Evening star., 1921-12-24
Sales of Alarm Clocks Mean
Increased Number at Work

the big companies will pay bonuses
again.
is on the way back. 1t is just around
| the corner. You can almost hear II:
"Our oil men had to stop boring last
summer" says Tulsa. Hit US pretty
hard. They're fine spenders' the oil
One began to tumble unfamilisrly
among such reasons why. as the low
, price of oil and the troubles in Europe
and the business sump.
'.Shucks." says Tulsa, colloquiaily
season was that We ddn't have any
| rain. You can't run a boiler without
water and you can't haul water thirty
miles to keep a boiler going. even If you
in most Of our oil fields comes from
rainwater pools. Last season there was
almost no rain and so there was no
| water for boilers. and SO there was no
thrilling. But now the water is coming
and the rigs are beginning to start up.
Watch our smoke"
Prosperity ON It's Way.
1t was the same story everywhere
during brief trip into what is now
the middle ard used to be the far west
Prosperity has not yet come back. but
it is on the way. The train ratified
escaped the notebook. Men carrying
dinner pals walked along the track. A
local resident told the story.
1.-The car shops are starting up again"
he said. THAT means prosperity again
You folks in the east think of freight
cars in terms of wheat and coal and
beef. We think of them out here more
intimately. For two years the side
| tracks in this town have been crowded
with ramshackle. shabby. fiat wheeled
old cars. Most Of them are gone now.
They have been moved into the shops
and rebuilt and repainted. The shops
are not working full time. but the cars
are getting out on the track and the
grocers' bills are being paid and that
overdue rent is not quite SO overdue.
A little while ago you couldn't have
borrowed thin dime on the future of
the country in our town. Today it is
the best country in the world"
i Experience in Indianapolis.
J There was a somewhat different but
equally pleasing story in Indianapo-
by hard times-not so terribly hard
hit, you'll understand. Reason why
Most folks are home owners. Instead
of living in flats they live in houses
with kids and gardens and dogs about
them. Also they are paying for those
that means industry and economy.
The industries are fairly well diversi-
fed. too. so that some shops have
been open all the time, no matter how
dark was the day.
"Our total savings deposits here
were about $25,000.0o0. and they are
only $s5O,000 below that now" said a
banker. whats more. the dead ac-
counts are being reopened. People
are starting accounts now with 81
and 81. A little while ago they felt
they must have a hundred or the
banker wouldn't look at EN-
The Indianapolis bankers think they
had something to do with prosperity.
too. When the pinch began to be felt
they called in the merchants who
were their customers.
"Storm ahead" they said. "Shorten
sail. Cut down your lines to the last
The merchants did not want to sell
what they paid for them wholesale.
But the bankers made them.
'The women of this country are not
as anxious to buy $1S kid shoes with
sure the icebox will be well filled.'
said the bankers. Get rid Of that or
namental junk you have been carry
ing. Clean house. Take your loss and
take 1t now"
! The merchants did, said the bank
ers, and the customers benefited. So
did the merchants. for they are sound
now.
General Draft Hopeful.
In a seven-day tour it is not possi-
BILE to sound business conditions ex-
haustively. but it is possible to get
the general drift. and the drift every
| where was distinctly up. Two trav-
cling statesmen in the smoker in Mis-.
souri, told each other the story.
They're buying again." they said
happily. mot big bills. Short orders.
carefully selected. priced close to the
bone. But they're buying. There's
many a merchant will be all the bet
! ter for his little spell of financial
drunkenness. He will be q better
business man and serve his communi-
ty better"
A Chicago merchant put it some.
what differently:
'You cannot work on cake diet"
he said. I'VE had our cake and our
tummyache. Now we're back to good
old bread and beans and we like It.
We're out of the woods and on the
road. AL we have to do in Chicago is
TO keep a-going."