Document text
Ala* Samuels,
908 Adgewood Ave., N. A.
Atlanta. %corgis.
By willies Jenkins
December 15, 1939.
The More Modest Among Us.
°MY grandfather came from -ngland about a hundred and twentr-five years
ago. He stopped in Jamaica for some time on his way to the United States.
710, there he met my grandmother. $he was of Spanish and !ranch descent.
They made their home in New Orleans. Wher. my grandfather bought and sold
cotton.
'My father was born end educated in New Orleans. I have a baptismal
certificate showing that he was baptised in the Ronan Catholic Church. 90
guess my grandmother must have been a member, as my grandfather was a Free
Mason and could have scarcely belonged to that denomination. My father re-
ceived degrees as an M. D. and also as a D. D. He was ordained as an Apisco-
pal minister and served as rector of various Mpiscopal churches for about
fifteen years. He finally gave ur the ministry and gave his entire attention
to practicing medicine in Prairie du Chien. Asconein. He also did a good
deal of surgical work. He had a lot of surgical experience in Jackson's army.
"My mother was born in Michigan and was of Dorman and English descent.
She cam* to Prairie du Chien when she was a small girl and was married than,
in 1380.
wI was born at Prairie du Chien or. in Englilh. Dog rrarie, in l8S4. It
is one of the oldest towns in wisconsin and the site of a fort libido, was
built during the Indian wars.
had one sister, no brothers. LI sister and my f-ther died with diph-
theria When I was about a year and a half old. Diphtheria killed them quick-
ly in those days. The first thing I can remember was having my throat *webbed
with a carbolic solution. The memory was clear enaueh to cause me to recognise
the smell and taste years efterwards. Diphtheria, when it took a virulent
form, was a much more dangerous disease then than it is now. It was not un-
common for the mortality to go as high as fifty per cent or more. During such
epidemics no public funerals were held for those Who died of the disease.
People were afraid of contracting the disease themselves.
'My father left my mother and me a home and about five thousand dollars
in cash, also a library of over trAl thousand volumes.
°I was almost eight years old when I started to school. The diphtheria
nad injured me somewhat, and n case of measles when I was seven kept me from
starting earlier. My mother married again soon after I began school and we
moved to the country. se had a two -room school and two overworked teadhers
Where I vent in the country. but I &nest that the opportunity to learn was
much poorer than it is in an xl-to-date school. The discipline was, of course,
terrible but, aside from that. I have yet to we. any educ tional ',stem in
which the student does not have to learn for himself anything that will prove
of value to him. I was fond of reading and nrobsbly spent as much time read-
ing in my library at home as did on my school work. At any rate. I found
that I had already read most of the books which were used in the high school
English courses, as well as a great number that are never heard of in the
high schools.
NY stepfather end I got along very well, though he thought I was too
much of a runt to ever make a farmer. However, he used to allow me about half
an acre of very fertile ground on Which I was spaymoled to make my spending
money. .InIce 1 raised about four hundred bushels of onions on the ground. I
shipAod my crop to Chicago and they netted little over ten cents a bushel,
though they were quoted Ks eellia4 at a doller buwhel. After that I did
my ceiling around home. The co%Imiesion man probably made fifty cent. a
le:0Ael for himself on that little onion deal. and I have never felt that it
r feir division.
"My stenfether sold his fere and retired about 1900. 4 moved to West
Selem, smell town near La Croese. I went to the high ildhool at West Salem
end, et urea. I spent more time on my own out -of -school reeding than r did
on my school work. During these years I read practically all the standard
;.11elith literature from Spencer's teerde 4usen to Mark Twain and. Kipling, as
well as most of the Suropeaa philosphers. I was thoroughly stop)ed by Hegel.
It wee many years later that I discovered that negel probably did not under-
staad himself any too well, as the remark he is said to have made might lead
one to think, 'I never found but one man Who understood all I have written
and I AM not altogether cure that he understands it.'
