TRADE REVIVAL

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 37, 12 February 1926, Page 3

TRADE REVIVAL

♦ OPTIMISM OF LEADING MEN WHAT 1926 WILL BBING. , (From Our Own Csrrepaiidaat) LONDON, 29th December. Leading business men have boen i»> vitcd by the "Sunday Express" to give their opinion regarding trade pro* peets in the coming year. "The new year," says Sir Wbodmta Bnrbidge, chairman and managing d* rector of Harrods, "is going to be » very good year indeed. We hare got through our wont troubles during tV> last twelve months, and everywhere, and particularly among the big manufacturers with whom' I deal,' I see t> growing confidences in a real trad* revival. It is up to us now to reduce unemployment, and from my own experience in trade I see every prospect of that in the New Year. Altogether, without being foolishly optimistic, I am convinced that we may, all look forward to a very happy and prosperous 1926." Mr. Gordon Self ridge. also considers that we may look forward to 1926 as the best year since the war. "If the. last few months of 1925 are any guide," he says, ''I am convinced that the New Year will be a. bumper year for England in all trade and commerc*. The pessimists, must stop their croaking. At present they seem to regard optimism as a crime, and by their foolish efforts they tend to destroy confidence in trade, and so bring abont'4 depression which is not at all neeeasary. I am convinced that with very few exceptions indeed 1926 will be th« best year English trade has known since the war. After a bad time *• > have got over our difficulties, aai ' everywhere I see prospects of a vary, rosy New Year." Mr. Eric Gamage says: "As far as I can see we should'be in for an infinitely better- year in 1926 than we havo known for some time. In a sane and sober manner and without any wild jubilations or expression of feeling, people I meet in business do seem to ,b* convinced that trade has at last takej* a real turn for the better. A trade revival has. been forecast so: often that optimism is' a little dangerous, bat I am convinced that this year there isra, real justification for it. Among the firms with whom we deal and.among our customers I find a sane optimism. That optimism, I am convinced, is bas- ' ed not only on hope but,on fact, and I look forward to 1926 as a really gobl year for English commerce." PULL TOGETHEB. Colonel the Hon. F. Vernon WiUe/ (president of the Federation of British Industries) says: "I look forward'to the New Year with hope that it will see Britain's feet firmly planted on tki industrial ladder for a straight an-i steady rise to renewed prosperity. II national confidence between employers and workers can be substituted for mutual suspicion, and all will co-oper-ate, wity *ne prosperity of the nati?u as the motive, Britain need fear no foreign competitor. Whatever others may think and say, Britain still lead* the world in industrial skill, brains,, aai quality of manufacture. A sturdy pull together, as we pulled together in th« war, and we can beat all competition. Pull together in 1926! There is still much unemployment; the Board r-t Trade figures arc not too cheerful; but there is justification for considerable optimism. The tide has turned' in our favour in many ways, and, given good* will and determination, the opportunity is here. Let us seize it with both hands." 85, Fleet street.