Judith Gap journal. [volume] (Judith Gap, Mont.) 1908-19??, 1910-01-28

cost Of living is high rs well Us the
trainmen's cost Of living. II, then,
the roads can see their way clear to
advance rates without material injury
to the volume Of traffic. they will
quite likely make wage eepeessions
to the trainMen.
Such : conference As this will great
ly interest the general public The
average citizen throughout the couu--
try feels the pinch Of high prices as
do the tralnmen; and this average.
person is in no combination, as the
trainmen are, to force an increase in;
income to meet the pinch. Ii the
combined trainmen are successful in,
their present movement, Transports,
ton rates will no doubt be advanced.
and the position Of the average citi--
zen will be made worse. What is he
going to do about that, and what, is.
he going to do about the trying situa-.
ton already existing2
~ many people are asking and be-.
ing asked this question. that the
Washington politians of the dominant
party are becoming alarmed. They
fear, and probably with good reason,
that too many folks will answer. the
question by marching to. the polls at
the next opportunity and voting
against everything and. everybody
having the republican label attached.
The extremity of this fear is we'll in-
dictated. by some of the explanations
being offered for the prevailing high
prices The favorite one just. now is
that people are so extravaganza in
their prosperity that demand for conn.,
m0.ities is outrunning the supply.
Prof Milton. Whitney Of the depart
ment of agriculture even asserts that
people are eating far more then they
did 80 years ago." while the per cap
tia supply Of food products is not in
creasing.. The same explanation is
breezily presented by Editor LATE
Young Of Des Moines, Ia, for the ed
iiicatinn. Of politicians at Washington,
where he is quoted:
Before our young men are grand
fathers they will see corn selling like
coffee is, sold today-by the pound.
Corn is, selling for 80 cents a bushel
in some parts of the west, and, it,
promises, to. go higher. "Why this
high pEice2'' Because the American
people are living too extravagantly.
and have bRen for years. We d0n,t>
wear the same kind of clothes we, did
To- years ago. a SIS suit OF. clothes,
used to he good enough for any. Of u.s.,
but today we are paying S35 for our
Clothes remember state SENATOR
Of Iowa who went into his, district
with a SIS suit Of clothes on. and it,
preeipitated an attack upon. him..
charging extravaganza, The farmers,
are prosperous, of courses, and in. my
part Of the country they do not want
any further tinkering with the. tariff ).
and will not so long as they are. get
ting $3.50 for their stock.
1t is we'll observed by the Masking
ton correspondent of the New York
Evening Post that the truer reason
why the man who used to. wear a SIS
suit now pays $50 is that the former
SIS suit now costs $35. Anyhow. it
| becomes a trihe ridiculous to conce<le
the fact of high prices and then ex-
plain it on the ground that people are
paying more for what they buy, and
this is as far as the Late Y Dung argu-
ment gets at this point. AS for Pro-
fessor Whitney's eating argument. it
is Il question covering no 80 years but
about a dozen years, and will he as
sert that the American people have
increased their stomach capacity by
80 per cent or 50 in a dozen years.
The superstition is absurd enough
when made to cover 80 years, but
it becomes violently ridiculous when
employed to explain rise of prices
extending back little more than a
decade.
The great cause of the high prices
is of course the heavy increase il
gold production and consequent fall
in the value of the metal in relation
to commodities. Ii, as appears, this
increase in gold production is meet
ing with some check, 1t might safel,
be prophesied that the upward price
movement will not go much further
and that the situation Of the fixed in
come classes must soon begin to fal
under improving tendencies. Bu
this affords no excuse for the dOmi