Show washington there is an era of good feeling going the rounds that is quite different era bra of than anything we good feeling have had since early in 1929 it is being promoted with a great deal of enthusiasm and present results as well as indications justify the promotion work that is going on in the new deal press agent circles this era of good feeling is quite an interesting thing from another angle namely politics it is being used by the politicians again to establish president roosevelt in the same situation as he found himself at the beginning of his first term in the white house I 1 am afraid he is being built up again as a superman and in politics a superman or his position is hard to maintain in the public mind business also is indulging in this era of good feeling business always puts its best foot forward just as lovers do it wants to develop a spirit of good will on the part of the public and it wants to show its financial backers how things are coming along all hunky dory there is nothing wrong in the attitude it is perfectly logical and human and it is very interesting to see this wave of healthy feeling grow the important as well as the interesting te thing about this era of good feeling is that to the expert students it shows a gradual if not conclusive decline in depression conditions it proves that things are on the up grade not that they are at the top yet but that a momentum is being established which may carry the economic recovery to the top if the federal government settles down and treats business with fairness As I 1 said above new deal press agents are promoting this business recovery for all that it is worth naturally they are attributing it to the reelection election re of mr roosevelt as the basic factor in this upward surge of bf business they are capitalizing ital izing it to the fullest because by so capitalizing it the political party in power gets its due share of credit there is no doubt that they will continue on this course because everyone likes to read or hear about improved business conditions restoration I 1 of dividend payments increasing volume of traffic any and all things that show the nation is slowly but surely getting back on its economic feet while the new dealers are shouting from the housetops how president roosevelt has accomplished all of these things there comes a discordant note from business itself business leaders just like politicians want lor lar whatever is accomplished whether they are responsible or someone else they do not care any more than politicians whether the credit properly is theirs it is simply an exposition of the vain glorious trait that seems to exist in nearly everyone 0 0 0 business is seeking to show that it is pulling itself together opening new factories whose raising wages in in f the he credit spite of new deal policies with the handicaps that some of those policies include so business is seeking to counterbalance the politicians and the politicians speaking through new deal press statements are trying to fortify their own position as saviors of the country neither one is correct without doin doing too much debunking I 1 believe it ought to be said that president roosevelt and his associates have executed some government policies that have been helpful to the business structure with equal frankness it ought to be said that business leaders have taken the bull by the horns and have proceeded to help materially in putting commerce and industry back on the right track again neither one ought to take too much credit some credit is due each but neither one nor both together is entitled to claim all of the credit for the recovery of business that is now underway the answer to the upward swing of business lies chiefly in the fact that the depression has worn itself out it would have worn itself out just the same whether the administration was new deal or republican it would have accomplished ju just st as much in the way of expanded d buying power and increased increase cd production whether mr roosevelt was reelected re elected or whether he had been defeated and governor landon of kansas had been elected at the end of the recent national campaign I 1 am reminded by this discussion of a remark that the late eugene black made while he was governor of the federal reserve board on that occasion I 1 asked him whether there were signs of the end of the depression his reply was not yet he added however that the depression would destroy itself as every other depression in history had done and that when this point of exhaustion had been reached commerce and industry would take an upward swing then he added with reference to some of the economic students of the administration in power it will wear itself out and good times win will come back again and every doggone probes professor sor and economic theorist in the world will try to claim credit for it so I 1 think it can be said without equivocation that if anybody or anything is entitled to credit for the indicated lecove recovery ry movement we had better be fa fair ir and admit it was a combination of circumstances not the least of which was the natural law of supply and demand it seems utterly silly to me for any individuals or groups of individuals to attempt to corral an all of the praise 0 0 0 those who have access to the market pages of the great metropolitan daily newspapers wage must have been increases impressed by the rapid fire announcements noun cements coming from big I 1 industrial du corporations of wage increases bonuses for employees and melon cutting in the form of dividends for the shareholders they must have been impressed likewise with the sharp rise in security prices that obviously has reflected the expanded business and increased earnings A prosperous nation may r not always be a happy one but there is a certain psychology about a prosperous nation that makes it carefree it is a psychology that makes the average man and woman forget to a large extent about the recent pinch of economic displacements and as well those same people are inclined to disregard and give no consideration to the morrow let us look into those circumstances when corporations or other forms of business have reasonable years in their particular lines early in the winter they begin to see what the years total will be they can figure rather accurately what the returns win will be in the last two months say after they have made their totals for the first ten months of the year so whenever they reach that stage in a reason reasonably abl Y successful year they can make the their i r plans for distribution of the profits now we have a tremendously high tax rate on corporation surpluses and we have rather high tax rates on incomes of individuals corporations and other businesses therefore start figuring how to do the best they can with the earnings of the year some of them determine that their employees should share substantially in the profits of their labors others want to distribute as much of these earnings as they may to their stockholders because such a showing creates a demand in the market for their shares and such a de mand demand is influential in establishment of the corporations credit for borrowing money if it needs to borrow from the banks in either event corporation managements obviously give considerations to the tax the corporation would have to pay and I 1 think it is not a matter of condemnation for them to turn over as much of their profit as they can to those interested in the business instead of to a government which wastes so much to be perfectly fair it must be said that the money now how being distributed tri buted either in dividends or in bonuses to workers or in wage increases was earned before the recent election its distribution however is motivated largely on prospects for the future in other words those responsible for these distributions of earnings feel that they can let that money out of their hands they may not be distributing all of the sums available but the era of good feeling is accepted by all of them as indicating the chances for continued earnings are bright I 1 have merely touched on the effect of distribution of earnings among the holders how it of capital it is works out just as important to consider t the h e effect of distribution of these earnings on the laboring classes labor has been convinced under the american system for many years tant it is entitled to some share of the profits from its products employers are taking that same view to a greater extent than anywhere else el se in the world when labor gets bonuses or gets increases in its pay there is a reaction among those workers who have sound judgment that prompts them to do the best they can on their jobs that is to say they become contented workers and they are less susceptible abl I 1 e to the propaganda of radicals who seek to promote strikes and labor disturbances to further the ends of communism that is a part of the era of good feeling as much as the added earnings of corporations or the enthusiasm of politicians a ocr er victory 0 western newspaper union |