The weekly tribune. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1918-1919, 1918-12-25
Food Administration CTum-
bling And War Labor
Board On The Shelf
PRICE CONTROL HAS
ALMOST VANISHED
War Cost u. S. $20,600, 900, And
Taxation Is Now
Problem
by j. E. Jones.)
Washington, Dec pa, 1918.

Congress spends considerable tim;
! ;iebat ng as 10 whether the war is
over, but that S about as f2r a
the law-riaking body appcals to get.
The ship Of state is fioundeIing n
the choppy sea-, and with the pilot
m Europe there appears 10 be nc wSy
Of steadying the wobbly craft.
1t is doubtful if there has ever
been y tine when there have been
so many inconsistencie; in the Gov
ernmen; Is now. The food and fuel
administrations, which were deemed
so essent al. are crumbling. The war
l2bor board is practically on The shelf,
notwithstanding the fact that con-
tracts CT war work have been en-
celed, throwing vast armies of work
men cut of employment and threaten
ing the credit of many concerns that
have dropped everyth ig in order to
serve their country. Government cor
trol of prices has almost passed. The
total co t of the war for America,
up to November, was $40 $50 ,0OO,-
600 and the cspacity of Congress
seems to be taxed to It's utmost in
finding wa for the future. The
stee. men and the War Industries
Board have been IN conference, and
the result is that competitive condi-
tions with n this great industry are
tc be restored after January 1.
SUNNI ng up the industrial, situa-
ton one finds that the whole indus
trial machinery of the country is
being SIT adrif!.. The war industries !
have accepted this condition. and at !
the Atlantic City gathering their
problems were analyzed, and remed- |
ial methods were provided as far as
possible. The Government now offers
no solution about how to get back to
peace. The country is asked to ac-
cept as an excuse for holding the
boys IN the camps the explanation
that it is done to rel eve what Mr..
McAdoo Gscribes in another .nstance
"a uncertainty ard fermcnt."
A lot of good it will do to ask
what is to be done about
things If the Pres dent had on y
suggested something in his address to
Congress it would have started oppo-
SIT on, at least. But as matters
stand Washington is on the border
edge between ccma. and Gym cism. It's
'ontrary-minded groups are prepared
to oppose the rat fcation of the
peace treGty, no matter what it NAV
stand for. Reconstruction, IS princi-
pally a myth. The Capita, ta ks
about the British plan headed by ?
NJ nistry of Reconstruction. and sup
ported by a large number of commits
sions. The Cap tal also talk about
of the Senate and House.
1t ia ks cf using existing Government
agencies and Departments to some
extent. But though matters are ex-
tremely pre- sing, Washington hasn't
shown enough initiative since the
signing of the armistce to entitle It
to paragraph on the pages of the
history of the Democracy. Now these
statements are not polit cs-they are
truths, and thi.. ought to be the day
of truthte;l,ne. 1t !, not q question
Of what the Democrats have done. or
what the Republicans have done for
the record shows that the whole
buncf Of them have done practically
nothing.
Apparently the whole industrial
must shift for itself.
Labor md capital will have plenty of