Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-10-17
ALL SET FOR BETTER BUSI.
MESS?

NESS!
| All set for better business, for the
i time when any able bodied person
who complains of Inability to get
employment will be known as pre-
varicator? Better times, good wages,
, industries resembling beehives, and
all that.
TOO good to be true?" The wise
| ones say not and the reasons they
give are plausible Take fire insur-
ance companies, for instance. There's
mighty little business that escapes
their notice, one very good reason for
this being that business, merchandise
and all that must be insured these
days.
Carter Field of the New York
Tribune has been down in Connecti-
cut looking over the business situa-
ton and talking with the heads of
the fire insurance companies which
,, have their headquarters at Hartford
Here are some of the conditions
which he reports:
All of the reports indicate very
great business activity. They indi-
/ cate astonishin2ly small stocks on
hand on the part not only of retail
crs but of wholesalers. Cancellations
, of insurance all the way down the
ltnp-f1 n f,ff l1
! manufacturer or importer, then with
the jobbcr and wholesaler and finally
with the retailer. for all the world
like moving electric sign-indicatc
that Old Man Ultimate Consumer is
close on the heels of production and
clamOring for the wheels of industry
to be speedcd up.
'For example, just before the
/ Fordney- McCumber tariff bill went
into effect there was a tremendous
pouring of goods into New York and
other Atlantic ports from Europe for
the purpose of getting the goods
into the country before the increased
| duties went into effect. This big in
f1ux of goods was duly noted at Hart
! ford. Insurance to the tune of mil
| hons was taken out on it in New
York warehouses and storage places
! at the other ports. These policies
were quickly Cancelled and new poll
ees We're taken out for the same
goods at other places. Now these
goods. so far as Hartford is con-
cerned, have disappeared. That
means, according to the inevitable
loSic of the insurance man, that they
have been divided into lots so small
that special insurance has not been
taken out on them, which in turn
means that they have passed into
the hands Of the ultimate consumer
| THE same sort of reports place the
stocks of goods on hand everywhere
as at vcr! low ebb. The wise old
experts here say that what has hap
pened is this-that every one nearly
/ has been figuring for some time that
| the bottom Of prices had not been
reached, and therefore every one has
been buying from hand to mouth
/ The recent strike and the final set
! Elements made in them drove home
the realization that the bottom had
not only been reached but passed.
and that prices We're now on slow
but sure upgrade. Hence a mad
scramble to beat the rising market
by getting in carly has now set in"
Best get ready for steady employ
ment for all who will work, for the
buying which good wages and fair
/ prices warrant. All is not as one
would have it: never will be for that
matter. There are many incquali-
! ties, some of which will adjust
themselves. One menace hangs over
the situation, the unwillingness to
render an equivalent of service: lack
of recognition of the fact that what
is produced at a cost making it at
tainahle by the large number is what
makes good times. This is not so
| impressive now with small stocks on
hand and revival of general conf
dence, but it eventually must come
out in the wash. Perhaps by that
time producers will be taking pride
in producing. will be enthusiastic in
the cause of production.