Then I began to suspect
that, although the rumours came in news dispatches from all over the
country, they might perhaps be traced to a single source. This belief
was further strengthened when we were informed that a very fat financial
editor was at Battle Creek sending out bulletins concerning the
acuteness of our financial condition. Therefore, I took care not to deny
a single rumour. We had made our financial plans and they did not
include borrowing money.
I cannot too greatly emphasize that the very worst time to borrow money
is when the banking people think that you need money. In the last
chapter I outlined our financial principles. We simply applied those
principles. We planned a thorough house-cleaning.
Go back a bit and see what the conditions were. Along in the early part
of 1920 came the first indications that the feverish speculative
business engendered by the war was not going to continue. A few concerns
that had sprung out of the war and had no real reason for existence
failed. People slowed down in their buying.
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