The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1914-10-08
WAYS TO LOWER PRICES.

demand took advantage Of the war
in Europe to pick our pockets, rob our
children's banks and force us to fore.
go the second lump in our coffee there
was sudden and natural indignation
and hasty discussion of remedies.
"Put them in JAIL" said the doga.
fist, who believes that customs, habits
and institutions are all right, though
men are sometimes bad. Put a few
of them in Jail and then watch prices
come down. All you have to do is to
scare those fellows a little and then
they'll stop gouging u.s."
But" objected the hereto, who
leans to the belief that men are pretty
good fellows when they get chance
to be, but that the arrangements they
have to work under sometimes play
the deuce with their sense Of moral
values, "are you quite sure that scar
ing few sugar magnates into fits, or
even putting them behind bars and
dressing them in state-colored pants,
will get us back those lost three or
four pounds in a dollars worth of
sugar? You know, we've passed laws
against vagrancy, but unemployment
still continues. We've passed laws
against immortality, and men still run
away with other mems wives. We've
passed laws against trusts, and it's
still greater crime to steal loaf Of
bread than it is to break the Sherman
law and steal 100000. Did the price
of oil come down when the Standard
Oil corporation was busted? It did
not. It went up.
WELL" said the dogmatist, "those
fellows ought to 60 to jail. What else
are you going to do? Slap 'em on the
wrist and tell 'em to be good?"
"I'll tell you," said the hereto. "Ou1
idea is that as long as you allow pri-
vate interests to make money out Of
the needs of the peopl: and a LIT Of
money at tnl'. nv har the mos.
adroit of burglars or embezzlers ever
gets hold Oft won't do much good
to threaten to punish those who take
advantage of the opportunity. You
know as well as I do that We won't
really punish them. The courts
wouldn't send the head of a $1,OO0,0OO.-
900 corporation to Jail. We're just
bluffing when we pretend that they
would. We'd all be terribly shocked if
a man who lives in palace and has
Wallets to wait on him had to be locked
up in a cell with desperate burglar.
Besides, as Still Wilson says, it would
be a bad influence on the burglar.
mo, what we propose to do is to use
the power of the government to play
the same game that these forestallers
are playing, but to play it for the good
of the people instead of for private
profit. The only reason private bust
ness is allowed at all-and this isn't
socialism either;it's common sense
if that it is considered serviceable. II
certain kinds of private business upset
things, and won't do their work right
but instead try to steal our money
the government has a perfect right tt
step in and settle with them in its
own way. The government can beat
the tricks of the biggest corporation:
because it is the biggest there is.
''We don't intend to ask for any
body's indictment. This isn't case
for policeman Of jailor; it's case
for a business man. We are going tt
ask the government to 60 into bust
ness, when recklessly high prices
make it necessary, by establishing
supply depots and selling goods from
Those depots at pair price to all con
sumers who want them. That will
bring prices tumbling down to reason
able points and prevent spectators
/ from stealing millions Of dollars from
, poor people and striking at the rea
prosperity of the nation"
| The heretlc's audience coughe(
, gently behind i:e gloved hand ant
, turned rather pale. Aren't yol
afraid" it asked, that that would b.
unconstitutional? Besides it's emo
, tional and impractical. Don't 20,
, know what has always happened whe1
governments tried to fix prices? Loci
, at Rome The minute the Roman gov
eminent began to hx prices Rome be
? gan to fall. Hilbert Hubbard says 60
, read it in The Examiner. l read l
: in The Chronicle, too, and nearly al
5 the San Francisco weeklies. LESLIE
l says so, too. So does Elihu Root ant
). Chauncey Depew, and Professor Tai
;. and Uncle Joe Cannon and Chancello