The Threat to Business C57 
wrong with business, and that if it were not so, these 
meetings would be useless and would not be called. 
But it is certainly highly important to keep business 
moving steadily, in order to prevent the demand for 
goods from slowing down too much, and also to 
enable the customer to keep up his payments on in- 
stallment purchases. If the Washington conferences 
really have the effect of maintaining a little more 
steadiness and activity in business they will probably 
be worth while.” 
As President Hoover himself has said, action 
counts, not words. Of necessity the Washington 
conferences dealt chiefly in words, because the action 
following their deliberation required a great deal of 
time before the moneys pledged for industrial pro- 
grams could be applied. For the most part the coun- 
try must take the situation as it is, with an undoubted 
record in business recession, already achieved. but 
also with many elements of reassurance. 
Evidence of Dislocation 
There are already evidences of some recession, 
the roots of which were in the declines of automo- 
bile production and building before the crash. These 
declines have doubtless been accentuated by the 
crash, but they represent a natural slowing down in 
these industries due to the fact that the public is 
nearer the “saturation point.” After the war there 
was a great dearth of building, and the attempt to 
fill the void led to a building boom which had largely 
spent itself during 1929. It is quite possible, indeed