Evening star., 1936-08-30
Initiation Psychology Be-
Iieved Confined to ReIa.
lively Small Group.
OLD FEARS GIVE WAY
TOFEELING OF SECURITY
Appreciation in Values and Fur.
ther Business Gains Stimulate
Travel and Buying.
BY CHARLES F. SPEARE.
srtcial Dispatch to The Star.

bonds at low coupon rate and then
has seen them advance to premium
over the offering price, said the other
day: ITO me this is most amazing
situation.
My bonds keep going up and my
stock goes up, too 1t don't make sense.
1T convinces me that the general
investing public does not expect in
fation."
What, however, may be phase Of
imitation consciousness on the part Of
the American people has been sensed
by this writer in travelling through
sections of New England this Sum-
mer. The first acknowledgment of it
came from a war veteran at Yer.
mont hotel. He was from Michigan.
This is his story: when I got my
bonus I bought a car, and, during
the last two months, have been see
ing some of the country. I figured
that I might as we'll spend the money
for it won't be worth much in q few
years" This is a reckless point of
view and one not entitled to a great
deal of respect. But it prevails among
a small section Of the public.
Many Farms Purchased.
More convincing as a ''hedge"
against imitation Is the activity one
finds throughout New England in
farm property. Two years ago one of
the authors Of a treatise on imitation
advocated the placing of percentage
Of ones capitalize be debased by
inf1ation-in a productive New Eng
land farm. The argument was that
such property would enhance in value
as fixed interest securities or currency
declined and that the products of a
farm such as this would support its
owners during the threatened financial
cataclysm.
However academic the advice may
eventually prove to be, the records of
the New England Farm Bureaus give
ample evidence that it has been ac-
cepted. Along with 1t has come an
other development-that of the re-
modelling and undermining Of old farm
houses by persons of ample means.
There Is a vast movement of people
up and down the country, eastward
and westward, spending money and
seeking pleasure and relaxation.
Trains, planes, hotels, boarding houses
and tourist camps are filed to Ca
pacity. Does this reflect a fear that
what they have Of surplus funds is to
be deprecated until it will have slight
purchasing power, or is it sign that
the people feel release from the
anxieties of the past five years and
are now bent on having good time?
An Element Of Abandon.
Undoubtedly there is an element Of
abandon in it created by the three
year promotion of the imitation idea.
Associated with this is the attitude Of
those who put their money in sup
posedly good securities prior to 1880
and lost what they had saved. This
group has adopted the philosophy OF
spending what it earns and and get
ting some enjoyment from it instead
of putting it away to produce small
return. Quite possibly the prospect
of social insurance or some form OF
old-age pensions heightens this view
point.
In this writer's opinion, the chief
explanation of the flow of capital into
productive farms or those whose build
ines are adaptable to ARCHITECTURAL
transformation, and the board current
of travel, domestic and foreign, is the
changed psychology of the American
people-from that Of fear OF the fu-
ture to a sense of satisfaction in the
recovery that has taken place in the
last 18 months and the conviction
that this is permanent.
It is only natural that a portion OF
increased wages and salaries, OF great
er income from securities and rents,
of the profits of business and OF the
appreciation in securities, should
be allocated to pleasures that had
either been denied by circumstances
or deferred from 1881 to 1886.
Not a few of the people who are on
the road today have no more income
than in 1882 and 1888. But their
capital in the form of stocks, bonds or
real estate is a part of the $l00 ,000,-
600 900 increase in value of such
paper in the past three years, all OF
which makes their participation in
life insurance more secure. That they
should spend after clinging to their
small resources during the depression
was to be expected.
No Sign Of Abatement.
This Improvement shows little sign
of abatement. Where it has been
checked this has been due to the
drought, to the slowing up In seasonal
industries and to the attention which
the American people give at the end
of August to their vacations. Alto
eether the business index Is down only
a triie from the high piont of the
Summer.
This weeks figures Of railroad car
loadings and Of July earnings are still
impressive. So are those from the iron
and steel industry considering the
slackening in the automotive trade.
Railroad equipment buying and de-
mand for building construction ma
terial are slated to take up the losses
from Michigan centers. Retail trade
is not so uniformly expansive as 1t has
been. The next 90 days will test bus
mess stability. as the political cam
paign will be concentrated in that
period. The bitterness With which II
win be fought Is not likely to be q
tonic to business while It proceeds.