"2robably of more value Cala the library was Bernarr liteedden's mega.
sine phyoical, Oalturt. I bought the second issue at a newsstand *Ad for maay
years did not miss a copy. Maeadden never received the credit he deserved
for his work. A good many cranks used to centribute, but there was much sound
inforwation in his nagasine. Aeo began the fight on patent medicine frauds
years Wore Collier's. Which is usually given the credit. He also ,rote a
good deal on the value of sunshine and certain vitamin. -containing foods. Of
course, neither he nor any one else knew at that time why such things were of
social value, but he seemed to have an instinct which led him to correct con.
elusions.
"In 1905 I went to the Univ-,rsity of wieconsiL. majored in mathematics
for my first degree, but the truth of the matter is that I was not very madh
of a mathematician. though I did later teach a few courses in elementary 0617
lege mathematics. I later received e degree in nhysics which sulted we better.
"My firet raying job after getting my bachelor', degree was that of as-
sistant instructor in the physics derartment of the Louisiana State University.
at Baton Mug.. My salary was eight hundred per year. Ordinarily an assis-
tant in tur.,osed to have from twelve to sixteen teaching hours per week. Rom.
ewer, there were only twn of us in the department and the head was more interes-
ted in growing sugar cane on e large plantation he owned than he was in teach-
ing.
A.,0 a result, I found that I was getting about thirty hours of teaching
nd rart of it in classes which my chief took credit for conducting. Teach-
ing eas not at all pleasant that year for in addition to the rather heavy eche-
dui*. I gave failing grwies to quite a number of men on the athletic teams.
They believed they should pass becauee of athletics and I was innocent enough
to think that grades were given to every one for their knowledge of physics.
A great relief was felt by all when I left at the end of the year to take a
research assistantship at the University of Illinois. My old chief in Louisi-
ana became president of the univereity a few years later and served in that
position until his death not long ago. He used to be rather fond of the quota-
tion from Tennyson: 'Knowledee crimes but wisdom lingers.' Even though he was
alt very feud of work, I believe he made an excellent president and justified
his favorite quotation. He knew how to direct the wnrk of others.
44 work in Illinois was called research in astronomy, but it consisted
principally An making photo -electric cells and in trying tn improve the tenni-
tiveness of such cells so that they would be mr,re useful in measuring the light
fret variable stars. Some of the first cells that were made in the United
States were made in Illinois just before I came. The astronomer used them in
estieating the messes of some double stars as well as other measurements of
interest in astronomy.
While T was there, I took two civil service examinations, one for the
LDL:st an a001etie ..,;UrvOy and one for the Philippite ;,ice. In the first I
mede the second highest mark and in the second I vats pretty well down the
list. I received an effer of $1,100 a year from the Philimine 3ervice, and
ie left for the islnnds with forty-eight other men who were neety ap-
pointed. Some of the men said there mere mere then a thousand on the eligible
lit, so the more modest among us wondered who wes nodding when the list was
m,de for the enrointments. It took twenty-eight days to reach the islends and
most of us probably gained a better ap7reci.,tion of the sise of the Pacific
Uceen.
stepointstent Galled flr high sdhool teaching, r:ed I vas sent to the
northern part of Luzon and maie my first acquaintanoe with the filipino.
3ome of the teachers had trouble and seemed to think them hard to discipline,
am sure it must have been their own fault. Although I never considered
myself a eery skilled hand at manaeing eeople, I hal only three OASOS thet
called fol- any action during the entire sit years I served on the itlands.
The te,ching of cour, in 4.nvish tad the n&ti' ill comenre well in
school ability with Americen high school and college students. The ?ilieinos
are generally As_ very considercte and good mannered eeoele end seneitive to
disrteoue treatment. .7)ne of the most indignant boys tilt I remember to
dt.;,,,lt with had been sworn at by an American teacher. It t11t a great
dee,1 of explanation to make him understand that the teacher hed been soyise.
