The Coolidge examiner., 1932-08-26

leading men, given over to fear,
prate Of national failure, bankrupt
cy, and Bolshevism. This is no
time for craven cringing. Looking
out of my window, l see the shaft
Of the monument to Washington. l
think of Valley Forge, and wonder
how those who now lament and
wiring their hands would have en-
joyed that winter. This rs Wash
ington's bicentennial. 1t is time
for new reckoning, a new respon-
sibility, a new courage.
During the winter past many a
good man, willing and able to work.
has gone through a hell of unem-
plOyment and uncertainty. Re-
membering that, we may also find
that some good, along with the
evil, comes out of all depressions.
am not a stranger to depres-
sions. Economists tell US that the
panic of 1873 was the closest anal
ogy which history furnishes to our
present troubles. My father,
well-to-do business man and farm
er in Missouri, was caught in that
general disaster. l was just thir-
teen years old. One day my IA
ther told me the whole story.
John" he said everything l
own has been swept away except
the farm, which is covered by a
heavy mortgage" eve finally lost
it.) II must try to make some
money by travelling as a salesman.
While l am away you must take
care of the family and manage the
farm" During the next three years
my brother and l 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. l re-
member we had a field of timothy
hay which was particularly fine. I
baled II up, a carload of 1t, and
sent 1t by rail to st. Louis, hoping
to receive a top price, but 1t did
not bring enough to cover the
freight charges.
During those years my attend
ance 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 1t was the best
thing that ever happened to me. 1t
taught me more, gave me greater
confidence and n keener sense Of
responsibility than anything else
could have done.
Unsuspected Powers.
| cite my own experience merely
to show how men and women ac-
tually gain a new strength and
courage when thrown upon their
own resources and responsibility in
times of crisis. They find in them
selves powers they never sus-
pected.
The life Of a military man fur
nlshes another example valuable in
times like the present. In every
army career there come occasional
times of dullness. The officer, sta
toned at some remote army post,
has his routine duties TO perform.
when these are completed he finds
the temptation almost overwhelm-
Ing to give over his leisure to
cards, light reading, social eve
nings. painless time-wasting. 1t is
the officer who resists that tempta-
ton, who spends hard hours each
day studying the latest advances
in artillery technic, in transport, In
tactics-it is this officer who re-
ceives recognition when the oppor-
tunity for active service comes.
So il 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
conscientious 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 product may be
varied or made more attractive.
He is getting ready TO take advan-
tage of the upturn when it comes.
He is not accepting gloomy defeat
ism. He is thinking for himself.
have touched at some length on
the depression because it has so
glaringly shown us the folly of care
lessly delegating our thinking to
others.
It has also thrown a bright cold
light on the flaws in our political
methods and on our crime problem.
During the years of prosperity fol-
lowing the war an underworld of
gangsters and racketeers unpar-
alleled in any other civilized nation,
grew up and fourished in our cities.
The criminals who manned this un-
derworld were of new type. They
were not the masked and shabby
plug-uglies who filed the jails in
earlier years. They were expensive
ly dressed; they owned machine