Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-11
LAWS TO REDUCE
COST OF LIVING
[Continued from First Page.]

just to publish list of fair prices
Tor the guidance of the public.
This is the extra legal" means Of
reaching profiteering which Mr..
Palmer recently indicated was un-
der consideration. He has frankly
admitted from the start that there
was no means to prosecute directly
man guilty of extortion in prices.
Retallers who are gouging the nlti-
mate consumer will have to be dis
ciplined by public sentiment, which
officials have no doubt is sufficiently
alert to the situation now to act
vigorously in clear cut cases.
Can Reach Hoarders
Hoarders. on the other hand, can
be reached through the wartime
food laws of the Sherman act, and
Mr.. Palmer requested the State
Food Administrators to transmit to
him any evidence of boarding or
other violations of the law which
they might encounter in their work,
with the promise that the govern
ment's law enforcement machinery
would act promptly.
There is pressing necessity for
the restoration of normal condI-
tion," Mr.. Palmer's telegram said,
effective work during the war to
take up the burden again. They
were asked to serve without conf
pensation, the Attorney General be-
lieving that the public service to be
performed now is as important rs
when the country was engaged i'll
hostilities, and that no patriotic
citizen would refuse the call to duty.
Railroad Conference
A national conference to consider
all plans submitted to Congress for
solution Of the railroad problem
Will be held here October 6, under
the auspices of the Plumb organi
Zation bureau. In making public
announcement of the meeting Chief
Justice Walter Clark, of the North
Carolina Supreme Court and chair
man of the Plumb plan preliminary
conference, said special committees
would be appointed to analyze the
different proposals.
"One of these committees" Judge
Clark said in n statement, will be
composed of engineering and techni-
cal experts to report upon the pro-
posals as regards their meeting the
test of economy and efficiency; an
other will be composed of legal au-
thorities to report upon the legal
and constitutional questions in
volved, and a third will be composed
OF economic and financial eXperti
who Will report upon the soundneS5
of the plan from a financial stand
point"
The American people were urged
by Judge Clark to consider all the
proposals without prejudice and
without passion, and to examine
those which have been outlined in
the light of the principles which we
have enunciated."
Discuss Pay To-day
Arrangements for conference of
the railway labor leaders with Di-
rector General Hines, of the United
States Railroad Administration, has
been arranged for late to-day. Di-
rectors of labor for the administra-
ton all over the country have been
called in for the conference. About
fourteen of the brotherhood heads
VIII also be present.
Consideration will be given to the
railway wage problem in it's general
aspects at the conference. it was
understood to-day. While the shop
mems strike served to precipitate
matters leading to the issuance of
the Presidents letter to Director
General Hines. their particular case
will not be the primary subject of
the conference. In fact the present
stage of the shipments strike pre-
cludes definite action as regards
their demands.
Return to Work First
Under the terms of President Will
sons instruction to Mr.. Hines it will
be incumbent for them to return to
their work before consideration will
be given to their requests. Even
then the pending matters will be
dealt with only through their au-
thorized representatives.
The problems Immediately before
the conference will be conducted with
the demands for general wage in
creases, and the question of the in
crease of rates necessary TO meet
them. The entire situation will be
gone into thoroughly. with view
to the assumption by the Director
General of Railroads to those pow
ers which the Senate Interstate
Commerce Committee, acting
chairman, informed the President
still resided in his hands and those
of Mr.. Hines. as the result of war
time legislation, which, the Cum
Minis letter indicated, were still in
force.