The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1922-03-09
BUSINESS ON THE UPGRADE.

the Business Outlook, is there any
prospects of better times ahead?'
Invariably we answer that conditions
are showing improvement, that there
are better times ahead, that the de-
preston we have been passing through
and still are experiencing to an un-
comfortable extent is nothing more
O., less than the reaction that should
naturally be expected to follow a
period of unprecedented prosperity
and price inuation caused by the de-
mands of the greatest army that was
ever mobalized and brought into ac-
ton, and that after all, times are
rot so hard; we older heads can cas-
| lily recall periods of financial distress
that was quite as severe as that OF
the year just past.
Among the best country newspa-
pers that come to our desk is The
| lancaster News whose editor Is
George B. Craven. In it's issue OF
February "a, brother Craven had the
following to say under the above
headline, which we consider a logi-
cal review of the business outlook:
According to the report Of the
federal reserve board, there is pros
pect of better business in the near
future. All of which is good news,
to say the least, and it not doubted
IN a single instance. Business is on
tie upgrade. 1t is getting better
all the time. The high peak was
reached during the war, top rung
broke, fell to bottom and started up
again. Not so much volume is being
done now as during the days when
everybody had lots of m9Rey and
there was a wild orgy Of buying
buying in many instances when there
was no need for the articles bought,
al any old price the seller was OF
mind to exact.
"You remember those days the
days when everybody had more busl-
ness than he could handle and when
you could buy only so much Of cer-
tain things, even if you had the money
and wanted more. Then the slump
came; some were caught in the de-
bris.
"But now business is going along
in smaller volume but is solid. There
is no wild buying either ct whole
sale or retail. Conservation is the
keynote. And there are prospects
os continued improvement. There
are those the federal reserve boards
report says, who believed that the
beginning of revival is not far dis
tant,' and "when it does definitely
set in it will be followed in due course
by a new era of prosperity
Business, in one Of it's long
swings from prosperity, the report
said, has followed it's usual rotation
which is described as business and
activity and increasing production;
excessive expansion and speculation,
followed hitherto by panic and fore
ed liquidation; long period Of slow
liquidation, business depression and
stagnation; and then, revival. In the
light of recent experience the report
warned, we should remember, when
we again enter into period OF full
prosperity, that a reaction will follow
sooner or later; and if the flow OF
the incoming tide can be controlled
81 that the crest may not be reach
ell too rapidly nor rise too high the
subsequent reaction will be less Sc
we're and the next period OF indus
trial and commercial activity and gen.
eral prosperity will be marked by
saner methods, greater achievement
along constructive lines, and by
longer duration than any which we
have had before
"The board confined it's report to
an account of the operations Of the
organization fer the year 1921, with
out offering any suggestions for leg
islation affecting the board or the
federal reserve system. The earn
inps assets of ell federal reserve
banks, the report said, amounted on
December %, 1921, to 1885, ,s51 900
compared with $3,263, ,027,00O on De-
cember 80, 100, reduction of ST.
727,176,0OO or SO per cent and re-
duction of s1,ss6,125,O0O or IS per
cent from the high point reached on
October Is, 1920.
"This reduction in loans, the report
explained, was accompanied by
steady increase in gold reserves
and an almost continuous reduction
ir federal reserve note circulation,