'-'14kase do your garden work a little faster', in customery American elan.
°.4 contact cailed for two years of high school teaching. At the end
of the first year I was made principal and given a two -hundred -dollar raise.
At the conclusion of my tvoeyear contract I decided that I had better return
to the states, so I resigned and went to Vmhiln to make the trip nose. It is
not good to 'mills too many boats'. as they say of Americans who hive gone
seedy from staying too long.
sol'osever, I was offered an a, ointment as assistant professor in physics
at the university at Manila, and stayed four years longer at a salary of
$2,200 a year.
*During my six years I made trips to Japan and China as well as a trip
of couple of hundred miles on foot through the mountains to central Lumen.
It is generally celled the wild peoole's country. The wild ponnle are believed
to have inhabited the islands before the coming of the Filipinos and to have
been driven into the mountains by them. Very few of them speak either Nnglieh
or ).panish. so I was unaple to talk with those I saw.
*Their villages are alloys built ewer from the narrow trails which lead
through the mountains so that one could easily pass by without mooing is, sign
of them exce711 for the cultivated terraces. These terraces are the most *sr-
tensive mountain terraces in the world. Sometimes the entire side of a moun-
tain is built up into rice patches if there is a supply of water which can be
led from one batch to another. The terracing is done with wooden tools, as
the people do not work iron, though they sometimes oeat cold nuggets into
rings and other ornaments.
"Their fondness for dog feast seems to be the best known of their habits.
They have regular dog markets where the dogs are brought for sale, and one
will frequently meet rarty With Pi dozen or more dogs. The dogs seem to know
thpt there it trouble ahead and are tied with short thongs,to wooden lead
sticks to prevent them from gnawing the leash** and escaping. They starve the
dog r for f, few &les, then they give them their fill of rior, and sweet potatoes.
Thty o, then killed nd roasted Whole, bsrbecusit style. The sausage is already
stuffed.
*These Iggorotes are a snail race, probably averaging about five foot in
height, but they are aevertheless sturdy. One of them carried a trunk for MA
04 a thirty-five mile mountain trip. I made the trip in a der and was very
7
glad indee1 to have two dips' rest at a constabulary station. The little nen
came in the next 'wrote& with the trunk aikidh weighed about fifty pounds and
he ir's not nearly as tired as I was. though I had married only a fevreleale
in a blanket roll.
'Mile going through the mountains I met a couple of missionaries who
were also seeing the sights but 1 suspect, from the way I have heard others
of their kind talk, that they later told the ham missionary sooleties about
the terrible hariihips they endured. As a matter of fact, the avereassiesiem
urr fares better than the evil sortie* employe, but the latter do not feel
that they are martyrs and are in fact glad to get the Jobs and a chance to
travel a little. I know quite a number of Mil31011 people *Imo served in the
Philipoinos, China. aM Korea. They are likeable people, but I intiat that
many of them eould have fared as well in any other line. Those is China
seemed to have the softest snaps. Swirly all of thee are engaged in school
work. Ine fellow used to say he wanted two mere babies because of the extra
allowance whisk ens made for those having larger families. I don't think he
has ever quite foraiven we for asking his if he didn't think there night be
more profit is raising pedigreed pupoios.
oi did sot get to se* much of the Mores, the Melasseedses who 000431, epos
of the southern islands. Like Kipling's 'Pussy whoMe the More is 'A first
class fighting man.' may gave the American soldiers a very respectable
fight before they were subdued, even though they were poorly equipped. MS
Spaniards and the Filipinos had never been able to meet them on equal terns.
Poseibly, the luslity of the More soldiers was dee to their belief that the
surest road to a ringside seat in heaven was to die while killing unbelieverr.
I saw a half doses hems walking down anemia* hastiness street and it was
very evident that some of the Filipinos they passed were badly frightemoi.
They probably thought that the Mores night suddealy deist& to run snuck.
