Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1917-05-31
DIT O RIAL
REGULATING PRICES.

REGULATING PRICES.
President Wilson. it is reported from Washington, prompted
by the experiences of Europe, is demanding that congress clothe him
with authority to control the distribution of foodstutfs and to reg
uIate the prices thereof.
living principles involved. When we view the situation from all
angles W e are led to wonder whether throughout all America there
is a man possessed Of sufficient wisdom to be clothed with such
power.
In this connection let us call attention to the observations of a
noted Colorado agriculturst before the state editorial association a
few days since. DIR. Lory, of the state agricultural college, gave
utterance to a thought which is voiced in the Caught Unawares'
column Of todays edition of The Saturday News by I. N, Babcock,
a Codngton farmer and stockman.
He was discussing says the Grand junction (Coo) Daily
News, referring to DR.. Lory's address, 'sthe question of fixing food
prices and also the question of everybody taking the position that
the farmer is the man who should be induced to enlarge his work
in order that the wal may be successfully concluded
The Colorado gentleman went on to say that the farmer has
enlarged the scope of his operations more than any other person,
and he declared that there should be no barrier erected between the
farmer and other professions.
In discussing the question of food prices, = continues our Grand
junction contemporary, "Dr. Lory maintained that it would be I'M
his butter, his wheat and other products, and then turn around and
charge him ten dollars for a pair Of shoes that usually sell for four
or five dollars, or frty-fve dollars for a pillow that in normal times
he could buy for twenty dollars
There is assuredly food for reflection in Dr.. Lory's suggestions.
When this country shall have grasped the full significance of the
situation with regard to price regulation it will have begun to com
prehend the magnitude of the problem.
If President Wilson is to be clothed viii autocratic power to
control the distribution of foodstufs and to regulate the prices
thereof, are we going to permit the price gamblers to transfer their
operations from the products of the farm to the products of the
factory?
The hazard in farming is perhaps greater than that Of 1nanufac-
turing. The farmer may prepare his land with painsaking exactness
hWu ue Id SOW II garner WIN extreme care, III h must depend,
IN a large measure, upon climatic conditions for his yield.
thus far IN human progress no adequate plan has been devised
whereby the farmer may insure against either a lack of moisture
from the heavens of a surfeit of it, nor against those atmospheric
pecuhartes which bring rust and ruin in their wake.
The problem confronting u.s. therefore. is seen to be one which
involves all those economic intricacies with which sages have
Wrestled for generations.
1t embraces the principles not only Of paternaEsm but of social
ism and includes the great question of capital and labor in that, for
an equitable adjustment Of prices, it must be determined what pro-
portion OF the profits shall go to each, or whether what may be
called the 'nnearned increment, Y if we may apply such a term to
an industrial enterprise, belongs to the community at large.
we need not wonder, then, that there is hesitancy about CON
ferrlng upon the president the askedfor authority, notwithstanding
vt IS admitted that the conservation of our vast resources and the
protection OF the people from the 'rapacty of human vultures are
phases IN the present crisis which demand consideration by the
American congress.
VIC Is there among us, aside from an anarchist or a socialist
. g poIrhcal gW1seacre, who dare step forth and say that within
hinself lies wisdom enough to solve the problem!
we must move forward, it is true, in this direction in some man
ner, knowing, as we must know, that perfection cannot grow sud-
denly out Of imperfection, and realizing, as we should realize, that
we must tolerate mistakes in this hour Of necessity, but we can better
saHord 70 go slowly at the outset, increasing our speed as we march
towards the final victory, than to rush ahead blindly only TO find that
We must retrace our steps at b more critical moment.
Germany was whipped when il failed to reach Paris after having
pushed ats way across Belgium. German autocracy has been
merely marking time since then.