The Benson signal., 1919-10-25
VII SON WARNS
OF ECONOMIC
PERILS AHEAD
Predicts National Disaster" II
After-War Problems Not
Solved Correctly

Washington D. C.-Persistent indus
must be depended upon to avert the
national disaster" which turks in the
cost of living issue, according to Presi-
dent Wilson. Only increased produc-
ton and real thrift, he said, can be
effective in reducing prices and bring
ing conditions back to point where
wages and the cost of necessities will
be properly balanced. The President,
outlining the economic policy upon
which the government is basing its
fight to reduce prices, made it clear
that the principles underlying the cam
pa1gn for thrift conducted by the Saw
ings Division of the Treasury Depart
ment through the sale of War Savings
Stamps and Treasury Savings Certif-
Gates are the principles which must
rescue the nation from conditions more
dangerous to the prosperity and life Of
the people than the war itself.
Increasing wages will not meet the
situation, the President said. Wage in
crease in the great industries of the
country under present conditions will
only tend to push prices further and
further out of reach, and the President
asserted that wage readjustments must
walt upon the outcome of the govern
ment's fight to pull down prices
Demands unwisely made and pas
sionately insisted upon at this time
menace the peace and prosperity of
the country as nothing else could" said
the President. "And this contributes
to bring about the very results which
such demands are intended to remedy"
The President, emphasizing the seri-
BUSINESS of the conditions which con-
front the country, said:
I'VE are face to face with a stu
alton which lis more likely to effect
the happiness and prosperity, and
even the life, of our people than the
war itself. We have now got to do
nothing less than bring our indus
tries and our labor back to a normal
basis after the greatest upheaval
known to history, and the winter
just ahead of us may bring suffer-
ing infinitely greater than the war
brought upon us if we blunder or
fail in the process. An admirable
spirit of self-sacrifice, of patriotic de-
votion, and of community action
guided and inspired us while the
fighting was on. We shall need all
these now, and need them in
heightened degree if we are to &C.
complish the first tasks of peace.
They are more difficult than the
tasks of war-more complex, less
easily understood and require more
intelligence, patience and sobriety.
We modified our man power for
the fighting; let us now mobilize our
brain power and our consciences for
the reconstruction. If we fail it will
mean national disaster. The pri-
mary first step is to increase pro-
duction and facilitate transportation,
so as to make up for the destruction
wrought by the war, the terrible
scarcities it created, and so as soon
as possible relieve our people of the
cruel burden of high prices"
Pointing out the thrift remedy for
the situation now before the people,
the President said:
"Only by keeping the cost of pro-
duction on it's present level, by in
creasing production and by rigid
economy and saving on the part of
the people can we hope for large
decreases in the burdensome cost of
living which now weighs us down"
Buy w. s. S.