Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-02
PROSPERITY is DECLARED
BOUND TO RETURN SOON
Firestone Says Nation With Sleeves
Rolled Up Is Unquestionably
on Uphill Path.

"birdS-eye view" OF what these JnlngS
have meant in the development OF
America, and instantly it becomes clear
why I have no heSitancy whatever in
predicting a greater era of prosperity
for our people during the next 10 years
than We have ever had before
In the backward view we glimpse
America at the beginning, hewing homes
out of the wilderness, with savages to-
combat and pestilence, drought and
initial poverty in money or capital tol
overcome. The young Republic had to
operate on borrowed capital; had wars
to fight against powerful enemies; had
inflated currency panics; had conflict
within that arrayed one section OF the
country against another in long bloody
and costly warfare; had desperate
struggles to maintain its truly infant
industries against the long established
manufacturing plants of the Old World.
Determination and Courage Won Out.
These obstacles our people overcame
/ by the sweat of their brow, by brain
and by Drawn, by the aid of the ire
mendous natural resources of the coun-
try, and by the determination and cour-
age of the people who lived within 1T.
There were cycles OF prosperity ana
periods of depression all along the road
from 1776 to 1929 The down and
out" periods came with almost monoto-
nous regularity. Men of IS can recall
the depreSsions or panicS Of 1893 1900,
1907, 1914 and 1921. They were all
comparatively short lived. And after
each there we're years of better income
and better living for the mass Of our
people. Each wave Of prosperity sue
ceeding the trough of depression in the
sea of business activity carried us
little nearer what might be termed the
golden shore
We look back over the period Of ma
| tional existence and see the farmers OF
another generation afflicted with
droughts, grasshoppers and mortgages
Yet steadily they forged ahead. Log
cabins or hutS dug out OF dirt were
succeeded by well built, attractive
houses. The tallow candle and the oil
lamp we're displaced by electric lights.
The pillow pulled by mule, or even by
children, gave way to a tractor mott
waited multiple pillow. Roads that were
mere trails through wilderness, trav-
ersed by slow-moving, jolt-producing
horses and buggies were succeeded by
the country "boulevards" of today, over
which the farmer and his family speed
| in a smoothly operating automobile.
| The farmer still has the vagaries OF
wind, weather, debt and insect pests TO
contend with, but he has vastly more in
material comfort as the result of his
labor. Slowly but surely the economic
conditions of those engaged in agricul-
ture has improved. That improvement
can be seen with the eyes; 1t is not a
matter of statistics at all.
City Labor Conditions.
So, too, has the condition of labor In
| the cities improved. steadily and surely
! through all the years, good and bad.
There were bread and soup lines In our
- 1T aH
probable those lines are shorter, pro-
| portionately, now than then. They viii
| be shorter lived, at any rate; and relief
/ measures undertaken by Government
and private business agencies will make
the distress less acute now than IN
| times past. The national conscience n
such matters has grown none the less
than the national business structure.
| I can well remember time, not so
many years ago, when the ordinary
workingman," as he was then generally
designated, expected none of the real
comforts or luxuries of life. He walked
| long distances to work. stayed at work
! 10, IL or IA hours under back-breaking
| hazardous conditions; walked back from
work to q habitation that was poorly
| lighted by lamps, with rough floors un-
carpeted, with tin washtub and water
drawn from a well as the only means
to remove the CRIME of toll. His family,
of course, lacked good clothing, the
means of entertainment, education or
culture. Children went early into the
factories-and came out often with
manned limbs or damaged bodies.
Those conditions are now the excep-
ton instead of the rule. Hours of work
have been reduced; working conditions
have been made less burdensome; the
workingman's home has hardwood floors,
rugs, electric lights, a modern bath
room, a radio, an automobile for Sunday
trips.
We take these things, this general ad-
vancement, as a matter Of course. We
forget how the transformation, the prog
ress in our conditions Of living came
about
In most instances prosperity Is due to
the fact that people realize that they
can make a living and that they can
advance their position in the world only
after they have thought out what there
is a need for them to do and what Is
the best way to do it. Then they follow
up their analysis-often a subconscious
one-with constant and uninterrupted
hard work. The result is that they reap
the rewards Of their struggles and sacri-
fees. They become prosperous, in a
large or moderate measure, depending
to some extent. of course, on the in
evitable element Of chance.
Prosperity Obscures Fundamentals.
When a nation becomes prosperous,
however, its people tend to become self
satisfied and to lose sight of the funda-
mentals on which their prosperity is
based. The new mode Of living which
this prosperity entails brings material
comforts not before enjoyed. These
comforts and conveniences incidental to
prosperity change the mental attitude
Of the people from one of striving and
accomplishing to one Of how best to
enjoy the luxury and wealth which they
now possess Instead of "huStling"
staying with their work and maintain
ing their effort, people land I am speak
ing Of those at the head as well as those
at the foot of industry become more
and more intent upon week end eXcur-
sions to seashore and mountains. The
new life affords more leisure, and many
people heretofore hard workers become
inactive mentally as well as physically
A new state OF mind settles on the
people. They become satisfied with
themselves and with their position
They begin to think that the prosperity
which they enjoy will continue despite
the absence of really hard work and
sound thinking on their part. In this
they are wrong and, as in every case Of
! following out wrong premise, they
must suffer the consequences.
In the case of the American people
the consequences have been the business
. depression which began noticeably late
in 1929. Our people in general had as
. Sumed that good business and good
times were here TO stay and that it was
not necessary to safeguard their present
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