The Washington times., 1930-11-06
NOW
awake, SAYS
ANDERSON
Chase National Economist
Says Frame Of Mind Is More
Wholesome Than In 1929


Business was in far greater
ianger in the summer Of 1929
han it is today, because then it
vas dreaming while today 1t Is
facing facts. Benjamin M. An.
lerson, jr., economist Of the
Chase National Bank, declared at
/ luncheon of the Chamber Of
Commerce Of Kansas City yes.
,erday:
"The present frame Of mind
of the American business COM
munity," DR.. Anderson said, "is
far more wholesome than was
its frame of mind In the sum-
mer Of 1929. We were In far
greater danger In the summer
Of 1929 than we are today. We
are facing facts today, and we
were dreaming dreams then.
But some Of uG are also seeing
ghosts today, and the situation
is not as had as rumOrs have
made il or as hysteria In GER
tain places has made 1t.
'By and large, the business
community is not hystericaI.
Some Of the SPECTATORS have
been. But the business com.
munity is needIessly depressed,
and the volume Of business has
gone needlessIy low. Improve
ment from these levels can come
at any time, and can be very
strong Improvement. When It
will come I do not know. I had
hoped that the current au-
tumn would bring it, but the
unexpected draught was very
severe and 1t has delayed the
fuIfiIlment Of that hope" .
No Necessity For Waiting
It is not necessary for us to
wait for business Improvement
Until we have corrected all the
adverse fundamentals, DR.. Ander-
;on declared. There are a number
If valid reasons why business
should be unsatisfactory today,
;he most serious Of all being the
foreign trade situation.
II have no disposition to
minimize the adverse facts, or
to side with those who contend
that IL we would only think
that things were all right they
would be all right, and that our
troubles are purely psychOlOgi-
cal. But do believe that our
troubles are partly psych0AOgi-
cal. / do believe that bust
ness Is a good deal worse than
it needs to be, even recognizing
all Of the fundamental diff
culties with which it must con-
tend.
'The general world picture IN
1921 was very much worse than
it is today" he continued, "and
our domestic commercial credit
situation in 1921 was very bad,
whereas today It is very good.
In 1921 many Of our strongest
corporations were suddenly
caught with a great volume Of
unstable inventory, with q
high volume of quick debt, and
with very Scant reserves Of
quick assets with which to pay
the quick debt. Today, these
same corporations have mod
crate or low inventory, very lit
tie quick debt, an abundance Of
cash in the banks, and an
abundance Of other highly
liquid assets.
In 1921, financial embarrass-
ments were so acute that many
businesses could not do even
the business that was i'm sight
because Of the necessity Of
meeting the demands of abSO-
luteIy urgent and insistent cred
itOrS, who, in turn, were 50
pressed by their creditors that
they had to be urgent and
inSiStent.
Essentials for Recovery
To-day, business is not held
back from undertaking any
thing that promises profit
through lack of the cash with
which to put through the
undertaking. The commercial
credit situation is clean and
strong.
II cannot prove it with pub
lished figures, but there is lit
tie doubt in my mind that, tax
ing the general business field,
stocks Of manufactured goods
have been working low in the
hands Of retailers and Of job
bers for four or five months,
and that stocks of manufac.
tured goods in factory hands
have been working low for, any.
how, three months.