The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-06-21

their progress will be made painfully
slower by the continuous murmurng
about bad times ahead.
The cleareSt idea of the business re-
adjustment which this country has eS-
perieneed since the war is given by one
man who uses the simile of Il marching
column of troops to illustrate the march
of the industries themselves The col
umn has been making a right wheel
run. The troops nearest the center
move slowly and mark time These are
the industries like the wooden and tex
lie businesses which were hardest hit
last winter and then marked time while
they adjusted their labor costs, ar
ranged their loans in bank, wrote off
their losses, and then slowly began to
move again. Most of the trades which
suffered in December and January are
gradually coming baek-not rapidly of
course, but with sufficient progress to
make the peSsimist s declaration OF
"Aany years of bad times" entirely UNI
warranted 1T has been matter of
months and not years.
just now the oil and steel businesses
are at the edge of the marching col
umn with long distance to 20 to make
[ he complete turn. Prediction as TO
when the steel business viii have made
the turn and gotten back into line is
a matter of personal opinion IN Wash
ington There Is. however. an eXpecta
soon and cut the price of steel.
Steel was in a prosperous mood last
winter when wool and silk and leather
We're i'm distress. There has been de-
cidcd turn for the better in wool and
textiles and leather while steel is on
the edge of the marching column. The
industrial centers are beginning TO feel
the reimbursement pains which SIX
months ago were hardly felt. On the
other hand the AGRICULTURAL regions
which sent out -. o. :. = calls all last
winter now begin to see rays of sun
shine ahead. Crops have been planted
at lower cost. Copious rams III many
sections of the country have helped,
The banks have tided over their Gus
toners and this years earnings VAL ne
applied to pay off a portion Of last
wears losses. Thus slowly the banker
viii be repaid and the farmer VIII get
back ON his feet. .
The main trouble in almost every in
stance has been psychological. ne mo-
ment orders have been cancelled or
prices have dropped certain producers
have grown pancky. The bankers OF
the nation alone seem to have realized
that the readjustment was both newt
able and conquerable. They have h
nanced their customers IN ways that
were not possible except under the fed
eral reserve system. The praises OF the
federal reserve act are sung again and
six months of American business has
been fully understood. The immense re
sources of the federal reserve banks re-
sisted the tide in splendid fashion and
made it easy for one section OF the
country which was in a prosperous con
dition to loan money To the other with
out prccipitating a general panic IN
which all might have suffered.
The word confidence has been so
much used that it doesn I always con-
vcv a strong impression. But the truth
il government officials are as sure about
the turn for the better in business con-
ditions as they are that the autumn
follows summer This confidence grows
out of the fact that already the views
expressed by the government experts
LAST December have been absolutely
confirmed. The readiustment has fol
lowed the expected lines. One business
after the other had had its struggle
with high labor costs, war eXtTaNa-
rances and inefficient methods which al
wavs come with sudden expansion Inc
spring revival in some businesses was
more than was anticipated. In others
il proved that the readlustment had not
cone far enough. Conservative Judg-
ment is being expressed about the au-
itumn but the wise heaGs in American
industry are making excellent use OF
the summer months to readJust ana
plan for the march beyond the Septem-
Der milestone.