New-York tribune., 1918-01-21
The Expediency Of
Governmental Price
Fixing for Cotton
Necessity for Inducing Maximum Possible Production
Weighs in Balance Against Immediate
Comfort of Consumers

which has been adopted in other di-
rections. 1t is argued by these per-
sons that cotton and the products of
cotton ar, quite as much necessaries
of life as wheat or coal, clothing being
as indispensable for human beings as
food or fuel.
The need of preventing excessive
prices Tor cotton, presumably oppres-
slve Tor the great mass Of the consum-
ing public, is asserted to be even more
obvious than the need of holding with
IN bounds the prices of copper, iron
and steel. commodities which do not
directly touch the daily living of the
majority Of us. Hence, vehement as
sertlons IN certain quarters that gross
injustice is being done and glaring
dIlscrlmlnations are being permitted
through allowing the price of cotton
TO follow its own unchecked upward
course, while the authority of the gov
crnment is employed to repress pre-
clsely similar movements of the prices
or other necessaries.
War profiteering is repugnant to
every right thinking person, and the
,.hought OF inordinatc profits, extorted
oy 'he few from the many, or by one
clahs from other classes in the COM
lncunlty, by reason Of advantage taken
or the harsh necessities of war, excites
lust Indignation and a stern deter
mlnatlon to find a remedy. even at the
cost OF violence to all the traditions
ana customs of peaceful times.
IN earlier days war profiteering was
perhaps submitted to as an unavoidable
accompaniment of war itself. Tho
heightened social conscience of our
oaN' however, has moved the peoples
ana governments engaged in the pres
en-: war to strive to abate the evil. The
eSpedlcnt of governmental price fx;nr
mas been found rcadiest at hand for
'hls purpose, and has been generally
employed by the countries encaped in
'he war, Notwithstanding important
economic doubts as to its value, in the
lohe run, entertained by the more far
seeing, and Notwithstanding, also. the
far from satisfactory results Which -
has been found to yield in actual nracS
tlco wherever it has been tried.
Economic Forces Disregarded
The difficulty with governmental price
lNing, as we know it, is that it pro
ceeds upon the basis Of purely en-
prlcal superficial comparisons and
rot upon the basis of the deeper &C.
onomic forces which it brings nto plav
and of the ultimate consciousness Of
the operation Of these forces. Thus
the price of wheat has been govern
mentally fixed at S2.25 per bushel for
the crop of 1917, and at 50 per bushcl
for the crop of 1918, not as a result
ci o any thoroughgoing calculation of
the effects of these prices in the wav
OF decreasing consumption. on the one
hand, and increasing production, on the
other, but really upon the purely en-
plrlcal ground that the wheat farmer
ought to be abundantly satisfied with
prices twice as high as he formerly re-
celved, especially since these prices are
all that the consuming public can be
expected TO pay without serious dis
satisfaction. Similarly, the prices of
s:nthraclte and bituminous coal have
been txed-as in these coalless days
we are beginning to perceive only too
clearly-not on a basis that assures
the most energetic possible production
at every workable mine, but on the
basis of mine profits deemed reason
able by the governmental authorities,
account being also taken of the prices
tor coal to which the public has been
accustomed in the past.
The trouble with this method-and
i. is one that has manifested itself to
a painful degree in every country in
which tho method has been applied,
even regimented Germany-is that
somehow it fails to stimulate the cner-
gies OF tie producers and dstribute1x
OF necessaries. with the result that in
a short time the supply of them is dis
covered to be inadequate, and sharp
curtailment of the use of them, en-
forced by system Of governmental
rationing, becomes imperative.
Cotton's Place in War
Although there is little general ap
probation of the fact, cotton now occu-
pies among the materials required for
the carrying on of war place compar-
able only. with that occupied by iron
and steel. We are accustomed to think
much of the food supplies of armies in
the field, but comparatively little of
the cotton supply. Yet in proportion
to the total annual production and SUD-
ply the military and naval use of cot
ton Is far greater than is the case with
ioodstufs. This is made clear by the
fact that at the present moment, ac
cordlng to the best estimates, at least
onc-quarter, and probably one-third. of
the total capacity Of all the cotton
mills in the United States is required
tor the manufacture of the cotton
goods and products already contracted
Tor oy the government. while the on
tire production of linters-short fibre
removed from the previously ginned
seed IN the process of manufactu turino