V.gabond Editorials

By Jack Dionne

"All that friendliness needs," said Paul P. Harris, the daddy of Rotary, "is a sporting chance, and it will take care of itself in any company."

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Latest definition of pedestrian: a man with two autornobiles and two grown children living at home.

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"'When some men discharge an obligation," Mark Twain once rernarked, "y.ou can hear the report for miles around." Lots of folks do their charities that same way.

Many a man loses that living that the world owes-and is willing to pay-him, by being a poor collector.

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Signs of irnprovement: auto and truck registrations everywhere showing huge increase over last year at this time; gasoline consumption per vehicle showing general increase.

And now-the latest ! NRA has served notice that when the manager wants to give the employees a .,pep" talk, it must, hereafter, be on company time. Fair enough ! Most so-called "pep" talks are so silly the listeners should get double tinre for listening; and then have gro,unds for a pretty fair damage suit on account of their wounded feelings.

'Tis truly a mad world, My Masters ! Take Business ! Not long since it was in the depths. Sunounding it were prohibitions that said-"This you shall not do." And Business said-"If these high fences were removed, I could do something for myself." Now those fences are removed -and he goes to "chiseling;" crawling under them, climbing over them, sliding through them, going around them.

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Take Labor ! Recently it was in great distress. Labor cried "Jobs, give us jobs," and there were no jobs. And the hungry wolf crept closer. And Labor cried-,,If only I could get work, HO\l[l I would work !" And now there are jobs. And Labor goes on strike.

And the "chiseling" of the one, and the violent unrest of the other threatens visibly to put us back again where we were so recently, where there was neither business for the one, nor jobs for the other. tt!t

Yes, 'tis a mad world ! But we may take some comfort in the knowledge that it is running true to form. And it is a matter of history that following the depressions of the past people acted in foolish fashion, then, just as they are doing now. So, as a sign of improved condition and provable recovery, perhaps we should hail the things we see about us today, which, from any other point of reasoning are decidedly depressing.

O. O. Mcfntyre, columnist to the entire nation through a great group of newspapers all over. the country and himself a man who gads about and does much listening while others talk, makes a statement in a recent column that touches the spot. He says, "everywhere there is a depressing feeling that industry, thrift, and genius are being taxed beyond all conscience." That is the feeling that most oppresses me during recent times, and in the face of economic developments. The busy man, the helpful man, the employing rnan, is the guy who is getting all the burden of recovery. I keep on hoping that before this is over we will find some practical way to make lazy men and lazy mone' do their share'

Mr. Mclntyre tells of various men of large means he knows, who have entirely or partially retired for the present because they are unwilling to risk their money and wear out their brains just to feed the tax collector. :l tt :t

Things are a little slow in the lumber industry. This is still due exclusively to the fact that practically all building must stil,l be done on a cash basis-and the cash is scarce. There is lots of dissention, lots of criticism, plenty of complaint. Most of this is based on code matters, and will continue to be just so long as there is a code.

But I would hold two thoughts before the consciousness of my lumber friends. The first is that things are tremendously better than they have been, enormously better than they might be, and we have worlds to be thankful for. Let us not be ingrates. We may not have gone about this thing of getting better in the wisest manner in the wodd, but we HAVE improved, and we ARE getting better, and we can see our way well out of the woods. THAT'S the first thought.

Here's the second. f can remember various times in my earlier life (before they discovered how to extract teeth without the patient even realizing he is present at the operation) when f had to have a tooth pulled. And I used to sit down in that chair, and instead of thinking about the needle, and the wicked looking pair of plyers the Doc. used to use, I would just shut my eyes and'say to myself"In two minutes this will be all over, and any d-n fool can stand two minutes o' anything." And when the two minutes were over the thing was through. And how grand it felt to know the ordeal was passed. I've been doing that for four years now with this depression thing. And every day the day I've been shutting my eyes and waiting for, gets nearer. There's no doubt about it ! But the beauty of this is that every day the prize I've been hoping for, gets bigger and better! Get the idea?

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Some of these days this depression will be mentioned only in the past tense. And when that day comes the building industry is going to have the all-firedest doggone boom that any of uHven we grey heads-have ever seen. No man, not even the most generous estimator, fully appreciates how terrific a gap of non-building and non-repairing this long term of years has created. None of us can ful,ly estimate what has happened to the homes, the barns, the various buildings of various characters in this nation ol 125 million people in more than six years of lumber famine. For the lumber famine started at least two years before the general depression did. As a matter of fact lumber consumption, and home building, and home repairing, dropped off like falling off a precipice as far back as 1926.

Millions of new homes are needed. Millions upon millions of old homes have become obsolete, run-down, outof-repair, really unfit for modern human habitations. Barns, sheds, fences and o'ut-buildings of every character throughout the length and breadth of this land, must be built, rebuilt and repaired. And the people of this entire country are ready and anxious to get started. All they need is normal CREDIT.

The Brain Trust -", Ju"l"", the Alphabetical Bureaus may proclairn, Congress may legislate, conventions may resolute, diplomats may plead, and theologians may pray; but one thing is certain and provable and that is that we are still waiting for a definite return of CONFIDENCE in this great land of ours. And when that CONFIDENCE cornes, the fog of depression will melt as does the mist of early morn before the rays of the noon-day sun. For depression is not a definite THING-a tangible SUBSTANCE any more than DARKNESS is a tangible thing. DARKNESS is simply the absence of LIGHT ! And DEPRESSION is simply the absence of CONFIDENCE. And just as letting the sunlight into a closed room destroys the darkness, so letting CONFIDENCE into the consciousness of men, destroys DEPRESSION.

The other day r tead.t:;; of a very wise and kindly business man, who looks deep into things, and he said: "ff we industrialists had confidence today many industries would be taking advantage of the opportunity to borrow cheap money and replace some of their obsolete plants, and enter the capital goods market in a big way; the country is all set for such a movement, but we must first have confidence returned." +'r*

The recent report of the Durable Goods Industries Committee (lumber etc.,) to President Roosevelt, declared that "there is a tremendous and increasing need for durable goods of every kind." It suggested that the most important thing now needed is "reestablishment of confidence." Among the things suggested to restore confidence and thus (Continued on Page 8)