The sun., 1919-08-24
Outlines Licensing Plan as Corrective
Measure-Wages Would Be
Last to Decline

no charges Of dishonesty to be brought
forward. -.... t..N..
, II shall speak of no State but my
own, California, for obvious reasons.
although do. not gay that California
Is the most glaring instance In the
country, Secretary Of Commerce Red
field said not long ago: IT would not
be untruthful to take the initials 81
, w. w." with which you are all famil-
lar, and attach them to ourselves as
meaning Industrial MASTERS OF the
World."'
"It was Roosevelt who said that the
United States must get out OF the
! business of politics and into the busi-
ness of government, and that 10 en-
phasized to-day as never before. II
: we are to hope for a satisfactory, en-
cient, economical and forward looking
! form of government we must begin at
the foundation and work upward. Do
: ing that, we shall find the high price
problem vanishing. along with many
more.
, Curb ExtravaEance.
"Extravagance must be curbed-
have spoken OF California During
the ten years between 1909 and 1913
her expenditures Increased 1853 per
cent. and her population only 65 per
cent. Between 1910 and 1918 taxation
increased almost four times as rapidly
as population.
"Thus in my own State we find the
horrible example from which the
whole nation best may be taught a
! necessary lesson. Indiana is a pro-
gressive State. with famous schools
. and much complaint among her tax
payers. State. county and city costs
per capita Of population there average
SIS annually. I will not say they are
:, too high, but note statistics from some
, other States, which show q rising
y scale: Iowa, SIC; Wisconsin and Penn
s sylvania, $17; Illinois and Michigan.
. s19; Nebraska, $40; Ohio, s21; New
o Jersey, $2S Washington, $29; Massa-
d chusetts, S35; Oregon, s36s New
t York, $40, and California as a whole
l. $50.
: 80 it is obvious that we must do
C much more than make plans for price
= fixing if we would restore the cost OF
e living to a normal basis and achieve
8 again a fair value for the dollar. We
must curb prohteering, but we also
s must curb individual and government
S tai wastefulpess In every branch. Con-
e sider an expenditure Of $1o,o0o,o0o by
I, one California county against indi-
= ana's State expenditure Of sS,0000o0.
3 at is a detail only. Everywhere
d are figures which might be unearthed,
I equally significant Of American mis-
!. management. We must strike deeper
% than consideration Of profteering and
# price fixing ever will take us.
IT Public Apathy . Menace.
- "As a matter Of fact the menace
which confronts us is public apathy.
80 We tolerate abuses. We tolerate ig-
70 norance. As a people, we DO not study.
"A strive for good government. We do
~ not get the best although we spend
the most, and the reason that we do
!, not get the best Is that we are care
less in our national, our State and
local marketing for men, for materials,
~ y, and above all for ideas, as we are, in
- many instances, In our individual
y, marketing. Considering ourselves un-
III alterably prosperous and productive
70 we waste wickedly.
I'VE elect public officers regardless
II of their qualifications. we entrust
them with the business of managing
is our public affairs which involves the
% expenditure of the vast total Of our
N unprecedented taxation without In
y vestigation to determine their fitness
y for the task; we make no inhibition
8 upon their simultaneous conduct OF
@ private enterprises and. to cap the
n climax, we expect them to operate
l. under a system so archaic, so hope
"a lessly impossible that the wonder Is
that things are not worse than they
10 ! are.
Is "The public never has failed to Sc
1t cure any regulations or reforms that
& It demanded and II, in this case, it
l. can be aroused to a demand. the
re change will be forthcoming. We have
re gone far, however. along the foolish
= road of general inefficiency In gev-
ernment, and 1t will take time to cor
rect resultant evils. It is principally
! by education that we must strive, I
think-not only education Of officials
in whom we trust the business Of our
" Government in all its branches, but
e. education of the public. for public
ID uneducated to the necessity for tho
NJ choice of the right men never will in
lv vestigate and find them. and then,
through exercise of Its democracy,
choose them.
The New War Before Us.
~ 1T is a campaign Of education which
the more enlightened of our popula-
ton now must turn attention to with
:. almost as great an energy as that
~ which marked its effort toward the
winning of the war. There is another
~ war before us which we must win II
~ we and all the world are to prosper
and progress. Far more than our own
~ happiness and comfort depend upon
10 us now. We must be not only the
es source of a vast wealth which VIII
~ help TO rebuild overseas the material
properties which the war destroyed.
at but we must be the source of inspira-
iy ton, the example, which will point the
a. way, not alone to freedom of institu-
e. tions, but to efficiency OF institutions.
n "The enlightened people of America
must not lie back; they must take a
ng long breath OF determination and
RS plunge into the teachers task. They
on must work as individuals, they must
ne work as groups, they must work
through the press and with the press,
lie they must work through the schools
re and colleges and with them, they must
ce take advantage of every medium OF
r teaching-the printed word, the public