"The Filipinos apparently le not take their religion as seriously as de
the Mohammedans. The Jo- es Ohureh was great political power before the
coming of the Americans, but that did not prevent the natives from telling
numberless tales in which the priests were the heroes. It is impossible,
that the 'good Fathers' should have been in as malty ribald adventures or
should have been responsible for the number of children assigned to them by
their &mood parishlomers. Ono tale which produced greet amasemeat was of a
Spanish employee of a large tobacco company, who wrapped a monkey carefully
and carried it to the priest for baptism. the 'infant' was supposed to be in
a dying coalition so the rites were quidkly psffiformed on the veiled monkey.
At the close of the ceremony the girl who was carrying the 'baby' tossed it
to the chandelier and it quickly climbed to the collier to the asassment of
the priest. As it happearod, the priest made a trio to manila a few weeks
later and secured some stationery from the offices of the tobacco company.
The gentleman who was responsible for the noakey's baptism received a letter
on the company's paper soon afterwards. In the letter was an account of some
of his M48310141 irregularities and the information that he was without a
Job and a long way from home. The gentleman immediately went to Manila,
thinking he was fired, and tried to bog off. Such a tale would not be relish-
ed in More Land and it would probably be a very bravo or very forgetful man
who would tell it a omen& time. /he Filipino has well developed sense of
humor and is greatly amused by thi, peculiarities of others. However, it is
unusual to find a Filipino boy who is oaf eomeleue or who appears to have say
idea that he could ever do anything ridientens himself
"One amusing custom of the church consisted of *roving the hones of
those whose relatives failed to pay cemetery real ever the walls. There were
large mounds of them for a long time after the atoning of the Americans.
"ost of the poorer natives had oommon law marriages, as the church fees
were more than they could afford to pay and civil weddings were not recognised.
"The ',bur& had attemnted to smnpress Free Masonry on the ground that its
members were attemnting to lib-!ralise the government. A number of native
patriots wore executed. Amongst them was Jose Risal. Rita was a graduate of
several Ruronean Universities and an able author. One of his novels. 'Nola
Me Tangere', was offensive to the government and he was obliged to leave the
islands. He had the misfortune to be in the islands at the outbreak of the
insurrection against apart and was executed on charges of having encouraged
the insurrection and being a Mason.
"I nada several trips to Japan. and I saw a little of India and China.
had read Arnold's tught of Asia' and some of Muller's translations many years
before and had always felt that there was something which Arnold had failed
to bring out in his presentatlon of Buddhism. I was fortunate in making the
acquaintance of a few Japanese who were well informed not only in oriential
philosoohy but also better informed on western thought than I was.
°I do not believe that Christianity has any chance of making much headway
amongst the educted classes in Buddhist countries. All the moral teachings
of Christianity, in some cases almost the same words as the sayings of Jesus,
argi found in the -eying. of Gautams. Even some of the partible. were told by
him five hundred years before the founding of Christianity. However, the
most serious hindrance to the spread of Christianity in such countries is
probably the record of the Christian Churdh As compared to the Buddhist. The
Christian Church has pretty consistently opposed new knowledge. Whereas the
Buddhist teachings make ignorance the original sin. It could under no condi-
tion have opnosed the development of astronomy or the theory of evolution.
In a history of two thousand and five hundred years it has no record of reli-
gious persecutions, a thing which even modern Christianity cannot claim and
-10_
Christendom has no parallel to the history of Asoka's reign. Amongst the
more degenerated sects of the Buddhists belief in miracles is not UnOOMMOn.
