into motion, and his appearance
in the market means that the manu-
facturer will be stimulated, and, i'm
prosperous sequence labor will be en-
ployed ON full time and good wages.
which money viii find its way into
the merchants till.
There is nc serious defect in Amer
lean industry. We have had bounti-
full crops. We have more money than
ever before, more people, greater pro-
ductive capacity, greater needs to be
supplied. The present pause is large
ly psychological But the people are
not going to stop eating food, wear
ing clothes, getting married and re-
lplenishing the earth.
The American merchant should kick
his blue devils out the door, admins
tering a particularly well-placed kick
to the black imp of fear, and begin