The Washington herald., 1919-08-09

credit expansion is seen in the rec
ommendstion that the pending bill
for control Of security issues bs
passed
Would Resck Ret.tIer~L
He urged a break in the vicious
cycle" by which Increased prices are
followed by demands for increased
wages TO which there is no logical
or natural end"
Retailers. the President said, are
in part responsible for high prices
He would spread knowledge Of pro
duction costs so IT may be known
what margins OF profit are being de
manded.
America must prove her mettle."
I said the President in helping Europe
/ TO get back TO her normal Life and
/ production
He expressed confidence that the
I great body OF organized labor will see
that strikes at this critical time only
increase burdens, and expressed will
/ inEness to confer with labor IN an
effort TO remedy conditions.
Early rat .ficstion Of the peace tresty
was asked. There can be no peace
!prices while we are IN a state OF waJ.
said the President
Labor will not accept the President's
proposals, according TO Representative
I Nolan labor representative IN Con-
Eress.
The President cannot expect labor
to sit idly by and starve because OF
high pr.ces, while he passes out gilt
JerinE generalities'' % said Nolan. The
mands have been before him for
months. and he should have acted"
The message follows in full:
pre,Idenrs MeSsaEe.
Gentlemen Of the Congress.
I have sought this opportunity -
address you because it is clearly ny
duty to call your attention 70 the
present cost Of living ano TO ur=s
upon you with all the persuasive force
Of which I am capable the eEIslstive
measures which would be most effect
i've in controlling It and bringing Il
down. The prices the people OF thi~
country are paying FOR everything
that Is necessary for them 70 use in
order TO live are not justified by =
shortage in supply. either present O.
prospective, and are in many cases
artihcially and deliberately created by
vicious practices which ought imue-
diately to be checked by law They
constitute q burden upon Us which -
the more unbeara BILE because We know
that II is wilfuly imposed by those
who have the power and that il can
by vigorous public action be greatly
lightened and made to square wiJ,l
the actual conditions OF supply and
! demand. Some OF the methods bv
which these prices are produced are
already illegal. some OF them Grim
inal. and those who employ them wiz
be energeucally proceeded against
; but others have not yet been broughl
under the law. and should he deslI
with at once by legislation.
1 need not recite the particulars or
this critical matter. the prices de
manded and paid at the sources Of
supply. at the factory. in the food
markets. at the shops, in the restsu-
rants and hotels, alike in the city anc
in the village. They are familiar to
you. They are the talk OF every DO
mestic circle and Of every group O:
casual acquaintsnces even. II is d
matter Of familiar knowledge. also.
that a process has set in which -
likely, unless something is done. To
cost Of living higher and yet higher
in vicious cycle to which there o.
no logical or natural end. with IN.
increase in the prices OF the neces-
saries Of life come demands for in
crease in wages-demands which are
justified II there be no other mesns
OF ens bling men to live
Price Increase Follows Wage Boost.
Upon the increase OF wages
there follows close an IncrensC
in the price Of the products
whose producers have been Hc-
corded the incresxe-nOt a pro
pOrtionate Increase, for the man.
ufacturer docs not content him
self with that, hut an increase
considerably greater than the
added wage cost and for which
the added wage cost ts often
times hardly more than an er-
cusc. The Isborers who do not
get an Increase in pay when
they demand tt arc likely 90
strike, and the strike onIy
mHkes matters worse. It checks
production, n It anects the rail-
ways "a prevents distribHtton
and strips the markets, 80 that
there g. presently nothing 10
buy, and thcrc is another ~
cessINe addition 60 prices result
ing from the scarcity.
These are facts and forces With
which we have become ouly too Ia