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I am no pessimist and expect a perfectly natural improvement in business before the end of the year, but I feel like the alderman, who, confusing gondolas with rabbits, thought two gondolas were sufficient for the pond in the park. . . .
STUART W. WEBB
Pathé Exchange, Inc.
New York City.
Wanted: Adam Smith
Sirs: Mr. L. B. Roberts in TIME, July 28, advocates "spending until it hurts." Probably the present depression is more largely due to spending beyond our ability to pay and in response to high pressure sales methods than to any other cause. Also the violation of the old laws of political economy, the false theory of "spending creates prosperity," and borrowing against future probable earnings ($1 down and $1 per week) has not only exhausted savings but has mortgaged the future. . . .
Instead of spending till it hurts let every man who did not readjust in 1920 balance his books, write off his losses, take bankruptcy if necessary, squeeze the water from his company and hold his employes in service until it hurts. (This last is especially applicable to the railroads.) With our feet again on solid ground we can begin to climb safely. We have had quite enough of mental suggestion and absent treatment—let us rather call in old Dr. Adam Smith.* JOHN E. FIELD
Denver, Colo.
*Editor and General Manager Emeritus of the A. M. A., at present in England. *British economist (1723-90) whose Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations discusses the principle of division of labor, based primarily on the propensity of human nature "to truck, barter or exchange one thing for another." Precedent to this division of labor is the accumulation of capital.