Apparently such belief was discouraged by the founder. Who dismissed one of
his monks for claiming to have performed a miracle and made a law for his
priesthood that none should ever claim any supernatural powers or Inspirer
Lions not open to others. The firet Catholic missionaries to Aldo were
astoniehed to find many of the forms of their can oharch practiced in Bud&
hist temples but, instead of taking the rational view that the early Chriso-
Liens h!3d probably borrowed those forms from the earlier organisation. they
concluaed that Satan was imitating the church. I could tell you not a few
but scores of strikieg similarities between Christianity and Buddhism. In
some cases the early Buddhist viewpoint mnd the sayings attributed to Jesus
are se entirely the same that it eases very poneible that His inspiration
may have come from the older teachings. A large part of the Luropean
philosophy was foreshadowed in the teachings of ()materna. The indebtedness
of such men as Sohopenhauer, Spinosa, and Emerson is generelly recognised.
How much more of western thought was implied in Asiatic philosophy is not
recognised by most of us because of the nonsense which is mixed with it and
also because of the different method of expression.
°The greater tolerance of the Buddhist I. shown in his attitude towards
other religions. especially Christianity. Instead of condoling them to
various degreee of high temperature in the hereafter he regards Christianity
AS having 'great merit' and teadhes that the Christians are following a good
path which will eventually lehd to enlightenment. Considering these things.
I do not see how Christianity can hope to make any striking nrogress amongst
the intelligent clasess who are born in Buddhist countries.
"It cost very little to make a trip to Japan, as I couldn't see the need
of taking first-class passage; and, since I lived with an Uglieb-areeking
Japanese student, the living expenses were no wore than in Manila for the
two of us. He was an active by and we must have covered fifteen miles of
walking on a good nany days. I still think I would like to spend several
years living in various parts of Asia.
"I met my first wife in the Philippines. ghe was employed as s 'perk.
visor of the Manila high schools. very few men were available for the
PhilinAne service after the United States entered the war, and the women
who were brought over developed a bad habit of marrying befere their con.
tracts expired. We were married after returning to the states. however.
The better class of native girls consider it rather improper to be ease
with an American.
"I tried to get in the army shortly after ,ve entered the war, but the
army decided there was no need for my services. 'Underweight', they said.
Mere was no draft in the islands, but most of the young men applied and
quite a few received COMMig$1011$. The standard explanation of those who
dii not enlist was, 'what good would one private be amongst all those
second lieutenants.'
"In 1920 I returned to the United States and got a position at %ore&
Tech at a salary of $2.750 a year, I taught eight years there. At the end
of the first year I bought a home in Decatur. That was in 1920 and houses
were at their highest price then. The place cost about $5.500 °emoting the
improvements I put in. My wife as rather anxious to own a plane. Person.
ally, I never could see that it was cheaper to buy than to rent. Men I
finally witted up the thing, it was very evident that I could have paid double
rent and still have been anal better off. I also bought a five -acre lot,
little on the edge of town, expecting to sell the house as 11100n as possible
And build there. I have always enjoyed having animals around and my wife
was very fond of gardening, especially of flowers. I rather think she must
have studied the habits and cultivation of about ovary flowering lant
that was grown around Atlanta.
The teaching at Georgia Tech was of a very routine character without
much chance of more advanced work. It is an engineering school and does
remarkably good work in training engineers, but did not aretend to do mach
in the line of research or graduate specialties.
"My wife died in December 1925, and two years later in 1923 I left
Tech to go to Cornell for graduate work in physics. Toward the close of
the first semester they offered as part-time work in teaching. The teach-
ing work was light, calling for three clas5es a week and so left an abundance
of time for study. Cornell probably allows its students sore freedom of
choica than any other of the great universities, though they have to hold
their undergraduates to a more systonatic course than their graduate students.
I believe it is an excellent system as every one is working at something in
which he has a real interest instead of grinding out credits.
returned to Atlanta in 1931 to try to sell m7 house. I had already
sold the lot. though I Was obliged to sell what cost $2.500 for $500. No
one was greatly interested in building even in 1923. In 1931 it was practi-
cally impossible to sell houses for money, or at least that was my emerience.
