These past several months, I have visited with several elderly men concerning Mr. Paxton’s warning that another Great Depression is inevitable. I did not find it surprising that each one agreed wholeheartedly, that this nation is indeed in very grave danger.
In the first letter of Blue Jay Soup, I shared that if given time, I hoped to answer the question as to why this has to happen. In attempting such a feat, I once again will look to the past, and recruit from it, the man who predicted the Great Depression which began in 1929 with pinpoint accuracy.
Roger W. Babson was born July 6, 1875, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Young Roger grew up in Gloucester, and through the years, received an education at MIT. Later in adult hood, he became an economist of huge notoriety, and established three colleges in the U.S., two of which are still in operation today. Employing 180 statisticians in Boston while in his 50s, Mr. Babson began pleading multiple warnings to his clients; clients that included banks, brokers, and manufacturers.
It was the sinful “Roaring Twenties,” but Mr. Babson warned they were not going to be roaring much longer. His reasoning was sound, to the point, and probably not what many reading this would suppose. As we retrace history, should we ask ourselves if it be coincidence the huge political upheaval we witness today? Locally and in Washington? Let us read his warning.
“The need of the hour is not more legislation. The need of the hour is more religion. More religion is needed everywhere, from the halls of Congress at Washington, to the factories, the mines, the fields and the forests. It is one thing to talk about plans or policies, but a plan or policy without a religious motive is like a watch without a spring or a body without the breath of life.”
No doubt, there will be some already saying how they do not like that word “religion.” Need I remind again, that James the brother of Jesus made it perfectly clear there is a pure religion? A religion that cares for the fatherless, the widow, and keeps oneself unspotted from the world (James 1:27).
Mr. Babson goes on to explain that the “Roaring Twenties” were nothing more than a sinful rebellion against God, and neighbor. Immodest, the women were out of control, and the men, overcome with greed, were cheating one another financially at every turn.
And why? Again, Mr. Babson had much to say on this subject, but he lay the blame squarely – rightly so, on a lack of pure religion. A religion which begins with a godly upbringing in the home. Before I continue, let me also remind folks of something rarely discussed when speaking of the sins of Sodom.
“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, an abundance of idleness was in her and her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49).
An abundance of idleness? Let us read further from Mr. Babson.
“Why is it that most of the able men in our great industries came from the country districts? The reason is that the country boy is trained to work. Statistics indicate that very seldom does a child, brought up in a city apartment house, amount to much; while the children of well-to-do city people are seriously handicapped. The great educator of the previous generation was not the public school, but rather the wood box. Those of us parents who have not a wood box for our children to keep filled, or chores for them to do, are unfortunate.”
That statement from Mr. Babson will no doubt stir the pot a mite, and it needs stirrin’ – with a shovel! For when Mr. Babson wrote those words, our rural communities did not have radio, television, internet, or smart phones. Devices that have helped overwhelmingly usher in idleness, and other sins of Sodom to the rural countryside; it makes the roaring twenties pale in comparison. You don’t think so? I ask an honest question: Did country folk in the 1920s shop at local stores with the devil’s music playing over the loudspeakers? No. They didn’t. This is but one example of how much worse it is today.
So, it begs the question: Is there another Great Depression on the horizon? Many white-haired men think so, and as one recently remarked to me, “It needs to happen.” I made a similar statement recently, and was frowned upon for saying so.
How dare I be so cruel and hard? Do I, who have studied the Great Depression at length, not understand the innocent lives that would be affected by another?
I stood silent that day, knowing I would answer my accuser in this final letter, and I do so with questions of my own.
Have you forgotten what it took for the prodigal son to come to the end of himself, repent, and return to his father?
Have you forgotten the punishment of fire, and brimstone that rained down on the inhabitants of Sodom?
Have you forgotten there is an eternal damnation, and torment that awaits those who learn not from her example?
“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6).
With head lowered, and eyes fixed upon the ground, I choke back the tears, and walk away; quietly uttering the last words of this final chapter. “Yes, there are far worse things than a Great Depression – far worse.”
And, there is far worse that can happen to a people who are not given the opportunity to repent over a bowl of Blue Jay Soup.
Michael Everett Jones is a Texas County native, old fashioned historian and purveyor of traditional Christian values. Email ozarksgrandpajones@gmail.com.