Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-09

Wilson's. address to Congress yesterda,
! on the cost living problem:
4 Gentlemen Of the Congress-:
I have sought this opportunity tt
address you because it is clearly my
duty to call your attention to ths
! present cost OF living and to urge
/ upon you with all the persuasive
force of which 1 am capable the leg.
islative- measures which would be
most effective in controlling it an6
1 bringing it down. The. prices thu
people of this country are paying
! for everything that it is necessary
for them to use in order to live are
] not justified by shortage in supply
/ either present or prospective. and are
4 in many cases artificially and de-
liberately created by vicious prac-
tices which ought Immediately to be
\ checked by law. They constitute
burden upon US which is7the more I'M
bearable because we know that it is
wilfully' imposed by those who have
/ the power and that 1t can by vigorous
public action be greatly lightened and
made to square with the actual con-
ditions of supply and demand. Some
] of the methods by which these prices
(, are produced are already illegal. some
of them criminal. and those who en-
ploy them will be energetically pro-
ceeded against; but others have not
yet been brought under the law, and
should be dealt with at once by leg
| islation.
1 need not recite the. particulars OF
| nanded ana paid at the sources Of
supply. at the factory, in the food
markets, at the shops, in the restau-
rants and hotels, alike in the city and
you. They are the talk Of every domes:
tic circle and Of every group OF casual
acQuaantances. even. It is matter or
familiar knowledEe, also, that proc
ess has set in which is likely, unless
something. il, done. to push prices and
rents. and the whole cost Of living
higher and yet higher, in vicious
sycle to which there Is no logical or
natural end: With the increase in the
prices of the necessaries Of life come
demands for increases in wages-de-
mands which are justified II there be
no other means OF enabling men to
live. Uron. the increase Of wages there
follows close an increase In the price
been accorded the increase-not q
proportionate increase, for the manu-
facturef doesS not centert himself with
that, but an increase considerably
for which the added wage cost 10
oftentimeS hardly more than an ex-
cuse The laborers who do not get an
increase In pay when they demand IT
are likely to strike. and the strike
only makes matters worse. 1t checks
production. II it affects the railways
it prevents distribution and strips the
markets, So that there ID presently
nothing to buy, and there is another
excessive addition to prices resulting
from the scarcity.
Have Become Familiar With Facts
| These ara facts and forces with
which We: have. become only too fa-
miliar: but we are not justified be-
cause of our familiarity with them or
because Of any hasty and shallow con-
c1usion that they are natural" and
Inevitable in sitting inactfvely by and
letting them work tiTefr fatal. results
tf there is. anything that We can do
70 check, correct or reverse them. J.
have sought this opportunity to inform
the Cougre8s what the Executive Is
doing by way of remedy and control.
remedies are Lacking and may be sup
piled.
that theirs is no complete immediate
remedy to be had from legislation ana
executive action. The free processes
of themselves and no legislative or
executive action can force them into
full and natural operation anil there
AZ peace. There Is now neither peace
nor war.
An the world is waiting-with what
unnerving fears and hauntlng aouo.s
who can adequately say?-waiting to
know when IT shall have. peace ana
what kind of peace It will be when
lit comes peace In which each ma
tion shall make shift for itself as it
can. or q peace buttressed ana sup
ported by the will and concert OF the
ma lions that have the, purpose and the
newer to do and to enforce what is
right. Politically. economically. SO
l.cdally- the world. is on the operating
table, and 1t has not b6en possible
to administer any anesthettc. II is
conscious. It even. watches the capital
loperatfon upon which It knows that
IT'S hone, Of. fealthfui life depends. 1t
cannot think it's business ont or make
plans or give intelligent and provi-
dent direction to its affairs while In
e1ch a case. Where there Is no peace
Of mind there can be no energy IN en-
deavor. There can be no confidence
lin industry, no caicuiaoie basis Ior
credits; no confident buying or sys-
itematic selling, no certain prospect
| of employment, no normal restoration
Of business, no hopeful attempt at
rnconstruction or the PROPER reas-
sembling; OF the dislocated elements
/ OF enterprise until peace has been
established and. SO far a may be guar
:antsed
! our national life has no doubt been
lesa radically disturbed and dismein-
bsred than the national life OF other
naonIes whom the war more directly
affected, with all its terrible ravaging
and1 destructive force. but 1t has been:
nevertheless, profoundly affected and
ldisarranged. and our industries. our
credits. our productive capacity, our
processes are inexfricabiy
| fnferwoven with those OF other ma :
ltious and peoples--most intimately OF
| All with the nations and peoples upon
whom the chief burden and confusion
tof the war fell and who are now most
dependent upon the cooperative ac-
| tiou of the world
| Shipping Greater Than Ever.
/ We are Just now shipping more
goods out OF our ports to foreign
markets than we ever shipped DeIore
mot foodstuffs merely, but stuffs and
materials of every sort. but this is no
index Of what QUE foreign sales will
continue to be or OF the effect the vol
ums of our exports will have on sup
plies and prices.
II Is impossible yet to predict how
far or how long foreign purchasers
will be able to find the money or the
/ credit to pay for or sustain such pur-
1 chases on such a scale: how soon or
to what extent foreign manufacturers
\ can resume their former production.
foreign farmers get their accus-
toned crops from their own fields,