OPTIMISM

Shouts of "graft," "corruption" and "waste" drown out the voices of those few brave men, notably Mr. Babson, who ask us to be optimistic toward the business outlook. Every day reveals more scandals involving both government officials and labor leaders as well as business men, from the building trades in New York City to the Emergency Fleet Corporation transactions which cover the entire country. Labor cries out against unemployment as a result of a capitalistic plot, while capital begs for some stabilization in the labor situation. To glance at a front page of a newspaper one would think that the business world had collapsed into chaos. Pessimists are easy to find, as well as ready listeners for them; the few optimists talk to deaf ears.

There is much to investigate, no doubt, and much blame to be placed. But it is emphasizing bygones that the optimist objects to. He would have the country adopt a hopeful attitude towards the existing evils, a realization that we want past offenders done away with primarily because through that attitude an opportunity will be given for corrupt organizations to reform themselves. After all the past is not of primary interest except as it affects the future. The real importance of investigating the corruption in the Shipping Board is that it will enable us to put our shipping on a firm basis at once, where it can compete with England's, which is reported to be "booming." It is extremely important for New York to have houses built immediately; hence the importance of cleaning up the graft in the building trades. When we are asked to be optimistic we are not asked to pass over old evils entirely, but to keep in mind as of primary importance the future reconstruction of the business world. Optimists beg the public not to lose sight of the future in its eagerness to condemn the past.