The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1912-10-05
EXPERT DEALS
WITH GREAT
PROBLEMS
Continued from Page onsl

CONTINUED from Page oneS
to the stature of her people by a care
ful attention to the character and va
riety of their food. Germany gives the
closest study to the economic and In
dustrial welfare Of her people Within
these few months German cities have
begun buying FISH In vast quantities
at the seacoast and selling them at
cost on the public market. Cleveland.
Ohio. is doing the same thing at her
public markets. These facts are stated
merely to show the sociological neees-
sity of governmental attention 10 the
question of food Of the people. When
ever it becomes necessary to either
the general health or to the physical
vigor. to the Industrial efficiency of
any considerable number of the people.
the city or state must interfere. with
conventional methods Of business in
the interests OF tho general good. They
must regulate trusts. they must pro-
mote scientific agriculture, they must
build market houses and maintain
public markets, they may even go so
far to limit the number of grocers
and 10 regulate prices. ana even go
into the business of supplying food at
cost.
This responsibility OF the state to
watch over the question Of food in the
interest of the general public good has
recently become pressing because Of
the rapidly increasing cost Of living
The high cost OF living Is a real con-
dition. and cannot be explained away.
And particularly is this true with ref
erence to all that class of people who
have no especial earning power owing
- Al e1-FrF a..
Is notable fact that while the wealth
OF the world has vastly increased, and
great numbers OF people are more
comfortable than ever before In the
world. yet also there IS an increasing
number who cannot keep out of the
way OF poverty and who cannot earn
enough TO supply the common necessi-
ties. We must see 10 II that poverty
does not overtake one-half the race.
and rob them of a fair share Of bread
and meat. and the chance to lead lives
still upIifted with hope and courage
and aspiration.
While the high cost Of living is to-
day a world problem, 1t IS especially
acute in our own country. This is for
the reason that 1t has been gradually
coming in the older nations during
many years, while 1t has been sud
two Or three decades.
Thirty years ago one-third OF our
people lived IN cities and towns and
two-thirds in the country Today
more than one-half our population
live In cities and towns and less than
one-half live In the country That is
10 say, that thirty years ago two men
lived in the country producing food.
clothing, lumber and other original
products, to one man in the city who
should consume these products, or two
producers to one consumer. TODAY
there IS one man in the city to con-
sumo these original products, to every
man who lives in the country produc-
Ing them Relatively, there are today
twice many consumers as there
we're thirty years ago.
Furthermore We have robbed the
soil OF its virginrfertflity, so that one
man cannot produce as much as he
could generation ago When I was a
boy in Iowa in the seventies one man
plowed and planted eighty acres OF
land and got seventy bushels per acre
for his yield. Now he works as hard
on forty acres and gets thirtv-fve tc
fifty five bushels for his Yield He
does not at best produce more thar
half much. In other words while
We have doubled our consuming popu-
lation we have in many instances re-
duced our productive ability by at least
one-haf During the last ten year.
while we increased the acreage devoted
TO cereals by over seven per cent Ct 3,
we have increased our production les,
than two per cent Cd.
The effect Of all this has been vastl,
TO increase the cost Of the necessarfe!
Of life recent bulletin Of the bu
reau OF labor covering the last decad.
shows startling results. The investi
cation covered fifteen most importan
articles Of food, also coal and othe
common needs. "On June H. 1912 tn
report shows that fourteen Of the ff
teen articles OF food were higher thar
the year before and that the advanc
on ten OF these articles during the ten
year period had been more than fit
per cent over the average retail pric
for the ten-year period, 1S90to 1899.
everal Of these had increased from 7
per cent to 1119 per cent each