The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-06-23
36th Annual Credit
 Convention Opens
Executives From All Parts of the Country Are Assembled
 in Boston To-day

Boston, Mass, June 23-Outlining a board general platform for busi- ness dealing specifically with four as- poets of the current economic sitiia- tion. Dr stephen I. Miller, executive manager of the National Association of Credit Men opened the thirty sixth annual convention and the Credit Congress of Industry of the Association at the Hotel Statler here this afternoon, before fifteen hum dred credit executives from all parts of the nation, with a keynote ad- dress entitled "The New Frontiers of Credit.
 The credit chief affirmed a need for optimism today by saying that there is strong argument in rec ognizing psychology as a major force at this time in in the business de- pression. Optimism now is part cularly opportune at time when the nation is fortified with volume of elastic credit and at a period when personal and business liquida- ton have run their course. He expressed the belief that mergers are the greatest force in the elimin- ation of waste and the promotion of business welfare, and said that the Sherman-Clayton acts should be modified to allow legitimate econ omies and better business adminis- tration because business cannot be administered in anticipation Of ad- verse court decisions"
 Then, following a plea for CO., operation instead of foolhardy in- dividualism in the American busi- ness structure, Dr Miller took to task the talkative business leaders and "a certain type of college pro- fessors of Economies" who have been making predictions and analyses that have not been realized for almost two years.
 ''There is no one more individual istic than an economist said the keynote speaker. At the present time much unfavorable comment has been let loose against predic- tions and analyses by certain type of college professors of economics. Probably much of this reaction is due to an attempt to make econ- omics fore abstract and more scien- tific than can be justified.
 They are making too much of comparisons of price cycles, without regard to the complexity of industry and numerous factors that are con- stantly changing. It is dangerous to anticipate a general price cycle in terms of the nineteenth century, because there have been too many changes in the past few decades. Consumer habits, distribution, credit elasticity-all these have been al- tered to a vast degree. As result of failure to give consideration to these forces we have had all man ner of strange predictions and to- day we hear some say that this dis pression will extend for another twenty or thirty years"
 On the subject of mergers, Dr Miller said "that business consoli- dation is capable of bringing about widespread economies in the use of land, capital, and labor, in the buy ing of stock and materials. and in the marketing of products has long since been recognized. That business merges can become one of the great est contributors to industrial sta- bility is not so fully appreciated But the speaker emphasized the statement that the ultimate test of the business merger will be found in an ethical rather than in an economic interpretation.
 '"The people of the United States have learned that cut-throat com- petition brings neither service nor lasting low prices; that the econ omies resulting from vast produc- tion and distribution make possible low prices; that the ownership of a corporation is not in the hands of a few captains of industry but is generally lodged in the hands of thousands of stock holders! and that