Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 June 1917 — KEEP THE DOLLARS MOVING [ARTICLE]

KEEP THE DOLLARS MOVING

Business is activity. Stagnation means decay. . As there can be no life in stagnant waters, just so there can be none in stagnant business. Get this fact well in mind: Business activity conies not from hoarding, but from spending. v What would the world do without its spendthrifts? They may carry a virtue to an extreme, but as to the effect on business, better far that than the hoarding of the miser. ' We are urged to rally to the colors; we are urged to enter the army of the furrows; we are urged to consecrate our all upon the altar of our country, and we are

urged to PRACTICE THE STRICTEST KIND OF ECONOMY. j The advice is conflicting. Our advisers should employ a different term from ‘‘economy.” It is right that we eliminate waste —wanton waste that brings good to none. But quit spending?‘Never! Tpat way lies business stagnation, w'ant and ultimate panic. Imagine a community entirely independent of the outside world. It has a combined capital of SIOO,000, which is sufficient to carry on all of its business. But. the cry oL ‘'hard times’’ goes out, purses are closed, and the result is inevitable.. V' • < The world is composed of communities. In and between these communities the public life blood (gold) must flow if life be sustained. But stop the flow of that life blood and industrial decay and death is the inevitable, result. We must earn, and keep on earning. And equally as important, we must .spend, and keep on spending. Not waste, not reckless extravagance, but systematic, intelligent spending, that shall keep the golden life blood bounding through ■ the commercial arteries of the nation, stimulating every nook and corner of the land to a well-nigh superhuman exertion. We must keep the armies of dollars moving if we would keep the living armies progressing. Th# idleness of one will insure the impotence of the other. \