The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-02-01

your hand uon and take him to one
side. If he happens to be one OF the
90 of every hundred who are just now
wearing the customary ''long face,
ask him what is he down-hearted
about, why the mournful look on his
face, the troubled light in his eye,
Ask him, for example:
Is any member of your family
dead?
Are you facing starvation?
Is there pestilence over the land!
Does the plight of the 20,0o0,oOO
human beings starving to death IN
China, or of the millions of little chill
dren in Europe whose stomachs are
drawn into knots by pangs of hun
ger, sadden you?
Is it your spiritual welfare, or that
of any friend, that weighs so heavily
upon you? -
If none of these is the cause OF
detection, then what is troubling you!
What will the man answer? What
would you answer, were you the man!
If YOU are one of the down-hearted,
viii you publicly state what is the
trouble? Perhaps yeu might, but
we suspect that after you had thought
the matter over while you would
feel ashamed of yourself, and you
would not want your friends to know
lust what is the matter with you.
What is the answer to the gloom
taat grips the country? What IS at
the bottom of it? What reason Is
there for it? What sense is there IN
it.?
The reason, and the sole reason,
for the .slong face" is this: "She
1business) amt what She used to be. p
We are not making quite as big
profits now as we were making from
the time the war ended until "deaa-
tionp came along. We haven't quite
as much money now as we had year
ago. Money is not as easy to make,
not as easy toi borrow, not as easy to
win by speculation as 1t was year
or a few months ago.
On the other hand. for what rea-
son should we be happy and con-
tented people, thankful for what we
have, generous, kind, pleasant and
cheerful?
Is it not a fact that production IN
five of the nations food crops this
year smashed all previous records!
Is it not fact that not single crop
was failure? This being true, is any
one going to starve?
Is it not true that the general health
of the country is good? Is there an
epidemic of any kind, claiming its
thousands daily?
Is it not fct that we are at peace
with all the world, that the stupen-
dous butchery waged for four and
a half wears overseas is ended and we
are no longer sending away our young
men to the camps and from there to
the slaughter?
Is it not fact that so far the ele-
ments have been merciful, that con-
vulsions of nature have not visited
death upon our people and destrac-
tion upon our property? Have we not
enjoyed one of the most glorious pc
riods of weather throughout the au-
tumn that any Of us remember?
Surely these are things for which
the people should feel thankful. Sure
ly there is some cause for happiness
in this.
Yes, the trouble is, we are such
nation of dollar worshippers, such a
nation of greedy, selfish, avaricio2s
money hunters, such nation OF pet
ted and pampered spendthrifts, bloaf-
ed gormants and shameless gluttons
that we have come to see little else
in life worth living for except money.
We have universal barometer
which we hang out for forecastlng
when the sunshine of smiles or the
darkness of dependency will be up
on us. And this universal barometer
is labelled Business. When it rises
meaning business is booming, we
wear a broad smile. When it begins
falling, forecasting stagnation in bus
mess, tight money, low-priced pro-
ducts, less splurging, more economl-