The midland journal., 1946-11-29
News "a.
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Released by western Newspaper Union.
WE WILL HAVE DEPRESSION
ONLY IF WE ARE FOOLISH
By PAUL NfALLON :

WE WILL HAVE DEPRESSION
ONLY IF WE ARE FOOLISH
WASHINGTON.-Treasury Secre-
tary Snyder announced it was bad
psychology to talk about a depres-
sion-but it is less so now than be-
fore the election. He joined the
civilian production administrator in
bemoaning that we are talking our
selves into depression. Yet it
would be foolish to think ourselves
in clover when the grass is getting
thinner and the problem is to find
more clover.
National business always gets
down to the example Of a typ
ical individual business. In
butcher shop the other day,
well dressed woman picked out
piece of meat, and after some
consideration decided to take
it-until she found the price was
$2.75. She simply said without
any protest or grievance: "'That
is more than / can pay" I'm
mediately poorly dressed per-
son who obviously did not have
as much as the woman stepped
forward and said: 81 will take
that piece of meat"-and he
did.
This shows exactly what is wrong
behind the present business situa-
ton, when you lay all politics aside.
People are beginning to buy more
wisely and discriminatory than
they did. They must. Conditions
force them to it. The great average
of middle class incomes in this coun-
try has not risen like prices These
homes, which comprise the bulk Of
the economic life of the nation, al
ready have recognized they cannot
meet the pinch of inf1ationary prices
by buying everything for any price.
But the situation has been. covered
up in national statistics by the un-
wise, yet really poorer person, who
will step forward and pay any price
for anything, although he is the one
whose money will run out first and
then he will call for relief, social
ism, revolution or what not.
PRICES TOO HIGH
Production is the life blood of the
nation-but at prices at which the
production can be consumed. The
economic theory upon which the ma
ton has been going is that if it can
only get production, prices will re-
oJS,,e% fhn,,, c11xy41 TH4@ ;,
theory. But we have not been get
ting that kind of production In hard
ly any line have we managed to get
enough production to influence
prices downward-yet, as we see,
great many people cannot or will
not buy at current prices and quail
ity. The nation has gotten into a
production-price stalemate.
Strikes have proved the greatest
impediment to the working of our
sound basic economic theory. De-
structive strikes have taken place
lately, bitter, foolish strikes in which
the strikers can never hope to make
back the money they have lost by
their strikes-and the nation will
have a hard time building back that
lost portion of its lifebloOd to pre-
vent itself from becoming increas-
ingly anemic economically. In
Knoxville, for instance, the Journal
figured out that the FultOn-Sylph0n
strike with which / am not acquaint-
ed) resulted in an economic settle
ment whereby the worker will be 9
years and 81 weeks making up the
loss he incurred when he was out
of work for 1O1 days.
The amount of money lost in the
Washington hotel strike will never
be made up. I have asked for fig
ures and cannot get them, but they
will show that the worker really
struck against himself. Not only
will he be long time getting back
what he lost in pay, but also his fell
low workers will never get their lost
money back. And when you calcu-
late the amount of money lost to
business by guests of the hotels
business from contract which
was not signed or business not done
you will see what these strikes are
doing in hopeful recovery period
without even considering the amount
of money lost by the management,
which would be comparatively in
finitesimal.
NOT ENOUGH NEW CARS
Or consider motors. We simply
are not getting anywhere near the