Write Off Losses, Difficulties, and Move On, Says Editor, Jan. 5, 1921

Communities which have been almost flattened out in a manner of speaking, by the drop in prices have put on an armor of courage and are facing the new year resolutely in the belief that hard times, after all, are a matter of the mind. In others words hard times as President Wilson observed, are more psychological than anything else. Most business men in Hickory have never allowed the depression to worry them. We know a number who have marked off their losses in thousands of dollars, closed the accounts with a smile, and gone about their business in an effort to retrieve their losses. That is the proper spirit. Our business men fortunately displayed a great deal of vision and Hickory and this section suffered very little from “hard times,” so called. As the Record has stated many times, Catawba county farmers are in good shape, and this applies to the farmers in surrounding counties. They have farmed right. What Hickory and other cities and towns in this section should do to keep conditions good is to do as much construction work as possible. The cities should do new street work, make repairs on old streets and extend improvements as far as possible. Men who can put up business houses or new residences should also get busy. Lumber is as cheap now as it ever will be, and labor is available in sufficient volume to push construction. (From the editorial page of the Hickory Daily Record, January 5, 1921)