The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-03-05
American Aid And Sympathy
Is Felt By People In France

Ito extremely mischievous conse-
,quences in the future. If there exists
at the present time an emergency
SO serious as to call for extra -ordin
airy measures of relief through gov
ernmental action, such action should
be taken; but it is quite different
tning to institute measures of a gen
|eral character which, while they
might serve to mitigate immediate
owls, would aggravate the underly-
ing conditions and in the end do
more harm than good.
II we are to avoid this danger. we
must firmly refuse to be led astray
by certain plausible notions that
have very general currency. Every
days newspapers furnish illustra
tions of these errors. A typical ex-
ample is that of an editorial article
in one of our leading newspapers
two or three days ago. which opened
with this confident assertion:
I'm the case of the Washington
market dealer who held back his
lonicns until he was able to clear
100000 on them is epitomized the
atory of present extortions in veget
ables for the table"
4 But so far from this case option
lizine the story of 1.-The present eX-
tortions." its bearing on that story,
in so far as II has any bearing, is
precisely the opposite CT what the
writer imagines Whatever good or
evil that dealer may have dora by
| holding back his onions. the one
thing absolutely certain is that he
: carnot possibly have contributed
/ thereby to the causaltion of the pres
; err. hieh prices. If he had not held
on to them, the price Of onions
: might have been lower in December
: or January than 1t actually was. but
The supply today would have tco1
: even shorter THAI !; =, and the ~ :,
would have gone even higher.
There may be some better way Of
, managing the whole matter than tt
leave it to the play Of individual
Judgment on the part Of producers
and dealers; but until such better
way is found let us not strike blind
" at the competitive mechanism ant
hit a vital part OF 1t. under the i'm
preston that It is doing precisel!
the opposite OF what 1t does do
There are undoubtedly cases II
which speculative dealing is wronl
: and mischievous, and there may b.
cases in which the same is true o
: the holding back OF produce by tn
= farmers. But II the thing is no
h done by monopolistic methods. or b.
p resort to some obviously anti-socia
a device. It is essentially calculated {
: do good and not harm. If advan
: tages be taken. by monopolisti
;. Mot. of some extraordinary situation
d which is sure to pass, extorticnat
o prices may be squeezed out of tn
II public with no compensatinc hene
fit. But the cold storage OF eggs
z the holding back Of onions in such
d case as that above referred TO, O
4. the holding OF potatoes by farmers
e. now going on upon so large seal'
h is n course of conduct expressly pre-
Sc dicted upon the expectation that tn
e. article In question will, in the M
n ture OF things. be even more scare
in the near future than It is now
u II that calculation is false, the pc
VI son who holds back will lose by u
y cperation; IL the calculation Is co
10 rect. his action will result in easin
the market at the very time II mo-
~ needs easing. He makes his none
not by the holding back but by u
ultimate selling. a consideration
:. kindergarten simplicity, and y
persistently lost sight of by publ
teachers whose zeal is more acti'
hv than their judgment.
ell
HENRY WATTERSON URGES