Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-29
THE SUPREME TEST

1HE measure OF TINS nation aOlllty 10
wage efficient war will not be in the
field. but at home. The disciplined forces
Of the country, composed in the main of
the best strength and vigor of the entire
population, we need not worry about.
We can take it for granted that they
will justify in every respect the conf.
dence we have in them and demonstrate
by their bravery and valor their eff
cheney. Those Yankee troops in foreign
trenches have great task before them
and they will perform it in great way.
or that we may be sure.
But at home the masses are not dis,
eipiined. They are not trained in ODE.
dience. They have no great respect for
authority. They are not disposed to ac-
eept without some complaint the ex.
traordinary conditions under which they
must live. The cost of living, for in.
stance, is in a state of fiux. The price
of gold is cheapened by the abnormal
increase in the cost Of all necessities.
is not immediate. 1t requires time, and
in the interval there are thousands of
families certain to suffer, chiefly those
dependent on salaries. The manufac.
turer and the farmer have compensatory
returns for the increased cost of pro,
duction at once, but the clerk has, TO
wait months and sometimes years be-
fore the equallzing process reaches to
him. This means privation and hard.
ship. but both must be endured. 1t is
part OF the discipline of war times, a
discipline TO which the whole population
must be subjected just as certainly as
soldiers In the field must be hardened for
their tasks.
The Government is undertaking one
of the most difficult experiments ever
known when 1t consents to fix prices.
Were the crisis not acute, it would be
madness to go into the matter at all.
But the natural laws Of economy are
inactive. The demand for almost every
commodity is SO great that almost any
price can be charged. Up and still higher
DIP prices have been going, with
certain speculative elements still further
confusing the situation. Farmers, for
instance. have hesitated to plant certain
crops on large scale unless assured of
adequate prices. Peace might ruin them.
In these circumstances, the substitution
Of purely artificial regulations as a sub
stitute for ordinary economic procedure
BECOMES necessity. Mistakes will be
inade. some of them very costly, but 1t
behooves the nation as a whole not to
be too critical. We are sailing uncharted
seas and must expect TO run on a mud
bank now and then.
The supreme test of nation is not the
test of its armies or its navies but of
the whole people themselves. II the
folks back home can understand and be
willing to endure, II they cheerfully bear
their burdens and reserve their criticism
for avoidable blunders that are likely
70 be fatal. If they subject themselves
more fully than in ordinary times to
discipline and authority. then it is GER
tain that the nation need fear no ad-
versary and never despair of ultimate
victory
It is said that Mr.. Hoover will be the
most unpopular man in America before
the winter Is over. We do not believe
4. In normal times the work he has
70 do would assure his political ruin. But
these are not normal times. They are
the most extraordinary times the world
mas ever known. Here the past and the
future meet in death grapple. The past
ages are struggling. as it were, to pun
The world back to them. while civiliza.
ton. fighting for the future. is putting
1ts last ounce Of strength into the COM
bat. In such circumstances. when un-
precedented powers are exercised by the
Government and when eficIency is de-
manded above all things. we believe that
mr. Hoover win be judged solely by his
eocomDlishments ana not by the effect
certain unpopular measures may have
eh indiyidualn- We belisvs citizens win
I|le above pslhshness and reach their
tsat'ps'ens f1om national viewpoint.
ss7,@t r D npf - mpeh % say thas
S y nj H.4I.I fhe i. epins % win |