The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-12-24
By WILLIAM w. WEINSTONE.

THE development of the beginning of an econ
omic crisis in the land of much Wanted
prosperity is at hand. The crash on the Stock
Exchange, which experienced the widest
scenes in its history, is already referred to as
the panic of 1929. The wping out of the
huge sum of $4,000 million dollars of stock
exchange values is not only the effect of the
decline in production, it is itself an accelerat-
ing force for the development of the crisis.
The huge lying machine of capitalist propa-
ganda is busily at work trying to cover up
the meaning of the stock exchange collapse.
From the president of the United States down,
assurances are being poured out that "all is
WE'LL" business is sound" and the events in
Wall Street have no disturbing effect upon
business. This was the burden of the state
ment issued by the president upon the first
crash, but his subsequent actions have belied
rs words During the week of November 18,
he has allied together series of conferences
of the mightiest of industrial magnates, agr-
cultural, railroad and trade union leaders "to
take :eps for the progress of business and
sshe ma. tenancea of employment" At these
c,nferences extraordinary me 3ures were dis
cu-~-d to H. business movin such as the
establishment of public construction pro-
gram, which in itself admits that serious
causes are at work undermining the prosper
ity boom and that the latter is at an end.
The secretary of the treasury has recon-
mended cut in the income tax. Various big
trusts have announced extra dividends on the
basis of the last earnings of the last year; but
all of this is directed to maintaining an at
mosphere of business as usual" and to keep
up the myth of eternal prosperity" Henry
Ford admitted in statement issued after the
president conferences that the stock market
deflaton is attributed to decline in business,
and attested to this fact by closing down sew
eral of his minor plants.
The bourgeois press, while keeping up
II tom of business as usual" on its first
page, gives the true picture of the situation
en- its business pages and in its economic
journals. The New York America1,' as early
IS October 18th, declared that decline of
production had taken place, not only in some
/ of the basic industries, (which have reported
consistent declines in activity contrary to the
seasonal trend,' but likewise that shoes, silk,
etc, show overproduction The "New York
~. ! of CQmmer., declares That the peak
tof usi1ess activity has passed. while the in
ldex figures of the ANALYST" bring out
clearly the fact tf the very sharp decline in
;, iuction which has been under way the past
few month,
Steel production in the last six months has
fallen steadily from the index figure 1916
for June, 1929, to 104.5 for October, while
automobiles declined even more-from 1905
/ to 1884 for the same period. The largest de-
cline occurred in the last month. Building con-
structon for the past 9 months declined Ill
per cent as against 1928; the crop yield is
4 8 per cent below that of 1928, and the total
production volume has gone down to the index
figure of 1927. When we consider that the
auto ,Io 80
pacity, and that automobile and building con-
struction have been two of the strongest
points in the recent business boom, then the
coming of the economic crisis is more plainly
portrayed This is grudgingly admitted in
the recent monthly review of the big Wall
Street bank Guaranty Trust Company at New
York in the words: ut is fair to say that with
banking conditions strong the back
ground for business recovery from either a