The Watertown news. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1917-1919, 1918-12-09
Officials at Washington Look for
Gradual Decrease After
a Few Weeks
DOLLAR TO PURCHASE MORE
Conclusion Reached by Number of
Heads of Various Bureaus and by
Senators and Congressman
Who Have Watched
Conditions

Washington, Dec. 8. Prices of
| clothing and other things entering
into the cost of living and prices of
materials of all kinds which deter
mine the cost of manufacture and
building construction will commence
gradual decline about the first of
the coming year, which will go on for
several years, Washington officials be-
lieve.
With reductions in the prices at
which numerous things can be OBJ
tanned will come in consequence cor
responding declines in wages gener-
ally.
An Increase all along the line in
the purchasing price of the dollar,
which for the past twelve months has
declined to the lowest level in many
years, will be the result and will even
the balance, preventing hardship at
any point.
congressman Join in View.
In this way along with the reduc-
ton in the earnings from the high
levels of the past year made neces-
sary to meet high cost Of living will
come declines in the prices of neces-
sites, making the earning Of such
wages less necessary.
These are the conclusions reached
by any number of officials of the vari-
Gus government bureaus here con-
-neet<d with industry and by senators
and congressman generally who have
watched the balance between earning
and purchasing capacity steadily rise
during the war and who now antici-
pate recession to something approx
mating the pre-war basis.
Washington officials generally ex-
pect that the relinquishing of control
by the government from all lines Of
business will result in reduced costs
of production and declines in prices
of products.
Lower Coal Prices Seen.
With the removal Of many of the
restrictions on coal by the fuel ad-
ministration there are evidences Of
lower coal prices. Reductions in
prices Of many articles of food are
also in evidence with the modification
of the food administration control.
The basic reason for the high prices
all along the line during the war was
that the government set the price Of
almost everything by direct or indi-
rect means, set them high in order to
bring about increased production.
With the removal Of the government
restrictions on quantity of production
and costs business generally will re-
vert to the old basis Of supply and de-
mand instead of a fctitiOusly high
price
The government, through the vari-
Gus bureaus charged with adjusting
wages, granted increased wage scales
all along the line in order to keep
labor satisfied and maintain the maxi
mum of production during the war
period.
Hardship to Be Prevented.
With the governments incentive
and authority to fix high wage scales
and high prices for commodities re-
moved there will be reductions on
both sides, it is believed, preventing
hardship both to the producer and
consumer.
Representative George M. Young,
from the Dakota wheat belt, predicts
that the market price of wheat will
drop perhaps as much as 81 within
the next twelve months. The govern
ment has guaranteed a price of $500
for the next wheat crop and may lose
more than a million dollars by this
guarantee unless the grain corpora
ton of the food administration is con-
.tinued in operation to control the
market for Americas wheat for 1920,