Talking Too Much About "Presidential Year" Hard Times

By JACK DIONNE

The world is mental; the times are mentally created and controlled; conditions are mentally ordained; and prosperity and depression are both results of mental conditions that become general enough to have their physical effect.

If a sufficient number of people get to believing-andsaying-that times are going to be hard, THAT condition will certainly have a powerful tendency to cause the very hard times which they prophesy. And if a sufficient number of people think and talk prosperity, they will do much to bring prosperous conditions about.

- The Good-Book says that "If a man shall believe, and shall not doubt in his heart-". his beliefs shall come to pass. And if a whole lot of people believe that same thing, it is even more likely to come to pass. And on the other hand, if a man FEARS, rather than BELIEVES, hii fears are mighty likely to come true. And if he is one of many who hold that fear, they are very likley to cause the thing they fear.

That isn't psychology. - Thatls common sense. That's the difference between man and monkey. nviry act-is the child of a thought. And the quality and knd of child will follow the quality and kind of thought.

That's why Presidential election years have come to be such business bugaboos. Sometime, awiy back yonder, elections were s9 impressive that everyone quit everything else and gave their att-ention to the election. Quitting business makes business bad. And when bus-iness became bad, they said that it was because it was Presidential election year. It WASN'T. It was becauie of the way the lusiness men THOUGHT and ACTED on Presidential election year.

And so, every four years, as Presidential election year approaches, -you hear people talking in ever inireasing volume, of the dire things tha-t- Presidential elections ygg!_ln the pist have developed, They fear the same thing will come.THIS year. They HOPE not, -but it always has. That's the mental condition of the nation- afreri is entirelftoo much hard times talk in this cowrtry today, too much talk of Presidential year caiamities, of financial reverses, and of depressed conditions. You can hear it if you travel over the country much in every hotel lobby, on every train, and everywhere that business men gather together. hnd the business men have tone it tf,emselves by talking depression, and then by acting depression. ftrer6 are three bright spots of prosperity in the United States today: California, Texas, and Florida; all of them in the South. And the principal reason why these are the three most prosperous parts of the country is because there is less thought and less talk of depression in those districts.

And they riflect this condition in their business. Worlds of business men !9gi" cutting cornirs, cutting down expenses "pulling in their horns" in various- ways. There has be-en a lot of that tllis year, ai in othei Presidential years. Worldr of corporations have trimmed their sails to the utmost, to remain until after election. They do it because they fear Presidential election year. And by their very acts, they are bringing on the thing they are fearing.

Vet there is too much of it in EVERY dlstrict. We need a little better damper on our jaws, a little better optimism in our hearts, and a little more of t!t9 philosophy that believes that the way to meet a threatened depression is to get out and hit the ball harder, work harder, think straighter, smile oftener, and think more frequently of the eternal RIGHT, rather than of the possible WRONG.

There isn't any good reason why the ,rest of this year should see depressed business conditions in this country. Yet the majority of business men, merchants, etc., are playing a waiting game. Waiting to see if things are really going to be as bad as they have feired. And of course, by fearing, and by waiting, they make business bad. That's all there is to thaL

The Presidential Conventions may brin3 some changes. If the big parties nominate men of whom the business people of the country are not afraid, things will improve. If one or either nominate men of whom business IS afraid, there will be gloom clouds on the business horizon, until after election day.

It shouldn't be that way, but it IS.