The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-02-23
; KING OF CONGRESS
: aNEWS FOR LABORS
:
THE INQUIRY TO BE
DEEP AND THOROUGH
Would Have Findings Laid Before Fed
eral Grand Jurors For Their Action;
Senator Borah Is Backing the Chief
Executive in Effort to Find Out Why
Consumers Are FiIched Of Their
Hard-Earned money
[Associated Press Dispatch.l

ASSOCIATED Press Dispatch.l
New York, February 21.-After Mayor
Mitchell had been Informed by the East
Side housewives that their children were
starving to death by the hundreds be-
cause of the high cost of food he prom.
ised to place before the board of estI-
mate their plea that S., 600, 900 be appro.
priated by the city to buy food for dis.
trlbution at reasonable prices.
Housewives league of this city has de-
clared a boycott on potatoes, to remain
as long as the present price Of five cents
a pound continues. 1t Is expected that
the boycott will extend to other foods.
limited Press Dispatcn.l
Washington, February 21.-Presi-
dent Wilson is determined to force
through congress the bill to appropri-
ate $500, 900 to enable the federal
trade commission to carry on an ex-
haustive investigation into the high
prices of foods and the causes thereof.
The president is going to give person
al attention to the progress of this
bill. Senator William E. Borah of
Idaho is champion of the measure i II
the senate and Representative Viii
liam P. Borland of Missouri is leading
the fight for the measure in the house.
The federal trade commission is un-
derstood to have it's plans all ready
for an exhaustive campaign, as soon
as it gets the necessary funds, and
it is understood hat facts will be
collected to be laid before federal
grand juries in all parts Of the coun-
try.
Congress Must Take Action.
Congress must not and shall not
adjourn" said Senator Borah. today,
without taking the necessary action
to enable the federal trade commission
to get hold of the information that Is.
needed to make a successful fight
against the present enormous cost of
food. The steady rise in the cost of
food and other n~ecessaries of life
seems to be due to deliberate manipu-
lation. There is nothing in the econo-
mic situation to justify such increases
as have been taking place. We must
go right to the bottom of this problem,
and see just who the guilty ones are.
The people are crying for bread.
we want bread was the cry that
started the French revolution. Now
the poor people of this republic are
raising the same cry"
Protest BY HousewIves' League.
limited Press Dispatch.1
against the failure Of congress thus far
to place in the hands OF President Will
son the appropriation he desires in or
der to carry on the investigation Of the
high cost of living through the federal
League Of America today forwarded
peal is made directly to the president to
use all the power in HIS hands to get
to take action on that supreme
ly important measure.
Public Cannot Look For Relief.
UNITED Press Dispatch.1
Chicago, ILL.,. February 21.-With hogs
selling at $12.95 per 100 pounds, nearly
SO cents higher than the highest pre-
there came a statement today to the
public from prominent wholesale and re-
tail provision houses that the public
could look for no relief. There "a
nothing in sight but higher and higher
prices. Higher prices for meats. sold at
retail, must soon be expected. These, 1t
was announced, would go 10 to 40 per
cent higher. Such statements were made
Chicago's principal wholesale and retail
provision houses.
Sends out Note Of Warning.
ASSOCIATED Press Dispatch.l
SHICdSOg rCDl a 1l.-L SloC Stl-
fin of the Chicago Board of Trade, to-
day telegraphed the interstate commerce
commission and the presidents OF east
ern railroads insisting that unless an i'm
ucts eastbound out OF Chicago except
fuel and foodstuffs, the country will face
danger of anarchy and rioting.
Food Peddlers Forced to Quit.
New York. Feb. 21.-After a day OF
battles between the police and won.
en- food rioters at the city hall and
in congested tenement districts Jo-
seph Hartigan, commissioner Of
weights and measures, announced he
was doing everything in his power to
stimulate the flow of foodstuffs into
the city.
The commissioner says the situation
calls for the establishment by con.
gress of "some sort Of food control
commission to meet the per capita
consumption of food in the United
States"
While retail shopkeepers and push
cart peddlers have been forced to
bear the brunt of the assaults of the
angry housewives here the bureau of
weights and measures announced that
there is abundant evidence of specu.
lation on canned goods"
So desperate have the women In
some parts Of the city become that
hundreds of food peddlers have sus-
pended business. Many of these deal.
ers who ventured out ON the upper
East Side were set upon by a mob Of
housewives.
The peddlers were driven from the
streets into Railways Of tenemcnts.
where the women tore their clothing
and scratched their faces.