The Daily Missoulian., 1912-08-07
to the wage-worker and TO the general
The High Cost Of l;v;co,

| - 's'u' SSeh " GVVNV8s
There can be no more importart
question than the high cost Of living
necessities. The main purpose of the
progressive movement Is to place the
american people In possession of their
birthright. to secure for nll the Amari. |.
can people unohstructed access 10 the
fountains of measureless prosperity
when their Greater offers them, We
IN TINS country are blessed with great
natural resources. and our men and
women have very high standard OF
inteliigence and of industrial capacity.
surely such being the case. we can
NOT permanently support conditions
under which each family finds n In.
Icreasingly. difficult to secure the nee.
lcssarics or life and d fair share OF its
comforts through the earnings OF its
members. The cost of living In this
country has risen during the last few
years out of all proportion to the In
crease In the rate of most salaries and
wages the same situation confrouts
alike the majority of wage workers.
small business men. small professional
men. the clerks the doctors. clergy. :.
men Now. grave though the problem
Is. there is one way to make II vrayer.
ana that IN 70 deal with II insinc ereiy,
10 advance false remedies, to promise
the Impossible. our opponents. repub-
licans and democrats alike. propose 10
deal with II In this way. The repub-
leans In their platform promise an in :
curry into the facts. Most certainly
tnere should be such inquiry. But the
way the present administration has
failed to keep Its promises In the past.
and the rank dishonesty Of action on
the part Of the Penrose- Barnes Cur-
genheim national convention makes
their promise worthless The demo-
cratic platform affects to find the en- :
tire cause of the high cost OF living In
the tariff. and promises to remedy II
nv free trade, especially free trade In
the necessaries Of life. III the first
place. this attitude ignores the patent
fact that the problem liz world wide.
that everywhere, In England and
France. as In Germany and ,Japau. II
appears with greater or less severity:
mat In England, for instance. II has
become very severe problem. al-
though neither the tariff nor, save to
= small decree the trusts can there
nave any possible effect upon the stu
alton. In the second place. the demo-
cratic platform. If IL is sincere. musf
mean that all duties will he taken Off
the products of the farmer. Yet most
certainly we cannot afford to have the
farmer struck down. The welfare of
the ftIler OF the soil liz NJ important as
the welfare of the wage worker him
SELF. and we must scdulously guard
both. The farmer. the producer of the
necessities of life. can himself live only
II he raises these necessities for
profit. On the other hand. the con-
sumer who must have that farmers
product In order 10 live. must bc at-
lowed to purchase II at the lowest
cost that can give the farmer his prof
u. and everything possible must be
done to eliminate any middleman
whose function does not tend To In
crease the cheapness of distribution of
the product: and. moreover. everything
must be done to stop all specializing.
all gambling with the bread basket
which has even the slightest deleteri-
Gus effect upon the producer and con-
suiner. There must he legislation
which will bring about closer busi-
ness relationship between the farmer
and the consumer Recently experts
In the agricultural department have
figured that nearly 50 per cent of the
price for agricultural products paid by
the consumer goes into the pockets.
not Of the farmer, but of various mid
dienen: and II is probable that over
half OF what IL thus paid to middle
men ts needless, can be saved by wise
business methods introduced through
both law and custom). and can there
fore be returned To the farmer and the
consumer. Through the proposed inter-
state industrial commission we can ef-
fectively do away with any arbitrary
control by combinations of the neces.
stiles of life Furthermore. the gov
ernmcnts of che nation and of the
several states must combine I'm doing
everything they can To make tho
farmers business profitable, 20 that he
shaii get more out of the soil and en-
JOY better business facilities for mar
keting what he thus gets. In this
manner his return Will be increased
while the price to the consumer In
diminished. The elimination of the
middieman by agricultural exchanges
and by the use of improved business
methods generally, the development of
good roads. the reclamation of arid
lands and swamp lands, the improve
ment In the productivity of farms. the
announcement OF all agencies which
tend to bring people back to the soil
and to make country life more inter-
esting as well az more profitable-ail
these movements will help not only
the farmer but the man who consumes
the farmers products
There liz urgent need of non partisan
expert examination into any tariff
schedule which seems To Increase the
cost of living. and, unless the increase
.pus caused IN more tnan cOnntervailed
by the benefit to the class of the COM
muntty which actually receives the
protection, 1t must, of course, mean
that that particular duty must he re-
duced. The system of leyying a tariff
for the protection and announcement
OF American industry 80 as to secure
higher wages and better conditions Of
lie for American laborers must never
be perverted so ms TO operate for tho
impoverishment of those whom II was
intended to benefit. But, In any event.
the effect of the tariff on the cost OF
living liz slight: any householder can
satisfy himself of this fact by consid-
erlng the Increase I'm price of articles,
like milk and eggs. where the lnflu-
ence of both the tariff and the trusts
IL negligible. No conditions have been
shown which warrant us In believing
that the abolition of the protective tar
iff as whole would bring any sub
stantlal benefit to the consumer,
while It would certainly cause un-
heard of immediate dsaster to all
wage workers, all business men and all
farmers, and In all probability would
permanently lower the standard OF
living here. In order to show the utter
futility of the belief that the aboli-
tion of the tariff and the establishment
OF free trade would remedy thu condi-