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REVIEW
THE
VOL. LXIX. No. 2
A
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
July 12, 1919
Single Copies 10 Cents
$2.00 Per Year
HOUGH trade generally is good—unusually so—with a seller's market prevailing and likely to prevail
for a considerable period in the future, there is noticeable in some quarters an undercurrent of uncer-
tainty regarding just what the future has to offer the business man. The manufacturer, of course,
has his production problems, even when he is so fortunate as to be able to run his plant at capacity, for
the country has been marking time to a greater or less extent for a couple of years, while the demand has kept
right on growing. The main trouble with the average pessimist seems to be that he has so much good business
to handle, and there is so much more good business in prospect for the future, that the reaction is proving too
much for him.
It is true that space writers on newspapers, catering more or less to sensationalism, are prone to exaggerate,
to a certain extent, the situation as it affects labor. They refer to the growing unrest of the working man, and
to the political changes that will be brought about as the result of world conditions generally, with an air of
deep misgiving. Perhaps labor conditions are unsettled, but there has never been a time within the last fifty
years when that condition has not prevailed to a greater or less extent in this country.
Wages and manufacturing costs generally have increased and continue to increase, but the situation is such
that the manufacturer, if he maintains his proper balance, is in a position to realize increased prices for ihe
finished product, and thus serve to equalize things.
Bolshevism is held up as an immediate danger, yet Bolshevism is simply anarchy and the anarchists have been
with us for a century or more. The Bolshevists, like mosquitoes and gnats, may annoy somewhat, but there is
little prospect of their becoming a factor in the nation's government, or being able to upset and destroy established
customs.
With the prosperity that has come upon the country there has naturally followed a tendency towards spec-
ulation. It is against this condition that the Federal Reserve Board in its report this week has felt moved to
issue a note of warning, while still expressing optimism as to the business outlook.
"In nearly all the districts," the board's statement said, "the opinion is entertained that the prospects for a
successful and prosperous year, with a very large output of goods and almost unprecedented financial returns
to manufacturers, agriculturists and laborers, now are positive. The possibility that speculation may be carried
too far and may exert an injurious influence, aided and furthered by the existence of free credit and speculative
tendencies, appears as the principal offsetting influence in the situation."
Prices continued to rise throughout June, the board's statement showed, and the enormously heavy de-
mand for goods for export has rendered products in many lines scarce.
Manufacturing took a strong upward turn during June, and "there is apparently no present condition of
unemployment," says the report. "Indeed, many industries report they cannot get the men they need, while
wages are fully up to past levels or higher. No reduction in wage scales is now foreseen."
The statement declared that wages of clerks, office employes and other workers receiving more or less
fixed incomes, which have not advanced, must be increased if prices are to continue at their present level.
A perfectly healthy person reading a patent medicine almanac can, within a few hours, become afflicted
with all the ills that human flesh is heir to, in imagination at least. The business man listening to the wail of
the pessimist, and reading the sensational prophecies of pending evil, can bring upon himself much unhealthy
and unnecessary mental disturbance.
If he gives attention to his own business, keeps his own house in order, and takes care of his problems as
they come up, he is not going to have much trouble. The country has triumphed in a great war—it is not going
to the bow-wows, nor is there any prospect of its so doing in either the immediate or the far distant future.