During the past few weeks we have talked to business men in various parts of the country and the general question is “What are they doing in the East?” or “How are machinery sales in the Middle West?”
The answer is much the same in all sections, but there seems to be the general assurance that business as a whole is on the upgrade.
Last week we returned from New York to Chicago on one of the most popular overnight trains and learned that we were riding in one of the four sections of this Limited. It was just the usual volume of travel on this train. On many days this same Limited run in five or six sections.
Chicago was recently the center of the Canners’ Association Convention and practically every hotel was completely occupied. The taxi-cab business was humming—the hustle in the railroad depots was confusing—the theatres were filled every night; in fact, everything that makes for Commerce was on the move.
This activity, in our estimation, reflects the trend of thought in the minds of the people in one of our most vital industries. These canners, who sell us our tomato juice, tuna fish and asparagus were automatically helping the manufacturer who produces railroad cars, automobiles, trucks and other vehicles which make the wheels of industry go ’round. This in turn will enable the workers in these industries to buy more beans, spinach, pineapple juice, and even canned orange juice.
The more canned goods sold the more prosperity for the farmer—the more power presses placed in operation and the more implements manufactured—the more machine tools sold, and so ad infinitum.
The Canners’ Convention in Chicago—the Scrap Iron Institute Meeting in Atlantic City, and even the annual vacation trek to Florida all help to create confidence in business.
In our own line we have found it necessary to purchase more printing paper, ink, engravings—spend more money on travel and communication than we have found it necessary to do in the preceding months.
This return of business activity is not being brought about by trading on the stock market or optimistic statements from financiers and eloquent statesmen, but by just such things that are happening in our own back yard and too often pass by without observation.