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o THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. Will AMERICA “COME BACK” Vext Year? : ROGER BABSON ANSWERS. 7 “America got her hands on a lot of O'I.ry money and st went to her head. Nahonal dlm/fiahon like personal dis- Sipation, exacts sts price. And poor amerrca has a big headache.” . “She will recover as she has recov- dred before. Hard times, like measles, sun-their course, clear up and are for- gotien.” | “The trouble with America §s her waterialism. Masses of people are discouraged because the material wealth upon which they solely de- [endrd has vanished and they have no spiritual wealth to fall back on.” In an Interview With ELEANOR EARLY. HAT is going to-happen in 19312 / Will hard times go on? Will { wages continue tumbling? Will there be greater unemployment and longer breadlines? Or are there belter days around the corner? With jobs enough to go around and fatter pay envelopes for honest labor? Roger W. Babson sees the future with an uncanny eye. He knows more, perhaps, about economic conditions than any man ‘in America. He compiles statistics and works out charts. And then, by the irrefutable law of action and peaction, he predicts the future. When Mr. Babson gets his fingers on the Nation's pulse and prescribes for her ills every one is interested. For Babson is a pretty good diagnostician and has healed many an economic m. [ AMERICA has had a nervous breakdown,” declares Specialist Babson. “The U.S. A. “ her hands on a lot of easy money. And it went to her head. She spent like a chorus lady with a sugar daddy. Great while it lasted. But now old U. S. A. is all in. She couldn’t stand the racket. Too much speed. Too much competition. Too much squandering. - America s tired. “National dissipation, like personal dissipa- tion, exacts its price. And poor America has a great big headache. “She will recover,” declares Babson, “as she has recovered before. Industrial depression is like the measles. Measles run their course, clear up and are forgotten. It is the same with hard times. “Meantime we must remember that we are unfortunately witnessing the inevitable conse- quence of a business cycle, in which a period of salutary correction always follows a period of overexpansion. America has been stepping high and pretty. Now she must watch her Step. It is time she settled down for a whiles “Ten years ago we passed through the post- war depression of 1920 and 1921, which came available labor teduced by the war, but an extra amount of labor was needed for rehabilitation work. Moreover, the willingness of investors to purchase foreign bonds provided the funds for such rehabilitation. “Today the situaticn is entirely different. A new generation—too young to enter the war— has swamped the Ilabor markets of every country. The rehabilitation work has been ‘largely compl2ted. And owing to the reluctance of investors to buy more foreign bonds, no money is aviilable for new work. In view of C.," DECEMBER 28, 1930. e Mr. Babson predicts that by the second quarter of the new year business conditions in America will look much better and as a corrective readjustment to the abnormal inflation brought about by the World War. Today we find ourselves in the slough of a similar pit, due to the same fundamental causes. This phase of our troubles will pass, and a cure will be effected just as in previous Mr. Babson’s predictions are very encour- aging. But there happen to be 120,000,000 persons who need food, clothes and shelter. It'g a long, hard Winter. And millions are out of work. What, Mr. Babson, are they going to do about it? ~ “The trouble with America is her materi- alism,” counters Babson. “I've been saying so for years. Now let me prove it. “A great mass of wage workers—executives and young business people—have never before witnessed a severe business depression. Ever since Germany declared war in 1914 (with the exception of a short readjustment period after the war ended) there has been a constant de- mand. for labor. Not only was the supply of breadlines will be greatly shortened. their steady work and easy profits, this new generation has felt sufficient unto itself. Sun- day schools and churches have been neglected. Family prayers have been given up. Sunday has been made a common holiday. “Hence, unlike previous generations, a large percentage of the people, now unemployed or losing money in business, have no faith upon which to fall back. When making money, they did nothing to store up spiritual reserves and so have none to draw upon, now that employ- ment and profits have vanished. As a result, great masses of people are discouraged. The material wealth upon which they solely de- pended has gone. And the poor creatures have no spiritual wealth. Discouragement is worse than disease and more insidious. It spreads like the plague and causes fearful ecohomic ills. "'MORALE‘}A the zmt barometer of busi- ness. The discouragement of the masses engulfs us all and paralyzes business. Did you realize that it is only when you are feeling well that you buy certain things? Eighty per cent of your purchases are made irrespective of how you feel. But the other 20 per cent—the 20 per cent that actually d:termines whether busi- ness is good or bad—depends on how you feel mentally and physically. “Now, forgetting spiritual well-being tot the moment, let us consider the physical and men- tal state of the unemployed. It is my experi- ence, over more than a quarter of a century of the closest study, that whenever there is any. considerable unempléyment most of the people who are out of work are deficient physically or not sufficiently trained mentally to stand the acid test of survival of the fittest. This is not a criticism of these people, many of whom were thrust into industry young and had no incen- tives to improve themselves. “Hence, I make the following proposal as the soundest and most practical program for the various groups which throughout the Nation o ey sz e ,.