New-York tribune., 1918-03-24

1--WE at all. and lacking which w no not
man race would long ago have s a;. "u'
thst pestea ah from the face of the earth, p, sns
'na', therefore, it is law which t'' al. ana
no' De annulled by men, or eve. graz. ss
" or long obstructed by men e'''
1t Is this law which maLos a.,
accept 81 for wheat when he knoua aH',nef 'i
should prlns $3.50; the laborer wo.,
1or forty cents per hour when ba wv "o'A
ne should be getting fifty cents. Az
clothier sell suit for s25 tho. ''s m
Knows "ls easily worth" $50; tho -,
lege professor accept a IS 900 nos;t;sr
"hen he Is certain that his serv;.."
should command $4,000; the bs,ss
take u per cent for his monev WIZ
really it is worth" per cent and :"
on throughout the whole list of brs,s ~
activities. 1t is an irresistible ,aa,
cannot be violated either with ;mn,s;.
or without penalty. 1t is a law If n.t
ure, human nature.
Canada has made roro
ana effective contribution to the com
olned strength of the Entente AMI.
IN proportion TO her wealth and ro.u
latlon than any other nation at u.r
excepting only those that have hoan
f1ghtlng on their own soil. And .ho
has not fixed prices. Indeed ;f
reasoning is sound, she could NOT mo-,
slDiy have accomplished what she has
II she had. incidentally she has no.
lndulged herself in luxuries. She hoe
worked hard and lived simply.
We are forced to the corc,,,;o.
that Congress believed that Tho o;,
lllan was not ready to nut lin With
the discomfort that the free NAV as
prices would cause, and that il w..
better to prolong the war and waste
the lives of soldiers than risk d;sooa
tent among the stay-at-homes. wo
are forced" to this conclusion H.
cause there is no other possible ox
planatlon of the law. 1t was bound to
divert energy from military to civil
uses, IN spite Of any other thing that
Congress could do, and Congress tnow
this when it passed it. Tbcro o.n !,
but one answer.
Congress Feared
The Civilian
0o"eress was afraid that the civil.
ian would not stand up and tato Ii.
medicine; it was afraid tho o;r;r..
would complain, that he would march
III the streets and cry down the GOV.
eminent; it was afraid that he wou,a
make SO much disturbance that our
effectiveness as lighting nation
would be impaired. We could forgive
congress If it had been stunid. we
could almost forgive it if it had Navel
pol'Vlcs, but we find it difficult to for.
give 1t for writing US down in world
history as nation of mollycoddIes.
ana incidentally be it said that
"hen and if the American neonle does
really put Its shoulder to that bust
ness the world will wake up to brand
ne" conception of what real fighting
means 1t is not idle boasting to
MAINTAIN n that we alone can hold the
nun Where he belongs if we get down
TO work; if the civilian as we'll as
ene soldier puts everything there is in
him into the fight.
=, NO. we do not forgive Congress for
this. 1t has utterly mistaken the tenn.
per OF the people. When we said we
would back the Presidential proclama-
10, ION mat we were at war we meant it.
we mean 1T yet, and if Congress will
JUST Tree the natural law, leaving us
10 take things as they come as nature
intended we should in such a case,
ana making it impossible for the civil
slacker to slack and the civil waster
to waste, we will do what we meant to
40 and what We expected to do when
we went to war. We will do our bit
and do it right. One little gasp at
ilrst, yes. We allow ourselves that to
ease the shock. But after that moth
ing but the hum of busy wheels and
tile murmur of steady work; and then
and soon a blow to the master Hun
and the mephitic philosophy he pro-
claims that will lift them both so far
| beyond the borders of civilization that
they never can come back. And then
welcome home the boys whose lives
our sacrifice and toll have helped to
save!
Mr.. Hoover may be right. He prob
ably is. Sugar might go to so cents
per pound. But who is there among US
who wouldn't gladly cut out half Of
every pound of the sugar he is accus-
toned to and pay at the rate Of 80
cents for the other half if he knew
that by so doing he was each time
putting another needed cartridge into
the belt of a son or brother facing
hell across the seas?
In comparing what we have done
with what other countries have done.
it is to be remembered that we are by
far the richest people in the world;
that we have q population nearly
double that of Germany and nearly
three times that of England, and that
we have natural resources that are al
most limitless and producing ma
chinery having capacity far IN excess
of that of any other country.
If the reasoning we have used IN dis-
cussing price-tixing is sound, po,h h;s ,h;s
chaotic state of business and TINS
failure to make better progress WIFI
military preparedness are due, no.
wholly, of course, but nevertheless ~ ~
no small measure, to price-fxing. -
there is doubt as to this we may Ie
mind ourselves that price-hxing' M. 1e.
sides effecting certain direct results
that arc perfectly obvious, such as a.;., re,
tarding production and stimula''ns ;n
consumption, also effects countless .,1v II,
direct results of an almost equa'"
disastrous character. -,.
Congress has adopted the, p:lss. prlss..
fixing policy. 1t believes, and llgn, aw
fully believes, that the price -hxing .ss ot
is popular, and therefore 1t wlii Nv.
repeal that law. This being the cass'