The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-04-08
PRESS ON BUSINESS


it lives and operates. There is scarcely a
subject affecting the universe that man has
not been ambitious to understand, or which
he has not tried to pry into. Curiously
enough, some of the factors of existence,
especially organized existence, which affect
mankind most Intimately and which may
be assumed to be subject to some sort of
human control, are less understood than less
pertinent phenomena. Among these factors
may be mentioned the alternate succession
of periods of prosperity and periods of de-
preston. Of course, there are certain prin-
ciples underlying the succession which have
been codified such as that the area or ex-
tent of initiation is equal to the area or ex-
tent of deflation; or that prosperity and de-
preston are relative and based on human
psychology. But unless there is some means
of modifying the tendencies that lead to
er-captalization followed by panic or its
equivalent, the principles do not have prac-
tical significance. The most recent research
into this subject has been by the commission
appointed by the president to study the gen.
eral question of unemployment and make
report.
The report, recently submitted, is thus
interpreted by the Washington Star: Gao
cording to the committee, in the absence
of crop failures or other unavoidable ca
tastrophe, prosperity in this country ought
to be continuous, not at the high peak, but
at an average which in the long run or years
would be better for everybody. The rea-
son prosperity is not thus beneficently dis
tributed, the committee finds is because in
periods of flush times we lose our heads
and dissipate our gains, with the result that
the cumulative effects of overeXpanson, loss
of efficiency, waste and extravaganza bring
on a period of depression. We undergo
long season Of punishment for our sins, and
after We have made economic atonement we
start again to build up toward prosperity.
But instead Of remembering the lessons of
the past and avoiding its errors, we go ahead
making the same old mistakes over again"
When we learn to profit by our mistakes,
then perhaps we shall avoid the evil conse-
quences Of their repetition. The Star finds
it significant that among the measures of
control suggested by the commission ''only
a minor portion of this program looks to
gvernment initiative and regulation"
A hopeful tone pervades the comment of
the Kansas City Star, which concludes:
"The suggestions that have been put for
ward in this important matter appear to be
sound and businesslike. Certainly, the coun-
try should profit from its long continued
experiences with the serious ups and downs
of industry. On the face Of it there would
be strong probability that work could be pro-
vided at any tina for all who were willing
to work. If that apparently simple thing
can be done, the country will stand to profit
immeasurably. But it will take the COM
bined efforts Of the government, the states,
cities and industrial leaders to bring the
desired change about. 1t is not an under
taking for any one Of these alone, although
the government may assume the initiative
in the task" In all this, however, it appears
that the Star regards depression as an in
evitable and unpreventable phenomenon and
centers its attention on means whereby de-
preston and unemployment may be mini
mixed. But the human race will not have
really solved the problem until it shall have
hit upon q practicable solution for the pre-
vention Of periods Of intense depression.
Inasmuch as depression is probably the re-
action from initiation, rather than the re-
verse, it looks as if initiation were the real
problem.
After a survey Of the nations business
in which it finds that everything is reacting
upward, the Philadelphia Public Ledger re-
marks: eve are on the thin edge of the
predicted secondary initiation, that by all,
the laws of the game should follow the in
flation that flattened out in 1921. year
ago business cautiously raised its head, but
two nationwide strikes, the rail row and the
coal quarrel, drove it to cover Now It is
picking up new heart and hope and reaching
out. On the whole, however, it is reaching
with caution. Fingers that We're burned in
1921 still smart and ache The bankers are
moving with circumspection and cautioHing
the business world to do likewise. The fed
eral reserve board is keeping careful fingers
on the financial pulse. . Most of the
dangers of this secondary initiation have
been charted and discounted. Unless the
country has a rush Of foolishness to the
head, we should move through it and its
aftermath without breaking our financial
shins or drumming our heels in an economic
hysteria." That is all very well, but already
price runaways have begun to occur in GER
tain commodities, and there will be no con-
trolling price levels once they begin to soar
To warn against hysteria is useless, for
unless it is involuntary it is not hysteria
There must be something more basic than
mere warning if there is to be control of
the present initiation tendency.
The signs of the times point to initiation
There capital expansions in industry
production is increasing; wages are rising
buying goes on apace; prices in certain quar-