Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-09

sofa state Legislature today said:
I esteem it an unusual pleasure to
stand in this place today and to ad-
dress the members of this great body.
because the errand upon which have
left Washington is SO intimately a
matter of the life of our nation as
well as the life of the world. o.
And yet | am conscious, standing
in this presence, that perhaps the
most appropriate things | could say
are those which affect us immc-
diatcly.
know that you have been called
together in special session for special
objects One of these objects YOU
have achieved, and rejoice with you
in the adoption of the suffrage amend
mCnt.
Another Of the objects, understand,
is the consideration of the high cost of
living. and the high cost of living is
ono of those things which is 50 com
pliCatCd, rnmf"S in 50 many dirCc-
tiOnS, that it seems to mo We cannot
do anything in particular about il
without knowing how the particular
affects the WHOLE
Traces Origin of High Prices
complicated piece Of machinery, piece
by piece, unless YOU know how tn"
pieces ar" related to each other; and
the cost of living at present Is
world condition. 1t is due to the
fact that th" man power of the world
has been sacrificed on the agony nt
the battlefield and that all the proc
o~scS of industry have either been
slaCkCn"d or diverted.
Production Of foodStuffs, the pro
uuctiou Of rIothiug the production
"f the norrN~arirN of life, has either
been >lnckouod or turned into chan
ucI~ that are of little us" for the
general cigil population.
The world is not going TO settle
down, my fellow citizens, until II
knows what part the United states
is going to have in the peace.
imagine il will h" several genCr-
ations before foreign governments can
finally adjust themselves to carrying
the overwhelming debts which have
accumulated in this war.
The United States has accumulated
a great debt, too. but not i'll prop0r-
tiUn 20 those that other countries
have accumulated, when YOU reckon
our wealth as compared with theirs.
And we are the only nation in the
world that is likely, in the immediate
future. to have a sufficient amount Of
free capital TO pull the industry Of
the world up and finally on its feet.
Until tn" industry of the world is
put on its feet Won can t finally hHndl"
the question Of living cost; because
the cost of living in the last analysis
depends on the thing we are always
talking about and don't know how to
manage-thc law of supply and de-
mand.
1t depends upon manufacture and
distribution; it depends upon all the
normal processes of the industrial and
commercial world; it depends upon
international credit: it depends unon
transportation facilities and shipping.
Railroads Are Congcsted
Our railroads at this moment are
not adequate to moving the commerce
OF the country, and here and there
they run through a little neck. For
example, with the Pennsylvania sys-
tenn at Pittsburgh, where everything
Is "ongcsted, you are squeezing a
great commerce through little open
ing.
The problem grows the more you
think of it, so that what we think
and put our minds to is an intcrna-
tional problem: first of all, to re-
store the commerce Of the world, and
to get the manufacturing Of the world
gong again. And we have got to do
that largely
Then we, sitting in legislatures like
this and in the Congress of the United
States, have to see to 1t. if YOU will
permit vulgar expression, that no.
body mOnkpyS with thp DrOcpSS