| Show lack of courageous leadership one cause of world depression melvin A traylor of chicago cites human failure in world war crisis new era theory a myth speaking before the international chamber of 0 commerce at washington melvin A traylor president of the first national bank of 0 ch chicago icaco said in part reams have beeri been written countless addresses have been made and more will follow in the search tor for the genesis ot of the present world depression and likely recovery will come and the crisis be ba only a memory without there thera having been found a universally accepted apted cause or unanimous agreement on methods tor the prevention melvin traylor ot of future defaults but I 1 cannot escape the conclusion that the dawn of the present situation broke over the world in july 1914 and it came not from ignorance of the ultimate results of 0 the course chosen but because of a complete breakdown ot of world political sanity there was no lack 0 of knowledge ot of the consequences but rather of 0 courage to face the facts to throttle national pride and to demand common counsel in an honest search for a basis ot of peace such a search might have failed but unfortunately history does docs not indicate that it was honestly made leadership was lacking I 1 am not a pacifist until enlightened understanding points us to the council table ot of peace rather than to tho the battlefield there will be ba a need tor for armies and navies but let us ug not say that we choose tile the latter course in ignorance ot of the tha tremendous costs of the game rather let us admit generally the lack ot of courageous leadership which dares to align itself with the right at the tha risk 0 of being unpopular ibe the point I 1 would make is that without prejudice as aa to j guilt allt the hu bu nan man element did tail fall in 1914 and the world then thea began its march to th the tragedy ot of for it Is tragedy when in a world of plenty there should be so much poverty and when in a nation which boasts 0 of its riches five million or more people willing to work should be unable to find employment it la Is a challenge to the world and especially to american business and political leadership which cannot ie be ignored and must not bo be shirked sh irked causes must be determined with some degree of 0 accuracy and remedies discovered and applied the task is largely that 0 of business leadership we would follow almost endlessly the literature on causes and remedies for the world situation most of them dealing with the purely economic or the semi economic side of the question to the lay mind it Is all more or less confusing and to the man at the desk frequently beyond the tb realm of the practical human angle of problem in speaking more particularly ot of th the character of responsible leadership la in america I 1 am assuming that human conduct has differed little in most countries of the world it Is my purpose to talk about the human buman side ot of the tha problem it la Is the responsibility of business and political leadership to promote the economic and social welfare of the community it may be worth while to take stock ot of our conduct and see how we have measured up to our duty la in recent years this much however seems certain the new era theory current in tile the days ol of our inflated prosperity was a myth and Is equally valueless in our search of 0 relief the forces that have been and are at work are as old as the history ot of economics why should there tie be in this land of plenty with unlimited facilities tor for production abundant harvests and a surfeit of 0 credit millions million ot of hungry and unemployed it la is not the fault of those who would work but can find no work to do they have hava little or no choice in shaping their course and while it Is true that society owes no one a living society as tar far as humanly possible does owe everyone an opportunity to earn a living in ili that obligation we have fud failed and until we know wherein we hav tailed failed and why we will not have found that stability which Is the universal desire ot of mankind today |
