The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1921-10-21
BANK CHIEF SAYS
BUSINESS IS 0. K.
Reserve Board Governor Says
Crisis Has Passed.
TRADE HAS "TURNED CORNER
Now Is the Time for Optimists to
Work Hard. Declares w. P. G.
Harding in Magazine
Article.

chicago, OcC. 19.-Ine Crisis ID the
affairs of American business has
passed without most people knowing
when it passed, w. 2. G. Harding, gov
ernor of the federal reserve board,
declares in an article which he has
written for System magazine. The
article is entitled, How l Know. Bust
ness Has Turned the Corner
Business will not again dip as low
as it has dipped-but neither will it
go as high as it went before" said
Governor Harding.
Actual prosperity was never as
great as it seemed to be-much of it
was illusory," continues the governor
'EBut on the other hand, actual de-
preston has not at any time been as
low as it seemed to be. The present
is time for the constructive, hard
working optimist.
at is quite impossible for any one
to say just what the new price level
will be and it is idle to compare prices
with those before the war or with any
other period and to say that condi-
tons are better because prices are
above or below that previous level.
Some Prices Going Up.
"Not all commodity prices are going
down. Some are going up. Prices
went up, then they went down, now
they are readjusting themselves If
we can all get together and aid the or
derly processes of production and dis
tribution and get the public out of the
idea that buying must stop because
prices may go lower then we shall
get some stability into the situation.
'The public has a great buying pow
er, and buying power begets buying
power. When one important industry
resumes, others automatically revive.
And industries are reviving. Slowly,
it is true, but still reviving.
Somewhere in the process of dis
tribution between primary producer
and the ultimate consumer there is a
hOld-back The ultimate consumer is
not getting prices in proportion to
what the primary producer is paid
dustrial world today is to iron out
all these inconsistencies and let the
proper relationship between one class
of goods and another class of goods
and between goods and service be re-
stored That takes time"
Basis. of His Observations.
The fact that the volume of federal
reserve notes in circulation has been
greatly reduced, the fact that the
wholesale price index number once
reached 272 and stands now near 14S,
the fact that the total volume of
federal reserve notes in circulation
showed continuous upward trend
during 1920 and since then has been
greatly reduced-these are among the
things considered by Governor Hard
ing in arriving at the conclusion that
business has turned the corner"
"Our normal business goes hand in
hand with the prosperity Of the farm
ers, and the situation in agriculture
is not to be compared with a year
ago" he says at another point with
cotton at the present price, with a
greatly reduced supply ahead and
with the improved trade outlook, the
prospects are much brighter.
From spring onward 1921 has been
a period of approach to equilibrium
and of preparation for recovery from
extreme depression. The changes re
ferred to have been worldwide, but,
if anything, less extreme and violent
in the United States than elsewhere"