COUNTING OUR CHANGE AGAIN!
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. By "The Inspector."
,
0 NLY a week or two ago I was roused to cross swords with a contributor to this journal, who had previously drawn, for the benefit of its readers, a particularly' doleful picture of the inunedia,te prbspects of our industry: I felt at the time that the writer, whose •identity. I have since more than half suspected, was ill-advised, however pessimistic he felt, to set such a ball rolling, that alarmisto warning, however well-intentioned, ehould only be indulged in with extreme discretion—if such were possible. The country, fina,ncially and industrially is, it must, ,of course, be admitted, in an entirely artificial and unstable condition, and that .very circumstance makes it most undesirable to subject it to avoidable shocks. Warnings and advice should, particularly in present circumstances, be doled out in homeopathic doses; nothing should be dune that might precipitate a crisis.
If the friendly auspicions as to the identity of niy opponent be correct,'I may say at once that I have the greatest respect for 'his opinions. He is a man of wide experience, commercial capacity, and imagination. -Yet I can still ,not subscribe to his whole-measure pessimism with regard to haulage peospects. I grants readiljr enough that many who have already plunged into mechanical haulage as a ready means of quickly and easily making a small fortune will burn their fingers But 'I cannot agree that their failure will have'much 'ultimate effect on. the steady future development of the industry. There is quite certain to he a shirnp in the demancls on. the factories, just as there is-as certain to be a slump in all trade in little less than a, twelvemonth. There will be less of a scramble for any old machine and more,, difficulty to sell it. The recent position, where would-be users have had almost to beg manufacturers to take their instructions, will very soon•paas, even if it has not already clone so to a large extent. But this development will be traceable but very littler if any, to the opportunist newcomer, daringconditions of which he knew nothing, and to his probable,failure. There was bound to ho a time, very soon, when buyers would no longer think it necessaryto order •32 months ahead of their requirements with prices the last word in uncertainty.
I would, therefore, readily subscribe to the need for caution on the Part of would-be users who think to make easy money of the haulage contractor's business. But I repeat my firm belief that there is still, and will be for years to come, any amount of profitable opportunity for the haulier who knows his work and his chances, as also for the men who will do their own hauling in their own industry. There will be great development in passenger work on,. the roads, although the purely pleasure-taking public will be .earlier' catered for. And municipalities will increasingly make -their transport services "horseless." We shall, sooner than many of us think, reach the stage where salesmen will again have to go after orders, instead of, as hitherto, the perpetual chase of would-be owners for vehicles.But there will be ample employment for those British builders who are building the best, for years to come.
As I write, there is evidence from all quarters that money is very rapidly getting tighter and that speeulation of the more spectacular sort has nearly shot its bolt all over the world. The nation (thanks to taxation, if one can think thankfully of the impost) is beginning to button up its pockets and to count its change again. Things will for but little longer be bought as a general rule " without inquiring the price." We are approaching a very much healthier stage of trade, although, perchance, a rather more anxious one. Why, even Blackpool had a poor Whitsun, and Selfridge's are advertising their willingness to run at a loss sooner than refuse the public a 10 per cent, cut all round! And this in a week when two of our leading lorry builders, have announced the latest increase in price, of their listed machines! Someone has confidence, anyway! Possibly this confidence is justified, but other than the leading producers have also increased their prices, so that the differences in price between first-grade and lower-grade vehicles are small, and the sales of the latter may drop as supply begins to meet demand.