Milford chronicle., 1933-08-18

| Fighters or Fear" might be
good title for the men who are work
ing under the direction of the Ma
tional Recovery Crusade Committee
Their biggest job is to fight fear
How well they do it is proven by
the results.
Fear Fighters" have been walk
ing up to American communities
looking them over critically and
saying:
Look, you have a patch in your
trousers and your shoes are on their
uppers. If I'm not mistaken that's
last years hat you have on and your
cars shows unmistaken signs of
having been used for two or more
years."
To which the Community pleads
guilty. The Fear Fighter" then
says:
"You have money in the bank. l
know. I've looked up your balance.
You have enough and more to pro-
vide all of those things to which you
are accustomed. And by not buying
them you are keeping men out OF
work"
But, suppose things get worse.
was taught to save a little for a
rainy day." replies the conservative
community.
"Baseless fear! Let me explain,
cries the Fear Fighter" And he
does. He does it so well that fear is
dead in Elmira, N. Y. Dozens of
other, smaller communities know
that it can be beaten down if real
fight is put up. National Recovery
Crusade was organized to fight fear
with facts. It's job was to help Am
erican communities help themselves.
One of the questions most fire.
quently asked is whether a Recov-
cry Crusade could be attempted in a
smaller town than Elmira and the
answer always is that the smaller
cities and towns have about three
times the advantages of the larger
ones. Unity is all-important in beat
ing back fear and unity is much
easier to achieve in a smaller place.
Further, it is far more important
that the smaller communities recov-
er than the big ones. National re-
covery will not be an accomplished
fact until it is truly national. Main
Street must get out of the doldrums
before Fifth Avenue will be the
place it used to be.
With arguments such as these
the Fear Fighters" directed by
Sherman Rogers, editor and publi-
cist, have been going from city to !
city in the United States, preaching
the gospel of faith-faith backed by
the facts. They will tell you that
this is no hair-brained, visionary
Supported by facts, they
argue, it is possible for any COM
munity in the United States to start
the recovery ball rolling in a few
weeks.
Among the facts which are cited
by the crusaders, those which fol-
low are salient. 1t must be remem-
bered that they are given in nation
al proportions necessarily. Scale
them down by communities and it
will be found that they compare
favorably in most cases.
Average Americans spent $1.79 a
day in 1929, the peak of prosperity.
That makes an 80 billion dollar an
nual turnover. In 1882 this spending
rate had been reduced to SO cents
Jay or an annual turnover Of AZ
billions of dollars. What happened
% shrink our spending rate one
half?
On that black day in September
1929 when hitherto undreamed of I
bottoms were established in the
PRICES at which stocks sold on Wall
Street, there were 100000 people
n the United States with bank ac-
counts totaling 51,O00,000, ,000-bil-
ions, count 'em! That was real
money. No paper profits or margin
Il accounts in brokers offices. Just ]
cal, honest dollars.
What happened? Did people run
o those banks and take their money
ut? Not a bit of it. Ten months af- ;
er the crash there was more, by
bout ten billion dollars, in those
ccounts than there was when the {
rash took place.
In 1929, says Sherman Rogers,
we had no overproduction in the
ountry, at least no abnormal over
reduction of either farm products
r industrial commodities. !
The federal government and the ]
anks were in the strongest gold J
osition the world had even known, {
avs the same authority.
There was no excuse for the pam
:. The three major causes of de- I
ressiOns did not exist. Those
auses are overproduction, govern t
lent shortage of cash reserves, and {
lck of money in the bank vaults. c
Ie had plenty of money in the J