Pueblo chieftain., 1921-04-10


about hard times in Pueblo, it surc
makes me tired. There amt no such
animal as hard times in Pueblo, and
II anybody thinks there is, what ails
him isn't hard times at all. It's cold
feet.
Tho past week I've been hearing
about some places in these United
States where they really did have
hard times. Cattle towns, sheep
towns, cotton towns, and some other
kinds Of towns, where every business
man in town was busted fiat by the
drop m prices Maybe that sounds
euggerated, but you take it in a
town where there's only one kind Of
business that amounts to much, like
cattle, or sheep, or cotton, or anything
else, and when that one thing goes
kaflooey it comes pretty near bust
ing everybody in town.
And then another thing. In those
towns I was telling about, when the
ship of common interests ran into the
iceberg, do you think that it was a
ease of every fellow for himselff Do
You think that every fellow that had
life preserver tucked away in the
form of fat bank balance or a wad
Of liberty bonds got into the cyclone
cellar and waited for the tornado to
blow b,7 Not much.
l guess / got my metaphors mixed
in that last paragraph. You go back
and fix them. Thanks!
In those towns was talking about,
the business man and the farmer, tho
banker and the lawyer and the doctor
and the preacher and the editor, stood
together. They said: This is no
time to play lone hands. What has
happened isn't any one fellows
fault, and it is everybody's misfor-
time, so why not pool resources, and
fight this thing thrnf' And that's
what they did.
Thcre're towns in the west and
southwest today that if sold at auc-
tion wouldn' t bring ten cents on the
dollar of their Indebtedness. A year
ago they were prosperous. Everybody
was making money and spending 1t
freely. Wages were high. Every
body was at work, and the principal
worry was to find somebody THAT
would take the wages and make At
least a pretencc of earning them. And
then came the iceberg or the cyclone
tvotc for onc). Rich men suddenly
discovered they had nothing that
they could turn into cash. Farmers
couldn't sell their crops for enough
TO pay harvest and railroad costs.
The banks were full of notes that
simply couldn' t be paid. The mer-
chants in town had to extend cred
its or 60 out of business.
I don't mean TO say that every
where thru the west and southwest
all men stood together like brothers
and comrades. I've heard some stor-
les of meanness and extortion that
made me want to turn Bolshcvik-
but they were the exception. The rule
has been and is that the men of these
towns are standing together, facing
the storm. Busted, according to the
record of the cash book. Bankrupt,
reads the verdict of the balance
sheet. overdrawn, by the bank state
ment. Delinquent debtors by the
statement from the grocery store.
But men who still have courage,
and faith, and determination and in
tegrity, and who stand together, are
never down and ont. They are in
vincible. And the western spirit that
has written the record of the past
few months in towns where they have
really had hard times, will write the
splendid record of returning pros
pcrity in the months to come.
And how about Pueblof Well,
Pueblo Is like the child that comes
home from school where everybody
else has the measles, and scratches its
arm until it is red in spots, and then
wants to send for the doctor. II any
thing is The matter with Pueblo be-
sides cold Sect, it isn't measles. It's
hives. Or gout. We've been living
too high. What We need is more cx-
orcise, more work, more houses, more
repairs, more improvements, and less
idle money in the bank; less talk
about hard times, and moro active
preparations for good times. What