The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1921-02-08
BOOM UNNECESSARY TO
REVIVAL OF BUSINESS

America does not need boom pc
ricd to be prosperous, and the sub.
stantial factors of national wealth
will eventually bring about adequate
revival of industry and commerce, it
was declared Friday by James S.
Alexander, president of the National
Bank Of Commerce in New York,
speaking at a dinner of the Associa-
ton of StocksExchange Firms at the
Hotel Aston, New York.
"There are at present a number of
great business forces clearly at work
building p sound business structure
for 1921 ,"<said Mr. Alexander. Sup
ply and prices are becoming broadly
co-ordinated to demand. The improve
ment in the liquidity of2credit,; which
is now in progress, must develop fur
Their, but there are signs that improve
ment there will continue. AS these
movements are fulfilled, as wages and
labor are re-aligned to new condi-
tons and as business finally absorbs
the losses incident to deflation stabil-
ization on the new level will become
an accomplished fact.
'The beginning of the year 1921
has suspicious aspects in the rapid, yet
orderly, way in which these great cor
rcctions are progressing. The year
must be judged then, not so much
by the volume Of business that will be
accomplished in it, but rather by the
sounder conditions which will prevail,
marking the definite return to new
era of business fundamentals:
Normal activity must come from
within business rather than from with
out. Business cannot idly wait for
the public to resume active buying.
It must stimulate buying by establish
ing a wide prevalence of substantially
reduced prices for goods which must
be based on increased efficiency in
production and distribution, and the
acceptance Of reasonable margins of
profits.
"In this connection the growing
tendency of labor to become more
efficient and it's willingness to accept
some liquidation Of inflated wages is
a most encouraging circumstance.
From more than one point Of view the
readjustment now going on in respect
to labor supply and demand is benefi-
cial to the individual worker. The
excess Of jobs over workers, inflated
wages, and lax supervision from en-
ployers which characterized the boom
period were all influences upon labor
contrary to its best interests.
"Radicalism, encouraged by labor
scarcity, invaded and deprecated the
sAsv NF Lob
our national economic life. High
wages begot extravaganza that soon
reacted in rising prices, reducing the
buying power of those very wages
so that labor's gain was more appar-
ent than real. There also developed
decentralization of individual eff
cheney because men were not kept
on their mettle by competition for
work and advancement.
with the return Of more rigorous
conditions it is becoming clear that
the best interests Of conscientious Ia
Dor arc served by more normally
balanced relation between labor sup
ply and demand. Competition for
work means the stimulation of eff
cheney and staunch Anglo-Saxon in
dividualism as opposed to radical
ism. An abundance of labor permits
employers to choose workmen intelli-
gently and to coordinate wages to
their proper part In production
costs, facilitating the establishment of
price levels best for all.
"But employers must play fair and
not attempt to- lower wages unduly
or to enforce greater curtailment than
circumstances warrant. They must
recognize that, in any country worth
living in, the standard of living tends
ever upward. Wage earners in the
United States are entitled to the OPT
portunity to receive more than mere-
ly the means for bare and joyless
existence in return for real work well
done. Any other attitude on the part
of employers would be a menace not
only to the orderly REIMBURSEMENT of
existing conditions, but also to sound
business progress in the long run.
81 believe we are justified in conf
dence that these elements of progress
sive establishments which are work.
ing toward better times are now
greatly in the majority. The true
need of business is, not stimulation
of the forced-draught order, but
rather a conservative response to bet
ter conditions as they develop. Such
conservative, yet confidently progress
sive, course is the only basis for bust
ness success this year, as distinguish
ed from the feverish way in which
business was conducted during the
war and postwar period"
Must Revisualize Values
Intrinsic values, which have not
suffered the violent fluctuations of