-_ OUTLOOK FOR 1931 are trying to do somet.hlnc about unemploye ment: “Pirst. Establish in each community a publi¢ employment clinic where people out of wor‘ may register. Before they can be helped, they, shall be physically examined, and if they sufief' from any remediable troubles, let arrangementd be made to improve their condition. “Second. During the period they are out of work provide schools for adult education which they may attend. Our present school buildings might offer facilities at night, together with special industrial schools where the unemployed could improve themselves in their trades or learn new ones. In brief, instead of wasting the jobless, let them use this period of idleness in preparing -themselves for the future. “Third. Have the State, plus their former employer (each contributing ‘one-half), pay them a small wage, enough for food and rent. As it should be very small, with the employer forced to pay half, every effort will be made by all to get business: back to normal as soon as possible. “If this suggestion costs a little money ree member that one way or another the come munity always pays the cost of periods of un- employment. Idleness breeds crime. And crime not only degrades human beings, but it increases taxation costs and makes us support _more prisons, police courts, poor houses, hos- pitals and welfare workers.” R. BABSON is famed as a practical man, Practical men are supposed to be hard- boiled and not given to romantic dreams. But Mr. Babson is both religious and a romanticist. He believes in prayer and spiritual power. And to prove that cold-blooded science is turning its mind to God he tells a little story about Charles P. Steinmetz, the great electrical engi- ° neer. Steinmetz, as everybody knows, was one of the brainiest men of our age. Shortly before his death he visited Mr. Babson and during their conversation Babson asked what line of research Steinmetz belleved would see the greatest development during the next 50 years. The little wizard’s eyes kindled behind his horn-rimmed spectacles. “We scientific men,” he said, "have spent our lives studying physical forces. We have made the most sensational discoveries in the history of the world. And our knowledge has not brought happiness. People are fed up on material things. What America needs now is a development of the spiritual side of life. “I believe that the greatest discoveries—of the next generation will be made along spiritual lines. Scientists must turn their laboratories over to the study of spiritual forces. Here is the field swhere miracles are going to oceur. Spiritual power is the greatest of undeveloped powers and has the greatest future.” . Now the contemplation of spiritual power may, unfortunately, leave you cold. But busi- ness opportunities, as outlined by Mr. Babson, are surely inspirational. “I have in mind 50 new industries in the making,” declares the great statistician. “They will furnish antidotes for the so-called evils of thé machine age. "And, incidentally, there's a fortune in each of them. “We hear a great deal today of the unem« ployment hrought about by the increasing use of labor-saving machinery. Labor cries .thaf§ millions of workers have been thrown out of mills and factories by machines. But labor fails to add that new industries are continually, developing to absorb the jobless. The autoq mobile, for instance, made work for all theé stagecoagh drivers and a million men besides, As we replace men by machines we must go on developing new industries. “Young people wonder whether as many op« portunities exist today as existed a generationf ago. I heard the question on so many youthful lips that I decided to find out. Now after & good deal of research work I want to tell the world that there are more and greater oppor~ tunities today than there were when I was & boy. And right here I want to urge people to go pt’buc libraries to read and study. There isn't man or woman on earth who couldn’t increase his or her income by a simple course of reading in the line of work in which they are eme ployed. First of all among his 50 new ways of mait« ing money Mr. Babson lists the statistical field. “Present indications are that the statistical industry is in its infancy,” he says. “Statistics today are where the use of electricity was 100 years ago. There are thousands of inventiong devoted to the elimination of manual labor, bu¢ almost none to eliminate mental labor. Show men how to multiply their intellectual power— and your fortune is made. It can be done! “Another great way to make money is in aviation. Bigger, faster, safer aifplanes arve sure to come. The whole lnd\nh'y'n.boumb in Continued on Fourteenth Page