New Britain herald., 1919-08-01
TO CUT DOWN COSTS OF FOOD.


 nd members of both Houses of Con- &ress, stirred by the appeal of the #5fotherhood of Locomotive Engineers md the complaints of the nation in general will endeavor we are told. to
 ake some action that will remedy the present influence toward a higher fcale of prices for necessities than bow exists, and the scale is high &nough now. We are evidently to Hose some of the bitter League of Ma #ions discussion that has been going &bn and will see something which ef- #ects us far more, on agitation for 8air prices in food and clothing SUD- &blies.
 The locomotive drivers are to be
 Thanked by suffering humanity for
 Bringing the issue squarely up to the
 Authorities. Its threat to go on strike &1nless som mething is done to lower living costs or to raise the wages of #he union men seems most reasonable. # ts restraint, in refraining from imme- %liate strike is highly commendable. A
 trike on the railroads now would
 have the effect of raising prices all
 tround, and starving some communi-
 lies The laborers at other trades
 would suffer through the walkout of
 bne Sof their units. But the strike has #aeen put far enough into the future al1 tn to
 he situation. It is not arbitrary ac-
 ion.
 Of course there are far more peo- $ole effected by the high costs than the engineers. This is the reason for ac- #ion by the government. We are con- @inced that true effort, irrespective Spf party politics, is to be made to low Fer the cost of living. We are sure #hat the demand is here, that it is abverwh elming and that no politician Ean live against it. He will have to listen to the appeal or suffer political Oblivion, be he Democrat or Repub- aican.
 The move of the War Department No sell it's surplus food to the public Mt large is one act which should %nelp. However, this is but straw %n the tide, nothing but the smallest MDf assistance. There are, we are told, #pne hundred and twenty million dol #a ars worth of foodstuffs in storage
 waiting to be peddled through the 8parcels post. There are nearly that #many people in the United States and Hits possessions which means that one &dollar's worth of food will be avail ; able to each person, or about five dol &lars worth to the family. Even at spre-war rates this would not assist to Sa great extent. The relief will be but Nor a day or so. There must be other, more permanent, methods adopted. The Senate committee which has in 8charge the local affairs of the Dis { trict of Columbia has undertaken an of it's own to endeavor, Hif possible, to ascertain the reasons flor high prices there. This will ef- fleet us in only an indirect fashion in That it's findings in Washington might also apply hereabouts. We hope that some light will be thrown upon the situation that will show us way out of the maze of increasing tinan- cial difficulties
 Senator Poindexter, of Washington, in the Upper House of Congress took the high price situation as an oppor tunity to criticise the administration when ne blamed the soaring costs to the sale of one hundred million dol lars worth of foodstuffs abroad Like the army supply proposition, this will not be of an alarming effect one way or the other. It would only represent one dollar per person of our popula- ton and would not be greatly missed. We must expect that certain lndlVld- uals will do their best to make politi- cal capital out of the general misfor- tune, and remember that they have merely proved obstacles to the pro- gress toward a definite end.
 We find that two Democrats are re- sponsibIe for bills which might prove q God-send in the end. Representa- tive Fitzgerald has introduced an act which would make it criminal to gam
 ble in foodstuffs and supplies on the Stock Exchange Just how he is go-
 ing to distinguish between gambling
 and the wholesale purchase of SUD-
 plies for a business house is hard to
 determine. However, speculation is 10 blame for many rises in some pro- ]. ducts Representative Igoe, of Mis-