Evening star., 1937-01-03
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

MERE Is SCOIy ny holo OoAAS0
any in which the action occurs
on either a New Year day
L or a Christmas. I summarize
1t from memory and am probably
wrong in some details.
The story is about a business man
in London to whom chance brought
an opportunity to do service for an
elf, or a fairy, or a genie, or some
other creature having supernatural
powers and a generous disposition.
The genie, grateful, told the business
man he would grant any favor the
business man might ask. But the
genie. after the manner of those in
the Arabian Nights, would grant only
one favor. and he stipulated that the
business man. after asking for it, must
accept it. CONSIDERABLY the genie
suggested that the business man
should spend day considering what
was the one thing he wanted more
than anything else in the world.
The business man, after adequate
reflection, concluded, shrewdly as 1t
seemed, that the best possible gift he
could receive, one by which he could
enrich himself almost without limit,
would be an advance copy of the Lon
don Times, of the issue that would
appear on January l Of the following
year. The genie said, very we'll, and
brought the business man q copy OF
the Times as it would be year hence.
Eagerly the business man turned to
the page of quotations of the prices
of stocks and commodities as they
would be a year in the future. With
a pencil he made notes. Thus equipped
to make an unlimited fortune, he per-
mitted his eyes to range through the
other pages of the paper. In them
he found the usual sort Of thing
civil war in China, imminence of war
on the ontinent-nothing very novel.
Finally, his leisurely survey of the
paper brought his eyes to the page
containing obituaries-and there found
an account of his own death.
Doubtless for each one of us dur
ing the coming year the things that
happen to himself-whether death.
birth in his family, marriage, or other
act of nature or good fortune or mis-
adventure or calamity-will be the
most interesting to the individual con-
cerned; for individualism has not yet
been so completely erased from the
world as to cause any public event
to be so important as what befalls
ones self.
Housewife Sound Economist.
But it happens. to an exceptional
extent, that if some genie helpful to
forecasters would tell us today what
will be the prices of securities and
commodities on the exchanges on jan
uary l, 1898, we would have a key
to the major trends and events of
the coming year. We could write very
confidently and informingly indeed.
I suppose the instant thought of
reader who has come thus far,
especially if he is an owner of COM
modities or securities, will be to as
sumo that if prices are materially
higher year from today, it will be
good fortune The farmer who raises
in storage, will hope that on jan
aury next year the price will be 50
or $3.50 a hushel, as against today's
price, which is about sl.50. The
raiser Of corn, or cotton, or hogs, or
live stock, or dealer in any of these
commodities, will think the same way
The owner of shares in United States
Steel, now about SIT, will think it
would be fine if year from today
the price is well above $500, as it
was in 1929 The owner of shares
In General Motors or General Electric
or other stocks will think the same
Not only will those who would bene-
1T directly by higher prices hope the
prices will 60 that. way. The public
generally will feel the same. 1t is a
practically universal trait to think
that prices moving higher mean we'll
being. For We Americans as a people
are Seller-minded, not consumer
minded. Almost the only class among
our American folks whs think pri-
marily in terms of buying is the
housewife. Perhaps the reason is that
she is rarely a seller of anything.
rarely has any part in any kind of
business. So far as she touches the
world of price at all she is almost
wholly buyer; she buys the family
groceries and much of the family
clothing. AS almost exclusively a
buyer, she knows what high cost of
living means and does not like it. I
sometimes think that the housewife
who has nothing to do with business
and knows nothing of economic theory
Is nevertheless the soundest business
man and economist of us all.
Stability Is Needed.
In business sense, as a matter Of
economics, and in many other senses,
what America most needs during the
coming year is not falling prices-not
that at all, but prices which should
either remain at approximately the
present level or go slightly higher. If
the range Of prices of goods and Sc
curities and services year from now
should be slightly higher, let us say
10 to 20 per cent higher. that would
be no great harm and would reflect
wholesome conditions. But If prices
q year from today are strikingly or
sensationally higher, if they are higher
to the extent of so or 60 per cent, or
more, we shall know pretty certainly
that things have not gone well with
America during 1887 and that prob
ably worse is ahead.
AS the past year came toward a
close prices of commodities were surg