Connecticut western news., 1922-12-28
PRICES, WAGES, AND SALES
 FOR THE YEAR 1923
Between Depression and
 Prosperity Says Roger Babson'
s TocKs HIGHER
Many Opportunities to Make
 ' Money During the Next Twelve Months s. .a"

| Nra.s VI
 What's going to happen in
 1923?" --,-- r5sss-.s . - .I !. I That question is uppermost in the minds of 1,0p0,000 American busi- ness men and investors who are fac ing the problem of making plans for the New Year. . E Signs are not clear and the usual
 barometers seem to contradict one another. ...s ma
 Tn the face of this general confu-
 sion we had best fall back on the facts and figures. After q thoro study of the fundamental conditions
 that govern our market, Roger w.
 Babson today issued a statement
 which clears the air ana furnishes a
 basis of fact for your plans.
 "We are now at point in the
 business cycle", says Mir. Babson,
 ''where you can get almost as many different opinions as there are busi.
 ness men. Some are very .bullish for the coming year, and others can not Isee much hope for business The reason for such a situation~is that we ! dIG dk PIGSGnI iSlbAACA dI bAlC I0P VI boom nor at the depth of de- pression. If we were at either of these extremes there would be no
 question of what the next move would be. As it is, we are about half way between them,
 During the past year United States business has steadily advanced> until the average for. the whole country is what we usually call Y normal" business. Having advanc- ed thus far, shall we immediately continue into a great prosperity per. iod or shall we go into another peri cd of depression and poor business as some predict?
 of you will only remember the
 five years preceding 1921 and recall what an enormous orgy of expansion existed, you can see for yourself that it will take some time to get proper foundation for really good 1 business, We danced during those years, and now we must pay the fiddler his complete bill. Business has really been like convalescing patient. Everything vii go we'll with the patient if he does not try to get out of bed too soon. If he tries to overdo he will have relapse. We now have passed the most painful part of the readjustment. The cri. sis is over, but process of cost re. duction and re-balancing is neces sary."
 .s.r Price Spread is Wide
 "Today a1wide disparity exists be. tween prices of different coinmodj. ties, and particularly the spread be tween producers and consumers goods This is brake on trade. One half of the people cannot earn enough to buy the goods that the other half has to sell. There are one hundred and six million people in the United States and fifty per cent of them get their living from producing or distributing raw ma 'terials. \ It>Nhas thus far been inn possible to reduce the prices of fin ished consumers goods to meet the cuts on these raw materials. The purchasing power of these people is out of its natural proportion.
 'It is not entirely matter of reducing wages, altho labor costs are a large factor, nor is it entirely matter of inefficient management Nd, the poblem of high costs is not problem of any one clement; and readjustment can come in only one way-drastic competition. All this will take further time.
 "Does this mean that there will be in, 1OOnD bit! There will be just as many chances to make money as in any year you ever lived. 1t will be pos. sible for you to make as much dur. ing the next twelve months as in any year of your business life, butiit will not be along the lines which made money in 1919 and 1920, nor in any other boom year The profits in 1923 will come by giving attention to details, by stopping the little leaks, by saving here and there thru new labor-saving inventions, and most of all, by devising new and more economical means of distribu. ting goods. This was not at all the situation during the business boom Then the man who stopped to ore. vent small leaks found himself caught by the momentous rise in prices and changes in general condi. tions.
 "Those days have passed. They were wild and merry while they lasted. Now business has come back to earth. In most industries, an ex cessive producing capacity was created. 'Dhring the boom, over-
 Continued on page 9