Great Falls tribune., 1921-12-21
Prosperity Due in 1922
BabsOn Tells Multitude
in Wireless Phone Talk

fell off. simultaneously the public
assumed that the patriotic necessity
for holding Liberty bonds was passed
The millions of dollars of war loans
became purchasing power. The in
evitable happened. Prices scared and
we went on spree of speculation
Manufacturing capacity was increased
by half to try and meet the demand
This prosperity of course was not
sound. The inevitable crash came.
Then Buyers Strike
when prices began to sag in the
early part of 1920, the long suffering
public went on buying strike and
determined to hang on to every cent
they had as far as was humanity pos
s:ble until prices got back to the 1913
levels. The spectators were caught,
the hoarder of commodities was forced
to unload, and we experienced the
most drastic commodity panic in his
tory. Our increased factory capacity
was left idle Business became stag
nant, and we have been almost two
years in the resulting depression.
"The causes for it are being re-
moved, however, and we are well along
with the foundation on which the
period of Improvement will be built.
1.-THE initiation is being wrung from
wholesale prices which are down to
an average of 25 per cent above 1913
levels Retail prices have not de-
clined so much, but will probably WORK
lower on lines not already readjusted.
Wages have been reduced in many
quarters to make lower costs pos
sble. Workers are coming to see that
they must give as much as they can
for the dollar they get, instead OF try,
ing to give us as little as possible ana
still hold the job.
Business Larger Now
"The fact is. that business is larger
TODAY than it was in 1913. The diff
Guilty lies in the fact that the manu-
facturer now must market great deal
more goods in order to keep his en-
larged plant busy. With this situation
T can see for 1922 the keenest COM
petit on that any of us have expert
enced.
'"This same competition will, in the
long run. solve our problems. 1t will
increase efficiency. it will lead to
greater and more economical produe-
ton through the standardization OF the
manufacturing processes. 1t VIII
lead to lower costs and lower prices.
The manufacturer, too, will concen-
trate his attention on giving just as
much as he can for the dollar he gets.
rather than trying to get just as much
as he can from the product he offers.
In short we are rapidly getting back
to fundamentals of service. We are
getting back to the solid foundation of
honest value In reality, we are all
very much better off today than we
were during the feverish rush of the
last half of 1919.
Ready To Start
"If l may use an Illustration, I
should like to compare the business
situation with an automobile. We
driven reckIessly without regard for
safety We strained our business ma
chine to the breaking point and nat
urallv something gave way. We have
had time to get it repaired. We
have overhauled the engine. We have
drained the crank case and put in
new oil. We have filled it up with
water and gasoline. We are all ready
to start The only thing that is hold
ing us back is a minority. made up OF
a group of both workers and bust
ness men, who foolishly insist on try
ing to start in high, They want to
begin just where we left off in 1919.
They want to jump from standing
start to 90 miles an hour. Naturally
the engine stalls.
eff everyone will start 1922 by going
into low, and getting down to bed rock
in prices and wages, we can get things
started. Once under way we can shift
into second and then into high with
no trouble at all. / believe that this
will be accomplished. BY the end Of
1922, things ought to look great
deal better"