The Bismarck tribune., 1931-05-05
Says Depression
Will Be Overcome
AS In Past Cases
Continued from page one)

government and private business nOt
only to prevent reduction in wage.
but to keep the maximum number o.
men employed.
Reviewing the improvement ir
world wide conditions, the secretary
said that much remained to be done
Must Be Give and Take
I'VE have all come to the realiza.
ton of the fact that, If world trade i.
to be built up, there must be give
and take among nations" he con.
tinued. But it must be remembered
that the all important factor is pur.
chasing power, and purchasing power
insofar as America is concerned, Il
dependent to great extent on the
standard Of living which obtains In
this country. The standard Of living
must be maintained at all costs; and
certainly the present is no time to
undertake drastic and doubtful ex-
periments which may even conceiv-
ably result in breaking down the
standard of living to which We have
become accustomed. What we must
strive for is to improve the standard
both here and in other countries as
conditions warrant. In fact, the ulti-
mate solution of the worlds diff
culties would seem to lie in the pos
sibility of building higher standard
especially in the great and as yet un-
developed consumer areas and in
creating there and throughout the
world steadily increasing demand
for the goods and services which
Europe and America are prepared to
supply"
The text of Secretary Melons
speech follows in part:
AS one who looks at the present
situation from the government angle
but who also shares with you the
business point of view, may make
one suggestion and that is, do not
lose sight of the fact that solutions
which may seem to you ideal can not
always be put into effect for reasons
which 1 am sure are apparent to you
One is that in each country govern
ments must deal primarily with the
facts of their own case and are free
to act only within the bounds I'M
posed by national traditions, economic
organization, and the limited under
standing that exists in every country
of other peoples problems and OF
the extent to which all of us are af-
fected by conditions outside OF our
own borders.
The troubles which all of us face
at this time can not be cured by any
quick and easy method, or at some
one else's expense, and it is well to
face that fact. The world Is passing
through one of the most extensive
depressionS it has ever known. In
practically all countries we have had
falling prices, unemployment, de-
creased consumption, difficult prob
lens of government finance and, IN
some countries, political revolutions.
One must not underestimate the Seri-
BUSINESS of the present situation. And
yet, we must not lose our sense OF
perspective, on the contrary. the
world is going through one of those
transition stages which come from
time to time and entail drastic and
far-reaching economic readjustments
Even while we meet here today, those
readjustments are taking place the
world over and will continue until q
balance has again been restored.
Present Crisis Severe
The present crisis is more severe
because it follows war in which the
whole world was involved. The
sweeping readjustments, would have
come gradually and less painfully un-
der normal peace-time processes
Unfortunately, they were first delayed
by the war and then precipitated sud-
denly on a world already thrown out
of balance by the vast and violent
dislocations which the war left be-
hind. The economic depression that
followed is. in part, the price We pay
for war and must be reckoned eppar-
emily as seemingly unavoidable
stage in the sequence of events.
Recent economic history seems to
confirm this. I have lived through
several crises and the conclusion I
have come to is that they have been
caused, either directly or remotely,
by serious dislocationS which were
due, as a rule, to wars and their aft
ermathS.
Wars invariably cause waste. They
also cause monetary initiation and rise
in prices, followed by period of dis
orderly industrial activity and too
rapid and Unbalanced expansion In
all directions, resulting eventually in
the production of goods and services
out of line with the worlds ccntem-
porary capacity to absorb. Eventual
ly readjustment must take place
Prices must be revised, and costs Of
production and output must be
brought down to point where the
demand will again be stimulated and
goods will move into consumption.
In short, balanced condition must
be restored; and this may be done
without a general reduction IN wages,
provided the period of readjustment
is not too long drawn out ana OH
condition also that We reduce costs
by yet greater efficiency in labor, in
management. and in distribution.
Trying To Maintain Wages
In this country there has been a
concerted and determined effort on
the part Of both government and
business not only to prevent any re-
duction IN wages but to keep the
maximum number of men employed
and thereby to increase consumption.
Every man that can be kept at work
or put back into employment adds to
the nations buying power and 50
stimulates further production. Pro-
eress can be achieved only by a great
onward movement made up of a vast
number of individual efforts and not
by any single action that govern
nents or groups of men can take.
I do not believe in any quick or
spectacular remedies for the ills from
which the world is suffering, nor do
l share the belief there is anything
fundamentally wrong with the social
system under which we have achieved
in this and other industrialized coun-
tries a degree Of economic weu-being
unprecedented in the history of the
world. Capitalism or whatever name