Milford chronicle., 1953-08-28
Greenewalt Flags
Depression Mongers
leontInned Lon fIrsL. 80

In this country our standard
Of living is such that a substantial
part of our income is available
for purchases that we may make
today or put off until tomorrow.
If we are confident Of the future,
we buy today. If we are not, we
decide to make the old car do
another year, to delay our house
painting until spring or, if we are
up to ii, to tell our wives that
they can't have that new coat
after all.
"Such decisions in the American
home determine our relative state
Of business prosperity. They have
an impact far Outweighing the
sober deliberations Of Senators
and statesmen. And because people
react with great sensitivity to
signs and portents, those who pre-
dict in public take on great re-
sponsibility.
Il would therefore urge that we
think twice before we sell the fu-
tuTe short. The surest way know
to start a depression is to predict
ourselves into one. The surest way
to harvest those new products,
whose seeds are sprouting in our
laboratories, is to keep our hopes
high, our incentives strong and
our economy dynamic"
war is a calamity to business
as it is to the nation generally"
Mr.. GreeneWalt wrote. ITO look
only at the financial side, war is
terrifyingly expensive and the
share Of its cost borne by business
is very substantial.
Taking the Du POnt Company
as an example, Mr.. Greenewalt
pointed out the average return on
its investment has fallen off near
ly ohe-quarter below the average
of the three preceding years, rough
ly paralleling the experience of
World War II.
The future is mOrtgaged,"s he
declared. Research and develop
ment are delayed and interrupted:
personnel is diverted from crea-
tive pursuits to the taut necessi-
ties of the moment. Clearly, those
who see war as a business blessing
have no talent for simple arithme-
tic.
Business isn't scared by peace.
It is scared by the intimation that
peace can have undesirable eco
nOmic consequences. It is aghast
also, at the belief that government
should step in and create an arti-
fetal demand for goods to keen
things going. Business has far
more to gain from a drop in gov
ernment Spending than it has to
lose.
AT present, according to figures
l have seen, we are turning out a
gross national product of about
$3.50 billion a year. Some so hill
lions, or about IA per cent. repre-
sent government purchases. But
the government program rides
piggy-back; a very large portion
OF its cost comes out of wages and
salaries and dividends and corpo-
rate earnings, which, if unburd-
ened, would flow into the normal
channels of trade. 1t would be
spent for additional consumer
goods. It would be available for
investment in new enterprise. It
would bring about lower prices
which would themselves Stimulate
demand. These are the creative
methods through which our bust
ness and industrial system pro-
crosses.
There is, in my opinion. no
more reason to credit current mes
simism than there was to take to
the woods in 1885, Any assumn-
ton that business is une0uaI to
the tasks Of peace does a disserv-
ice equal to a charge that If Is
unequal to the task of war Tho
Iecora would indicate, l submit.
that It is fully equal to both"