The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-06-22
Member of The Associated Press
tOfficial City, State and County
Newspapers
Peace Time Patriotism
BY GEO. 3. CCHTELYOU
President, Consolidated Gas Com
pany of New York


pany of New York
"a Guest EDITORIAL
II has been said that patriotism
consists just as much in believing in
ones country in a depression as in
fighting for it in war" Few will
dispute this statement, difficult
though it be to give it practical APP
plication; for it is in some respects
harder to overcome depression,
many of whose elements are invisi-
BILE, intangible and incalculable, than
TO overthrow the armed forces of a
visible foe, whose numbers and re-
sources are known.
A depression has its casualties no
less than war; like war, it entails sac
rifice and suffering, from which no
class is exempt. In fact, depres-
sion is kind of war in which We
are all enlisted for the duration, -
whether we will or not. 1t is up to
us to play our part and do our duty
as good soldiers.
One Of the first essentials is morale
A spirit of defeatism at this time is
as dangerous as it would have been
in 19l7-18. To give way to panic or
despair would be the surest means of
precipitating the very disaster we
are trying to avoid. Nor is there just
ground for such an attitude. When
we remember the optimism that was
rampant only a few years ago, when
confidence in never-ending pros
perity was unbounded, and when we
realize-as we now do-how unwar-
ranted such state of mind was,
does not this suggest at least the pos
sibility that the opposite state of
mind may be equally unWarranted?
True, we have lost much, but We
have much more left, and what we
have left is far more important than
what we have lost. We have SUI
fered no catastrophe of nature; we
have not been stricken by earthquake,
famine or pestilence. Our farms.
mines, railroads and factories are
still intact. Indeed, SO far as our
production facilities are concerned.
We are embarrassed not by too little
but by too much. This does not mean
that everybodys wants have been
satisfied, and surplus left over. 1t
means that the basis of exchange by
which normally the markets are
cleared of goods has been disrupted,
with a resultant stoppage in the GUS
tomary flow of goods into consump-
ton. The immediate and pressing
need is to establish right conditions
for the resumption of the interrupted
flow.
Many OF the adjustments necessary
to bring this about have been or are
being made; many yet remain to be
made. just when the point marking
the turn will be reached nobody
knows. Probably no one will recog-
nize it when it appears but only after
a certain perspective has been gained.
The problem, however, is gradually
becoming more clearly defined, and
with clearer definition is coming a
better understanding of the measures
to be taken. This is not a time for
shallow optimism, for sitting back in
the complacent belief that every
thing will be all right" but for calm
and reasoned confidence in the flu
ture of our country made effective
by a combination OF faith and works
"a combination which has won for
us in the past and will do so again.
This country has never lost war
and will not lose this one.