The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-04
By HOLLAND

New York, July 3.--(Special. )--A.
 C. Bedford, who is chairman of the United States Chamber of Commerce
 group which is now taking part in the international conference Of
 chambers of commerce in. London,
 was reported as having said in the address which he made to the con- ference that the United States has
 been passing through a period of the
 greatest financial depression and in
 dustrial stagnation which has pre-
 vailed in the United States. The
 financial depression which began In 1892 and continued for several years
 was the greatest this country has
 ever known, although 1t was matched
 for brief period at the time of the panic of 1907.
 MT. Bedford referred. to the fact that some three millions who in war
 days and for year later were re- ceiving the highest recorded wages
 are now out of employment. Never
 theless he asserted, as he has often
 done since mid-Apri1, that conditions
 were improving, and that he believes that this improvement will continue
 He stated that the Americans are the optimists of the commercial world,
 and he himself illustrates this spirit.
 for he has never been a pessimist Vice President Coolidge, who came
 to New York to, share in the social
 gathering here of large number of
 New England bankers, with many of
 whom he had personal acquaintance, did not hesitate to say to some Of
 the bankers with whom he talked informally that in his opinion the prevalent taxes in. great measure
 hinder the return to business activ- | ity. The Vice President intimated
 that our taxation continue upon the
 war basis, and that it constitutes a very heavy burden. That is also the opinion of some other authorities who have not hesitated to say that
 these taxes have added greatly to our economic disturbance, and they now | constitute a serious handicap to re- covery.
 A few weeks before deflation be- gan a little over year ago whoie- sale prices were TT per cent higher
 than the prices of the year before the war. But in May of last year the
 decrease in wholesale prices began
 This was due to the fact that the
 public, which had been spending
 recklessly and extravagantiy' was compelled to retrench. It was dis covered in April of last year that
 what Is called the buying power Of the public had fallen off.
 During the war and for year longer labor demanded very high
 wages. These demands in most cases
 were granted by the employers. But it was observed that the higher the
 wages and the greater the number ot employees the efficiency correspond inrlv decreased. This falling off in efficiency was not confined to the
 workingmen. It characterized the manarement of many of the indus tries.
 The Era of Falling Prices
 As early as April of last year falling off in employment in New
 York state was noticed, ana tnis continued until mid-winter. In Mas
 sachusetts the workers who were un-
 emnloyed Increased between March and June of last year by nearly ~ ner cent. The department of com merce at Washington reported that beginning in June. 1920, the number of idle wool machinery increased
 very rapidly A change for the pet.
 ter did not begin until January of
 this yearN
 gan in May of last year IS repre-
 sented by a decrease in wholesale rr;ces in four months of approxl- mately I'll per cent. The total de- cline in the Ii months from May l. 1920, to April, 1921. was little over
 40 per cent. In May Of last year !.
 was observed that the number or business failures began to increase, and in the four quarters of that year there were reported nearly 5000 busi- ness failures. How rapidly the change in the situation affected business is revealed by the official
 report that whereas in the first quar- ter of 1920 the failures numbered 600. with a little under thirty mil lion liabilities. on tho other hand fin the fourth quarter of that year there were $500 failures with nabili- ties little under one hundred and thirty millions.
 The Bank CIeartRgs
 | On. oy the best Indications of a
 falling off in business Is to be found l in inc reports of bank clearings In i the Irn;ted States, The banks of the United States cleared forty-one bile lion dollars in 1920, Dut n aus uss
 the bank clearings hao iailen thirty-four billion five hundred "'i-
 lions.
 While this deflation and depression
 were in progress the public did nov realize the magnitude of this reaction
 from conditions which prevailed dur