Current Situation

For centuries the debate as to the superiority of mind over matter, or of matter over mind, has proceeded, but without a conclusive decision. The place of psychology in business is undoubted; whether it can prevail against more concrete and material facts, and if so, how long, remain debatable propositions. Yet this is the dilemma faced today by the student of economic and business trends, when he attempts to foresee conditions as they will be in 1924. Practically all the facts pointed a month ago to continued deflation. Suddenly, a new psychology of confidence invaded the stock market, and from there extended to mercan tile and industrial lines. Prominent leaders told the public so often and so emphatically that prosperity was ahead that the public has began to believe it. Is this mass-delusion, not unassisted by judicious publicity and generous purchases in the stock market? Or is it the glimmering of a clear dawn as yet perceptible only to those located on high places? We shall all doubtless know the answer to this perplexing question some six or eight months from now, when the correct answer will have no prac tical value except to the moralist and the historian. On the other hand, there are those who feel we may be able to answer the question much sooner than that. Not all of this school of critics believe that the present optimism is entirely substantiated by conditions in the basic industries.