St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-11-14
WHY Things are scarce

There is no famine" or sign oil
| famine or excuse fora anticipating
or talking about famine" eff .ans
kind, in the United States. The
country. is a land of plenty. and il
should be too grateful for its bless
ings to listen to those who proclaim
shortages" of supply in their efforts
to hide or excuse economic blunder-
ing or wrong Intentions. If the pro-
ducts of the SOIL the mines, and the
forests were conserved and distribut-
cd as they should be. there would be
no need, in the United States today,
for food or fuel commissions Pro-
ducts are scarce and high either be-
cause they are cornered or shoarded,
as cotton and sugar were recently
found to be, or because they are ex-
cluded from the natural channels of
trade and from the markets by a
wholly inadequate system. =.
Let us pass over the 1000. 000 bales
of cotton found hidden. the other
day, while q cotton famine" was be-
ing proclaimed, and the 10,000,000
pounds of sugar found to have been
concealed while sugar famine
was being heralded, turn away gener-
ally from economic crimes agains:
the public, and face economic short
comings for which the public must,
whether it will or not, take its share
of responsibility.
Never were greater quantities of
potatoes grown in the United States
than were produced this year. Ye,
there was potato famine" in GER
tain parts of the East last week,
which, however, in response to the
indignant demands of consumers, was
relieved" by the timely arrival Of
several trainloads.
There. has been a sugar famine in
the country recently. Housewives
have. as rule, been unable to pur-
save from hand to mouth. Many
consumers of sugar have been on the
verge of panic. They have been
told that the supply was practically
exhausted, and that, unless relief"
should come from abroad or from
Cuba, or Hawaii, it would give out
completely. Now it is learned that
200, 600, 600 pounds of louisiana cane
sugar was contracted for on Wednes
day, and that. this immense purchase
will begin. moving within week to
relieve" the sugar famine" in the
Eastern States.
Recently the price of eggs. in New
York and in other cities, has been
shooting up to midwinter attitudes,
because of their scarcity. On We'd
nesday, six carloads of eggs arrived
in New York just in time to avert a
threatened famine in this commo-
dity. And SO it goes. all along the
line. There is always, in these late
days, threatened scarcity" and
Threatened famine in foodstuffs, but
the time has very seldom been
known, since these fashions set in,
when anything needed could not be
bought by those who could and would
pay the price.
There are minor and incidental
causes, of course, for .scarcities'' and
.famines in the most fertile and
productive agricultural country in the
world. but the one principal reason
for them is the failure of the nations
distributing system to bring products
expeditiously and cheaply to con-
sumers. There is plenty of grain and
meat; there are plenty of vegetables;
there are plenty of sugar-yielding
plants; there are plenty Of eggs: there
is plenty of butter and milk; there is
plenty of everything; but it is neither
regularly. expeditiousfy, nor evenly
distributed.
The distribution system which the
United States puts up with, besides
failing utterly to keep the prices of
foodstuffs at anything bordering on a
common level, or at anything like
reasonable standard, affords constant
temptation and inducement to the
speculator. the manipulation, and the
monopolist
1t would pay the United States to
invest a billion dollars in the estab-
lishment of distribution system that
would effectually distribute. 1t
would pay the United States Govern
ment to give the railroads of the
country billion dollars, on guar
,ntee that they would furnish such
zystem.-Christian Science Monitor.