White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-08-25
This IL no time for era


ven cringing. Looking out of my win
dow, l see the shaft of the monument
to Washington. think of Valley
Forge, and wonder how those who
now lament and wiring their hands
would have enjoyed that winter. This
is Washington's bicentennial. It is
time for a new reckoning, q new re-
sponsbility, new courage.
During the winter past many good
man. willing and able to work, has
gone through a hell of unemployment
and uncertainty. Remembering that,
we may also find that some good, along
with the evil, comes out of all depres-
sions.
am not a stranger to depressions.
Economists tell us that the panic of
1873 was the closest analogy which
history furnishes to our present trou-
bles. My father, well-to-do business
man and farmer in Missouri, was
caught in that general disaster. was
inst thirteen years old. One day my
father told me the whole story.
"John," he said, Everything l own
has been swept away except the farm,
which is covered by heavy mort
gage" 1--WE finally lost it, II must
try to make some money by travelling
as salesman. While am away you
must take care of the family and man.
age the farm" During the next three
years my brother and ! ran the farm.
We plowed, sowed, and reaped We
| took our produce to market. Those
DAYS were not so different from these
| for the farmer. remember we had
field of timothy hay which was par
ticularly fine baled it up, carload
| of it, and sent it by rail to st. Louis,
| hoping to receive top price. but it
| did not bring enough to cover the
freight charges.
| During those years my attendance
| at school was limited and had to do
the best l could to keep up with my
| classes by studying at night. Those
were certainly hard times. Yet, "sweet
are the uses of adversely" and it was
the best thing that ever happened to
me- It taught me more, gave me great
er confidence and keener sense of
responsibility than anything else could
have done.
unsupported Powers.
I cite my own experience merely to
show how men and women actually
gain a new strength and courage when
thrown upon their own resources and
responsibility in times of crisis. They
find in themselves powers they never
suspected.
The life of military man furnishes
another example valuable in times like
the present. In every army career
there come occasional times of dull
ness. The officer, stationed at some
remote army post, has his routine du-
ties to perform. When these are COM
pleted he finds the temptation almost
overwhelming to give over his leisure
to cards. light reading, social evenings
painless time-wasting. 1t is the officer
| who resists that temptation, who
spends hard hours each day studying
the latest advances in artillery technic
ir transport, in tactics-it Is this Off
Ger who receives recognition when thu
opportunity for active service comes.
So it is in business. In this time Of
extreme dullness, many have sunk
back into a kind of lethargy. Bu
the wise business man, like the consci
entious officer, is using his present
leisure to prepare for the battles tt
come. He is devising new economic:
of production and distribution. He |!
studying the problem Of how his prod
uct may be varied or made more at
tractive. He is getting ready to tak'
advantage of the upturn when i
comes. He is not accepting gloom.
defeatism. He is thinking for himself
have touched at some length on th'
depression because it has so glaringl.
shown us the folly Of carelessly dele
eating our thinking to others.
1t has also thrown bright cold ligh
on the flaws in our political method
and on our crime problem. Durin
the years Of prosperity following tn,
war an underworld of gangsters an
racketeers unparalleled in any othe
civilized nation, grew up and -four
ished in our cities. The criminal
who manned this underworld were of
new type. They were not the mas:ie
and shabby pluguglies who filled tn
jails in earlier years. They were ez
pensively dressed; they owned me-
chine guns. high-powered cars, an
speed boats; they had money in tn
bank. With this money they were abb
to establish a relation with corruI
officials and police which seemed
make them immune from prosecution
@. 1882. Bell syndicate-WNu Service.
To Be Concluded Next Week.