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THE
VOL. LXV. No. 20
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. Nov. 17, 1917
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Be a "Bull" on the United States
I
F there is one thing more than another on which the American citizen likes to pride himself, it is his
ability to take his troubles with a smile. But this is not all. There is a finer quality even than that
which we like to think is peculiarly ours. It is the quality of belief in our country; and consequent
confidence in its destiny.
J. P. Morgan once said that his father, Junius Morgan, was constantly repeating this advice: "My boy,
whatever else you are, always be a bull on the United States." Which, being interpreted, means: Whatever
befalls, believe in the U. S. A.
Americans have indulged in oversensitiveness in too many ways since the U. S. A. entered the war.
Americans, in their desire to envisage this great national enterprise clearly, have become almost hypercritical;
too much inclined to see their own faults, and to minimize their virtues and those of their world-partners.
It is not surprising that a magnification of the enemy should be a consequence of this thinking.
Those of us who are not going to war, but are staying home keeping the wheels going round, are inclined,
sometimes, to feel bewildered at the rapid march of events. Now, bewilderment always ends in misgiving,
in fear.
Yet what could be more absurd than, at this of all moments, to indulge in the luxury of pessimism as
to the future, whether of business or of our part in the world-war? We need no shallow optimism to feel
confident. We have only to look at what is going on around us.
In the course of less than half a year the American people have subscribed to something better than
eight thousand million dollars in war loans. Much of this has been paid in already. Yet not a ripple on the
financial sea shows any disturbance to fundamental conditions; and the arrangements made for paying off
the balance of this great sum are so well thought out that there is no likelihood of there being any later
disturbance traceable to this account. Business meanwhile goes on.
Yes, business goes on, and goes on swimmingly. Read the reports of the great wholesale dry-goods houses
in New York, Chicago and elsewhere. Then hear what our own big business men, in our own trade, have to
say about orders and collections. Make all allowances for anything you please, and what do you find? Why,
you find Prosperity; abundant work, high wages, active business.
True, prices of foodstuffs are high; but that is no reason for getting excited. The condition is only
temporary, and mainly due to transportation troubles and manipulation. It is all getting down to normal by
steady steps, even though not so quickly as we all should like.
But there will be no "famines," and we need not take too seriously sensational headlines regarding
"shortages" and lack of "relief." The nation is not in any danger of going hungry.
But, again, look at the positive side of it. Work and wages plentiful, general activity everywhere,
manufacturers overburdened with orders, every big retailer pleased with present business and anticipating
better to come! Is that a condition to justify worry?
Once more, reverse the picture. Look at the national effort again, not only the huge success of the
Liberty Loans, but the really remarkable efficiency shown in getting together the great national army. The
American people simply never knew of what they were capable till they found they had to call the enemy's
bluff. And they will find they can do more; so much more yet that the present effort will seem like a joke.
Yes; and do it with a smile; and in prosperity too!
There are national problems, of course, that are exercising the ingenuity of our national experts. There
is shipping, for instance, with too many shipbuilding strikes in suspicious circumstances. Then there is the
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