The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-05-20
PRESIDENT SAYS HE MUST HAVE POWER
 TO CONTROL FOOD
(Continued from Page onc)

(Continued from Page Onc) when necessary minimum price which will insure them a profit where they are asked to attempt new crops, and to secure the consumer against extortion by breaking up corners and attempts at speculation when they occur by fixing temporarily a reasonable price al which middlemen must sell.
 HOOVER IS NAMED T have asked MT Herbert Hoover to
 undertake this all important task of food
 administration. He has expressed his will lingness to do so on condition that he is
 to receive no payment for his services and that the whole of the force under him, exclusive of clerical assistance, shall
 be employed so far as possible upon the
 same volunteer basis He has expressed
 his confidence that this difficult matter
 of food administration can be successfully
 accomplished through the voluntary CO.,
 operation and direction of legitimate dis
 tributors of foodstuffs and with the help
 of the women of the country.
 WILL NOT ABUSE POWER
 Although it is absolutely necessary
 that unquestionable powers shall be
 placed in my hands in order to insure
 the success of this administration of the
 food supplies of the country, I am con-
 fident that the exercise of those pow.
 CTS will be necessary only in the few
 cases where some small and selfish mi-
 nority proves unwilling to put the na-
 tions interests above personal advantage and that the whole country will heartily
 support MT. Hoover's efforts by supplying
 the necessary volunteer agencies
 throughout the country for the intelligent control of food consumption and securing
 the cooperation of the most capable lead
 CTS of the very interests most directly
 affected, that the exercise of the pow
 CTS deputed to him will rest very sue
 cessfully on the good will and co-opera- ton of the people themselves, and that the ordinary economic machinery of the country will be left substantially undis- turbed. ses
 TO MEET EMERGENCY The proposed food administration is intended, of course, only to meet 8 mani
 fest emergency and to continue only while
 the war lasts. Since it will be composed
 for the most part of volunteers there
 need be no fear of the possibility of a
 permanent bureaucracy arising out of it.
 All control of consumption will disappear
 when the emergency has passed. It is
 with that object in view that the admin
 istration considers 1t to be of pre-emi-
 nent importance that the existing asso- cations of producers and distributors oi foodstuffs should be mobiiized and made use of on a volunteer basis. The suc- cessful conduct of the projected admins tration by such means will be the finest possible demonstration of the willingness the ability, and the efficiency of democ- racy and of it's justified reliance upon the freedom of individual initiative. The last thing that any American could con- template with equanimity would be intro duction of anything resembling Prussiar autocracy into the food control in this country.
 Ut is of vital interest and importance to every man who produces food and te every man who takes part In its distribu' tion that these policies thus liberally ad- ninistered should succeed and succeeded altogether. It is only in that way thai we can prove 1t to be absolutely unneces- sary to resort to the rigorous and drastic measures which have proved to be neces- sary in some of the European countries. HOOVER'S PRINCIPLES 1 With the President. MT. Hoover ] believes it will rarely become 1 necessary to apply large powers. 1 Five cardinal principles of food l administration outlined by MT. | Hoover in his statement are: ] "That the food problem is one Of wise administration and not ex- l pressed by the words dictator or l 'contrOIler,' hut food administra- 1 tor
 | .'That this administration can be 1 largely carried out through the CO., l ordination and regulation of the | existing legitimate distributative l agencies. supplemented by certain | emergency bodies composed of rep resentatives of the producers, | distributors and consumers. "The organization of the conn munfty for voluntary conservation
 of foodstuffs.
 | ''That all important positions, so 1 far as may be, shall be filled with | volunteers.
 l "That independent responsibility 1 of the food administration shall l be directly under the President. | with the cooperation of the great l and admirable organizations Of l the department of agriculture,
 under department of commerce. the 1 federal trade commission and the i railroad executives.'
 i T conceive" says Mir. Hoover. ''tha i the essence of all war administration falls 1 into two phases:
 | First. centralized and single responsi l hlity; second, delegation of this responsi l blity to decentralized administration or 1 gans.''
 PLAN IS DESCRIBED | The four branches of food adminstra
 ton are described by Mir Hoover as fol lows;
 l Tn the first branch we should set Ill { a certain number of separate eXecutlv ! bodies for regulation and administratiol ! of certain critical commodities and thes
 should be organized on the normal line
 of our commercial institutions With ! board of directors, president ana eN ! ecutive officers who will work out prob | lems involved in these commodities an' 1 will institute such measures as may b I necessary to establish prices and distflbu 1 tion. and that these bodies should b 1 constituted of the leaders of the country 1 producers distributors bankers and con sumers alike.
 l Tt has been the experience Of all Euro pean food control that results can best b accomplished by acting through or b regulation of the ordinary distrloutio agencies in the community, placing sue restrictions which will cause minlnuA l .o <.;e;.a on fhe mart of the legltlmat