Evening star., 1925-08-31
THE VOICE OF BUSINESS
BY WILLIAM p. HELM, JR.

Editors Note-The country is
prosperous and busy, labor is fully
employed, or nearly so, and the
CoInHle Of our business Is hedUy.
But those "best-of-dH times" that
1cere herdlded by the prophets are
still on the sCdY.
What has delayed their coptingP
What, If anything, can be done to
hasten their ido0iHG dpprodchP
Can legislation hurry it2 Can bust
ness itself prod it into quicker dd-
TentP IN other Irords, tcHdt should
be done, tchdt cdn be done, to at
tain an eGeH greater measure Of
prosperity
The tCriter Of the folloLciag ar
ticleS has taken those questions to
the chief business men Of the
United States for GHStoer. He has
gone to bankers, railroad prest-
dents, manufacturers, iroH1aastcrS,
coal producers, building contrdc-
tors, packers. oil producers-iH
fact. to every main line of business
enterprise in the Nation. He has
sought out the leading men in each
line of business and got their
Vietcs.
More than 900 prominent ezecu-
tires t1ere asked to prescribe rente-
dies tChicH. in their judgment,
tCouId speed up business. These
busy men, for the most part,
paused to oiUe reply They speak
for Anlericdn business, not toith
one Voice, but NTH many, and the
composite record OF their reply
1oiH be outlined in series Of sic
articles. Of tohtch the following is
the tfrst.~~
Article \.
Cut the tax rate. Give US less gov.
ernment in business! Repeal nine
tenths of the laws on the statute
books! Stop living in August on next
December's income! Help Europe to
become stabilized Cut out personal
extravaganza and do an honest days
work about 275 days a year.
And then we'll have overhowing
prosperity.
The American banker is speaking
in that paragraph. Stewed down tc
it's essence, that is the concentrated
reply received by this writer TO near.
ly 200 letters of inquiry sent the
length and breadth of the United
States to the men who hold the keys
to the country's finances. Old.fash
ioned it may be; out ef step with the
jazz of the day; sadly discord in the
medley of the times; an old thought ir
old clothes-but 1t comes from tbs
men who handle your money and
mine, men at the top of the heap, nner
who can make-or break-Americar
industry.
Bankers of the United States see
no royal road TO easy times. They
find the prosperity of today good, but
not so good as IL might be IL every
one really wrought to make 1t better
IL
view in this class of our citizens. Geo
graphical lines have not divided theil
thought.
Need of Personal Economy
Probably the greatest room fo
improvement lies in better persona.
economy on the part of our people ,
says William. e. Knox, president o.
the American Bankers Association
This can best be brought aboui
through broad and continuous educa
ton in the management of persona
income, particularly during the nor
NAL educational period OF life covered
by the schools"
Mr.. Knox's thought suggests a. new
course for our public schoo:s-rYnafl n
agement OF personal finances. He con
tinues: THE chief need today to in
crease prosperity is the utmost econ
ony in all directions. This meanl
reduction in public expenditures, pru
dence in private consumption and tn,
elimination to the greatest possibl.
extent of waste in our industria
processes"
In the opinion of Francis Fl. Sisson
vice president of the Guaranty Trus
Co. of New York, decreased take
and increased efficiency are, perhaps
the two most important factors TO
the making of future prosperity. :
Coming down to the present, Mr.. Sis
son thinks 1t likely that the averag,