The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1921-06-14
BRIGHT FUTURE IS
SEEN BY F|NANC|ER
LOS ANGELES BANKER TELLS
IDAHO PEOPLE OF BRIGHT
PROSPECTS FOR WEST

Boise, Idaho-( (SpeciaD The feat
ure of the opening day Of the Idaho
Bankers Convention, which began
here today, was the address of w. w.
Woods, vice-president of the First
National Bank, of Los Angeles, who
told Idaho Bankers Of the bright fut-
ure ahead of the Pacific coast states.
His address follows:
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen: In
this period of readjustment of fall
ing prices and of retrenchment | want
to bring you a word of encoura cement
and give you formula which was
given me years ago by one of the
best bankers in America 1t is this,
"A successful banker will generally
find it to his advantage to be a pessi-
mist when the public is optimistic and
an optimist when the business world
is in the midst of difficulties
In explanation he stated that the
careful banker is one who always
takes into consideration the opposite
swing of the business pendulum. In
good times he is continuously guard
ing himself from the approach of bad
and IN hard times prepares himself to
take advantage of the first change
for the better.
/ am before you today, not to dwell
on present difficulties, but to point
out some of the brighter things the
future holds, this because in the long
run no institution or individual ever
made any continuous success through
playing the "bear" side of the market
in so far as America itself is con-
cerned.
Since the war we in the United
States face new position in the re-
created world, and, in spite of kalei-
doscopic changes in our immediate
problems, in spite of temporary diff
culties, and irritations, the future
holds for us possibilities never be-
fore known or dreamed Of
1t is some of these possibilities and
the steps which it is necessary for us
that l wish to discuss today
For centuries there has been a |
westward movement of people, first
across Asia and Europe, then across
the Atlantic and at last across the
American continent. Today the peo-
pie of California, Oregon and Wash
ington face the birth place of the |
human race across the Pacific, for |
here the end of the pilgrimage of the
peoples reaches it's beginnings and in |
this ocean, during the next century, |
will develop far greater trade both |
as to value and as to volume than that |
built up in the Atlantic during the
CENTRES gone by. In this trade the
Inter- Mountain country will have it's
part, and as a result the products of
Idaho and Montana, of Nevada and
Utah, Arizona and New Mexico will
find new markets toward the west
market which will be in all prob
ability far greater than the market
OF the eastern states to which you
now look. It is a partnership in the
developing of this new trans-Pacific
market that California, Oregon and
Washington must offer to the states
lying this side of the Sierra Nevadas
What is the station on the Atlantic
seaboard?
The factory districts of New Eng
land, and of the North central States
turn to the Mississippi Valley and to
the Inter-mountain country for their
raw materials, not only for that which
they themselves consume but also for
that which they export and to an even
greater extent the future business
organization of the Pacific Coast :
States must look toward the Inter
mountain country for the materials
which will make Pacific trade pos
sible. In this they must compete for
your raw materials with the markets
to which you already have been ac-
customed to turn.
In the beginning of H. G. Wells I
Salvage of Civilization there is
pointed out the fact that the British (
Empire owes it's position in the COM l
mercial world to free and unlimited {
water communication upon the seven
seas while the United States owes its t
great industrial place to free commu- \
nication by land across this continent s
"a communication which is not inter
rupted by the artificial barrier of 1
frontiers built up between the Euro t
pean states. Wells points out that t
man in Boston can take a ticket for
Kansas City or San Francisco or {
Boise at four o'clock in the afternoon, i
and leave at six without being forced i
to unwind any governmental red tape. c
He also relates that in an attempt t
which he himself made to go from Z
London to Petrograd, ten days were :
required for obtaining the necessary g
ports in hand he crossed the Channel t
at Calais. There he was forced to y
change his British money to French, '
pass the customs and have his bag t
gage inspected. The same routine c
was gone through with the Belgian
border, the German frontier, the Pol p
ish boundary and upon entering Rus
sian territory constant change of O
money and of trains, of inspections c
and delays. tt
He points out that goods shipped
from one European country to an C.
other are constantly being loaded, un- il
loaded, inspected, taxed and delayed
His conclusion is that until such
time as changes are made to permit
free communication between the va
rious countries of Europe the COM
plete rebuilding of the fabric of old $
world civilization will be impossible. n
Nla4 o..,s ox.r,. 4