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THE
REVIEW
fflJilC TIRADE
VOL LXXIII. No. 19
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
Nov. 5, 1921
Single Copies 10 Cents
«2.00 Per Year
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a Obstacle to Business Progress Removed
T
HE announcement late last week that the leaders of the various railroad men's organizations had
rescinded the strike order, which was to have become effective on October 30, has naturally been
greeted with much satisfaction by the business men of the country and, for that matter, by citizens
generally who had before them visions of heavy financial loss and much suffering through the tying
up of the transportation systems of the country.
This adjustment of the railroad question will have a stimulating effect upon business generally for
the balance of the year, for it means that there will be no delay in deliveries and no widespread unemployment
due to the inability of manufacturing organizations to secure supplies and keep their plants moving.
That the threatened railroad trouble was seriously considered by business men and shook their confi-
dence in a considerable measure cannot be questioned, for among the many reports of local conditions received
at The Review office from various sections of the country the great majority of the predictions as to business
development were based upon the condition that transportation would not be interrupted.
The country needs all the business that can be handled within the next few months, and, while retailers
and manufacturers agree that trade is a long way from normal, yet they also agree that the improvement
since the first of September has been distinctly marked, amounting, in some cases, to as much as a 75 per cent
increase over preceding months. With nothing in the immediate future to cause apprehension there is every
reason to believe that the improvement will continue well beyond the first of the year.
Various industries are starting up in different sections of the country and those that have been operat-
ing on a piece-meal basis are getting back to a fairly regular schedule. This condition has been reflected par-
ticularly in the matter of collections rather than in sales, because those who already possess instruments are
anxious to hold on to them, even though non-owners hesitate for the moment about buying.
Manufacturers who have for the past several weeks been endeavoring to get their goods into the stores
of the dealers and to formulate plans for making deliveries by truck, should the railroads be tied up for any
period, have now been relieved of that worry and can again devote their attention to getting after trade,
building up their organizations and taking care of various production details.
The average business man does not fully appreciate the real importance of the transportation systems
of the country until he is faced with the possibility of their becoming inoperative, with a likelihood of being
called upon to deliver his goods several thousand miles away from his factory by water and motor truck. Hav-
ing been faced with the problem of railway strikes on several occasions recently, however, it is a question with
a surprising number of business men whether the temporary settlement of the dispute between the rail workers
and the executives at this time is really a better move than to have let the strike come and settle once and for
all this big and apparently ever-growing question.
Much can be said for both sides in the controversy, but the industries of the country cannot be tied up
and penalized while these two railroad factions thresh out their disputes. There is no doubt of the possibility
of clothing the Government with power to act not simply as arbiter, but to enable it to render a decision fair to
both sides and see to it that that decision is respected and observed.
It is just as important that the railroads of the country be kept in operation regardless of internal
troubles as it is that the armed forces of the country be always prepared. It is often asserted that, along certain
lines, there is too much Government interference with business, but the operation of the railroads is a matter
of such vital interest to the nation that it is to be hoped that before the present railroad truce ends, in July of
next year, Governmental authority will have been established to keep the railroads running, regardless of the
differences between those who manage and those who operate them.