I finally traded it for an abandoned farm. I had a $6.000 equity in the
plgeo but should have been glad to have sold it for $1,0no.
movad to the farm with my collie dog in the fall of 1931. There are
few better *Wantons than a wise collie. We disagreed about only one
thing. I was in the habit of killing any rat I could mange to catch. This
dog held the belief that nothing should ever be killed and would plainly
give me to understand that it wasn't fair, in his opinion, to hurt those
poor rats.
"In 1932 I re -married and started raising a few hens and farming some
of the fertile patches that had withstood a generation of cotton cropping.
13 ie
I had over four hundred hens part of the, tine but that many hone can easily
eat fifty or sixty dollars' worth of food in a month, and frequently sake a
return of fifteen or twenty dollars' worth of eggs. At any rats I found
there' was no money to be made on A worn-out f rn, but Pwt on always in
hoaea of finding a buyer at somo arica in the next few months. The faxm
;Ins profitoole only in one repoct it was a pleasant place to live. I
so1e. it in 1937 and netted $500 on it. I may say that I receivod $500 on
ay aouee whioh had cost at least $6,000 above rent. I belie,* it is
generally oho,er to rent than to buy.
°I built a trailer to live in and °PAO back to Atlanta to try for a
job, but didn't have ''',"oo luck of finding one. In fact, if it had not been
for w little troding which I did in stocks I would have been out of cash
lona oefore 7. sold the fors. Stocks haw a great advantage over most
other forms of oroarty in east they can be sold st sone orice. Trnding
str.,csas is not m job that is snitable to many. It real -Ores very c%reful
stal_y. A person attempting to trade on a little nowsra)er orinion and
called *snort advice is almost seirtain to have serious losses. The reason
is cot hard to see. When prices at the bottom they are there because
it i* almost the unanimous opiui. that thibge are bad and setting wore*,
and when they are at the to it is bacause every one exaects even better
things. The only ostoale I have ever known 4h, made money consistently we
those who forael their own orinions nn4 sale a businese of their trading.
h great many people who would not think of alaying against arofossionals
for money in a card gas* will attempt to speculate. Itas:y are olnying a
far more complicated gesso in competition with very shrewd cram/vents. No.
I do not regard calculation as gembling unless you are willing to define
all buying and selling in hopes of a orofit as gambling, rnd T. think any
one a7uld be justified in bnying an equlty if he had good reason to think
it would soon be worth more or in selling if he thought it likely to de-
cline. However, I am sure that if any one thinks it a way to mike easy
money he has not realised the requirements of waccassful trading. I never
had so much as a thousand dollars in tha market and of course frequently
found I was mistaken, or right too soon, but during the seven years I made
something every year but one. That year I lost about $200. During my best
year I made about WO.
The recent reforms in the market were badly needed but scarcely go
far enough to be called a thorough job. I think the only serious mistake
was made in making the margin requirements too high. That probably ceased
the 1937 panic to be more severe than it would have been otherwise. This
requirement was reduced later.
"Living in a trailer is very much like living in an efficiency apart-
ment. Trailers are very comfortable both in warm and cold weather and, after
one has learned to have 'a place for everything and everything in place',
the trailer is more convenient than most houses. However, I an working on
some plans for a small portable house ihiCh can be c.rried on a trailer frame
and be erected or reloaded an its carrier in a few hours. I want to have the
plans ready to use in one* I get a salts for the trailer which I am now using.
Such a house can be made at a cost of from $200 to $400 for materials and is
far more convenient than the average house.
"The average tmerican of low income certainly does not select his food
so as to get the maximum value for the amount he spends. It seems to me
that it would be well worth while If sore instruction were given to such
matters. Of course, any one can find all kinds at articles telling about
calories, proteins, minerals, vitamins, and sa on, but the trouble with that
is that even the few who read and understand each articles do not anply them.
What we need is some very lowaprical diets which are sufficient to maintain
good he lth anl es persistent a hammering oa the subject as there is, for
instance, on tne merits of livertieed foods or the great curative powers of
lotent medioines. Some of my neighbors in the country were very evidently
suffering from malnutrition though thee anent more for groceries thnn I did.
