Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-10-30
TAKE AN OPTIMISTIC VIEW
BY Frederic j. Haskin

kAAtR - - $3.50
in the world but most of them never
happen. Among the many public
men in national life today, perhaps
most of whom are viewing with
alarm either the plight of the wheat
farmer or the German PREPARATIONS or
| some other tangled situation, there
is one who insists upon being OPP
timistic. He is D.. r. Crissinger, gov
ernor of the Federal Reserve Board,
the body which stands at the head
of the American monetary system.
Governor Crissinger's optimism
found expression at a recent BUSH
ness conference where most of the
%conferees took up the time of the
participants with doleful recitals of
all the pessimistic things which were
going on in the world. There were
numerous declarations that unless
the price of wheat improved the
American farmer would turn boil
shevik and upset the government. 1t
was declared that the European sit
uation was past praying forNand that
a new world war Is just around the
corner. Hard times were predicted
here and abroad.
When Governor Crissinger's turn
CalilO lG odA AoCo lily SOhASASSS W
finding the outlook fairly rosy. He
admitted that there are some bad
spots but insisted that. in general,
the world is in pretty good shape and
getting better. For the benefit of his
gloomy associates he reviewed some
of the developments and situations
in the world today which constitute
cause for believing that the end has
not yet come. Some of them are
we'll worth repeating and worth
thinking about because they show
that while the outlook may frequent
ly be very gloomy, some of the most
portentous exents actually do not
take place. Like the troubles in the
Chinese proverb, most of them never
happen.
Mr.. Crissinger pointed out hat the
waste of lives and men in the great
war is over. The fever of bolshevism
which SWEET Russia after the war has
abated, and the efforts of its spon-
sors to extend their doctrine of
world revolution and violence west
ward to Europe and America and
eastward to Asia, have been thwart-
ed. The great Russian famine which
is estimated to have killed 25,0O0,-
900 is past and Russia has become
fairly tranquil and is experiencing
a rehabilitation which within a year
doubtless will result In the export
of valuable commodities on a sub
stantial scale.
The German republic which many
gloomy commentators thought would
soon succumb to a royalist revolt de-
signed to reseat the H"ohenzollerns
on the Prussian throne, still stands,
although plenty of troubles cluster
around 1t. The threat of a bolshevist
revolution in Italy is over and that
kingdom has a stable government.
The public opinion of the world has
demonstrated itself strong enough to
avert an armed conflict between Italy
and Greece. The bitter warfare be-
tween Greece and Turkey which in
volved the massacre at Smyrna is at
an end.
The struggle for an Independent
Irish government which has lasted
for centuries has resulted in the
achievement of self-government and
the setting up of the Irish Free
State. At the time of the Versailles
treaty, the situation in Austria was
viewed by politicians and economists
all over the world as about as bad
as anything possibly could be.
People were literally starving to
death in the streets and the govern
ment was demoraliZed. Grave doubt
was expressed as to whether Austria
could continue as q nation. Today
Austria is pointed to as a shining
example of what a nation can do
toward rehabilitation. With finances
aided by a League of Nations con-
sortium. Austrian currency is m
proving and the people are showing
great advancement.
An Improvement which especially
affects the American people is thai
in Mexico. Conditions there are bet
ter than they have been in a decade
and diplomatic relations have been
resumed. Unemployment is a prob
lem in Great Britain at this season
but the Scandinavian peoples report
increasing employment and the
French have had no unemployment
since the Armistice. Belgium is Of
ten described as the busiest country
in Europe while Czecho-Slovakia is
a hive of profitable industry. The
last year has been the best Switzer-
land has enjoyed since the war.
The currency situation is showing
many signs of improving throughout
Europe. The Rus SANS have issued
a new gold currency to take the
place of the fantastically deprecated
ruble and there IS pending in Ger
many a plan for a new and stable
currency which gives promise of
working welh. Excellent crops were
raised throughout Europe in 1898.
.
Governor Crissinger looked back
a year and recalled the dolorous
forecasts which had been made
twelve months ago and compared
them to the present situation. He
recalled hat nearly everyone foresaw
a conflict in the Near East which
would almost certainly plunge the
world in war anew. A German rev.
olution was predicted and a German
royalist uprising was forecast.
Neither has materialized. The Anglo
French entente was at a straining
point but it still subsists. 1t was
predicted that bad crops, typhus,
starvation and universal turbulence
would be Europe's lot throughout
1928, yet while Europe has not ex-
act1y been a Sunday school there
has been little bloodshed and no star
walton in 1928. The list could be
continued. Nearly every imaginable
evil was forecast yet the only great
disaster in the world was one which
fell unheralded-the Japanese earth
quake. The recovery from that
promises to be rapid and while its
humanitarian aspects can bring moth
ing but sorrow, in its economic as
poets 1t will mean full employment