Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-02
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feeling of doubt was succeeded by one
resembling Nationwide fear, and the
latter marked the bottom Of our perioc
of depression.
have in mind an acquaintance who
is engaged in the wholesale hardware
business in the Middle West. When the
first break" came he wired more than
SO factories. canceling all his untitled
orders for everything ranging from bolts
and nuts to carving knives and garden
cultivators. He told me that he lust
felt there was some change coming.
Naturally, with thousands of other bust
ness men feeling and acting the same
way, q change did come. Factories
which received scores or hundreds of
cancellations from their consumers in
turn cancelled orders for cotton, for
textiles, for steel shapes, for chemicals,
for leather, for betting.
Recovery Period Comparatively Short.
From this feeling Of fear it has taken
what seems long time to recover. AS
a matter of fact the period of recovery
Is bound to be short compared with the
periods of prosperity fore and aft. That
has always been the case in the past.
The depression necessitated an ad-
B.
adjustments are hard to make. It Is
much easier for most people to dc the
same thing in the same way day after
day than It Is for them to adjust them
selves to a new and better way of doing
things. Furthermore, the confidence of
the people In business had been badly
shaken by the stock market break, and
this confidence had to be built UP again
because confidence of the people Is the
ars- 80 ~ hue
perity. During the heyday Of our pros
perity in 1929 a great portion Of the
public had taken TO buying stocks, many
OF which later declined and wiped out
the investments made. Hence what
money the people now had left they
were determined to keep rather than
spend. When people made purchases
they did so for what they needed at the
time and for no more.
Many Of our large industries were
faced with large stocks on hand of
which they could not dispose at a. profit.
This was due to the fact that produc-
ton had outstripped consumption and
to q sudden REDUCTION in buying. Hence
it was necessary to curtail the manu-
facture of products until the demand
had caught up with the supply. The
scale of production had to be lowered,
and hence payrolls or employees had to
be reduced. This enlarged q class OF
unemployed with no money with which
to buy.
It was not until industries were WILL
ing to reduce prices and cut their over
head that q ready market could be
found for their products.
Sleeves Rolled Up Again.
The Job Of business men Is to produce
cheaper and better goods and create new
wants among the mass Of people. But
business men neglected that job during
q considerable period before the 1929
market crash. Now the leaders Of In
dustry are back at their real Job with
coats of, sleeves rolled up, and golf
sticks and stock ticker pitched In O
corner gathering dust.
Business In general b getting TO o
stage where consumption IL about TO
catch up with production. The tele-
graph wires are beginning to Ill up with
such messages as this: Rush inlmedt-
ately by express 10 gross No. 324 ham
mers. We have orders waiting dupli-
cate shipment by freight"
This Is not fanciful; 1t Is fact. It Is
q condition becoming apparent in my
own factory and In other factories
Throughout the country. Stocks Of mer-
chandise are becoming low. Soon whole
sale dealers and merchants will begin
to anticipate business instead Of wait