Their houses and surroundings were very unsanitary. It costs no mire to
have clear surroundings and a well-balanced diet than to live on hog and
hominy i a hose which any up-to-date farmer 'would consider unfit for cattle.
don't believe that any one thoraughly underst-nds all of the cmuses
of dearesaions; at least it is n subject on whiCh the 'doctors' are about
unanimous in their disegreement. Certainly Presidents Coolidge and Hoover
did not understand the subject, or they would scarcely have allowed our pre-
sent situation to develop Ail* they smilingly assured the American people
that all was well with the world and the best of our ceiling prosperity was
just around the corner. I do believe I can claim to have been more farsight-
ed than that, for I sold the small amount of stock Which I owned jointly
with my mother beers the 1929 break and, as before stated. wenn have been
very glad to sell all the other property I meted.
oThe depression was very possibly made during the years 1913 to 1927
when most of us were spending more than we really made. The sum of debts,
if the estimates are at all correct, represented much too large a propor-
tion of our total wealth, and they could only be carried by continual ade
vance in values. The world depression stopaed that. Then the forced econo-
my and the shrinking of values began and the depression fed on its own
growth. Hoover, due to the political situation, was practically powerless.
doubt that, with the emergency piwers later riven to Roosevelt, be would
have taken sufficiently drastic action, as be toter too math of a banker's
view of the situation. The United States were 'timely due to follow the rest
of the world in revaluing money and reorganising industry.
-16
°Any inspection of employment and production figures plainly shows
that there was a considerable increase in the hourly production, especially
during the last fifteen years. lur distribution of income must be adjusted
to the increase in labor efficiency if that increased -roduction is to be
used. A concentration of wealth in the hands of a small pronortion of our
citizens cannot nossibly be made consistent with general prosperity. Re-
gardlev of whether one believes that enormous fortunes are acquired by
moral individuals or not, the general good requires that they should not
exist and certainly that these should not endure in the hands of a heredi-
tary class. We have an excellent illustration of the effect of cincentram
tion of power and wealth in the thousand years' depression which Asia has
suffered. The poverty of Asia is not produced by the inferiority of its
people but by its lack of good government and political freedom. In the
United 9tates I believe that our past prosperity has been this to our more
fair distribution of wealth among those who produced it rather than to the
efforts of a few who have managed to control large enterprises.
'The New Deal policies seem to as to be generally correct, and the
American people anpear to have some understanding of what is happening.
They are nit likely to hand the full control back to our former masters.
However, I do not think we are going to see the 1929 levels reached rapid-
ly. Too many people are now accustomed to live on a lower consuming level
than they did in the 1920's. Very few of thee* I know who were cumin well
during that period are now snending as freely as they did then. To reach
that glorious but rather silly level of spending, we mnst arobably wait un-
til a new generation of spenders arrives.
NI have been working on the W. P. A. for about three months. The
W. P. A. or some such arrangement is almost a necessity as long as our in-
duotrial organisation is unable to pronerly employ peon).* who are ablu
17
to .ork.I believe th t i tias we sill a4air adjust things, nowever.
that it will n)t se nececiary. It scarcely would be beneficial to business
esr4fm,aat .)roduction to nevi,: the millions now AtIonding on
ati.e to buy at all.
°I am not a member of any cnurch though if I were to choose one the
4,)1114 probably salt me fairly well. It seems to me that the
ehrlstim rlurches genormlly are making an attempt to worship both nod and
Mammon, a thing which their l'ounder 4arned them could nit be done.
'The 71rospects of getting earjyment do not se,s1 esnecially good, but
there should be a nretty fair c nnce of starting a wall business. Iknew
a sell -to -An Chinaman in Manila wh!, began business with Ww7at $25, but of
°purse he was only a 'Heathen Chinese.*