New-York tribune., 1921-01-23
January goth, 1921.

my thoughts pAdlNly. II l am wrong In any
way will be glad to be set right, and if have
advocated wrong policy I viii without hesi-
fancy publicly endeavor to make amends These
times when our difficulties entitle the public
to earnest discussion to harmonic differences
Of opinion rather than argue for the sake Of
iustifying selfish position.
have carefully read your letter with an
earnest endeavor to preserve an open mind, and
it Is only fair to you to say that it has not
changed my opinion in the least.
You admit in the second paragraph Of your
letter that the present economic conditions
have been in large measure the result Of ex-
travagant buying" Now, if you had patient
who was suffering from over-eating, you would
not resort to orced-feedirg when his stomach
turned against food simply because he had
speeded up his favorite restaurant to a certain
volume Of business and that therefore this vol
ume Of business had to be maintained. Or, if
you had patient suffering from over-drinking.
you would not urge him to drink more just
because his wine merchant had become over
stocked, even though this stock had been
contracted for based upon his former rate of
patronage.
You say, ".The root Of the entire evil
Is the buvers' strike, Surax, Won
do not mean that the buyers strike is what has
produced our present situation. 1t is far from
"root." 1t is a natural reaction from the
spending orgy" which prevailed, and which
ahc fbo
Of your letter. Before the spending orgy" had
spent itself We had reached the point in our
financial strain which in the Judgment of our
bankers required them to call halt and to
place the business world on rationed loans.
cannot accept, and do not necessarily dis
pute, the statement you made in the fourth par
agraph Of your letter, My idea of Thrift is
Work and Earn-Dont Waste Save part of
what you earn and deposit or invest it where it
is safe and where it will go you the most good
There hundreds of men who have abun-
dant capital who are applicants for the loan Of
cash from their banks, but the banks are unable
to loan them as freely as they need the money.
these banks would like to do; but these
banks and especially the commercial banks, can
be depended upon to loan this money wherever
it is safe and where it is most needed rather
than to lAan it purely for their own selfish in
terest. Inability of many manufacturing con-
Germs to raise cash by the pledge Of capital is
what has caused the vast army of UNEMPLOYED,
Give them a chance to get cash for the espledge
Of capital and they will resume operations, CIV
ing employment to the unemployed, thus re-
establishing the purchasing power Of the public
and enabling themselves to convert capital into
cash with which to repay these loans.
People will buy if they have money to buy
with-and the world problem has never been to
stimulate the need and desire for consumption
but to produce in sufficient abundance what is
needed for consumption What brought us to
our present situation was the tendency to con-
sumo until wc had eaten our seed corn So
cannot concur in your statement that "Obvious-
ly then the thrift program cannot help us out
of the situation"
We who advocating Thrift as cure for
troubles cannot undertake to have either
labor or the banks conduct themselves to your
liking, but we will gladly join with you to in
duce the banks or labor to do that which is
best for our country whole, believing in this
present situation that each and every interest
will prosper more with thoroughly sound
condition Of the country throughout than by
having selfish advantage over others
through what may prove period Of great busi-
ness depression.
You refer to Labor in way which questions
whether its attitude is constructive in the
present situation, and think you may well do
so. But do not forget that we are apt to see
the faults of others more readily than we see
their virtues. The worlds progress has largely
been brought about by the creation and intro
duction Of labor-saving machinery. We cannot
deny that the introduction of every epoch
making piece Of labor-saving machinery seri-
ously inconvenienced, and sometimes punished,
large groups Of wage-earners, and yet we know