The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1932-08-26

B0lShev1Sm This Is no time for era
ven Bringing. Looking out Of my win
dow, 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 new reckoning, new re-
| sponsibillty, 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 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 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 1t, and sent 1t 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 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. 1t taught me more, gave me great
er confidence and keener sense Of
responsibility than anything else could
have done.
unsupported Powers.
l cite my own experience merely to
show how men and women actually
gain 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,
IT transport, in tactics-it is this Off
Ger who receives recognition when the
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. But
the wise business man, like the consci-
entious officer, is using his present
leisure to prepare for the battles to
come. He is devising new economies
of production and distribution. He is
studying the problem of how his prod
uct may be varied or made more at
tractlve. He is getting ready to take
advantage of the upturn when 1t
comes. He is not accepting gloomy
defeatism. He is thinking for himself.
have touched at some length on the
depression because it has so glaringly
shown US the folly of carelessly dele,
eating our thinking to others.
1t has also thrown a bright cold light
on the flaws in our political methods
and on our crime problem. During
the years of prosperity following the
war an underworld of gangsters and
racketeers unparalleled in any other
civilized nation, grew up and -four
ished in our cities. The criminals
who manned this underworld were of a
new type They were not the masked
and shabby plug-uglies who filled the
jails in earlier years. They were ex-
pensively dressed; they owned ma
chine guns, high-powered cars, and
speed boats; they had money in the
bank. With this money they were able
to establish a relation with corrupt
officials and police which seemed to
make them immune from prosecution.
G. 1892. Bell Syndicate-wNU Service.