Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-09-09
Continued from page one)

Mr.. Speaker, your cxcellency, gentle
men of the Legislature, ladies and gem
tlemen:
l esteem it an unusual pleasure to
stand in this place today and to address
the members of this great body, because
the errand upon which l have left
Washington is so intimately a matter Of
the life of our own nation as well az
the life of the world.
I And yet / am conscious, standing in
this presence, that perhaps the most ep-
propriate things could say are those
which affect us Immediately. | know
that you have been called together in
special session for special objects. Onu
of these objects you have achieved ana
/ rejoice with you in the adoption of
the suffrage amendment. (Applsuse.)
Another of the objects | understand
is the consideration of the high cost Of
living; and the high cost Of living IS one
of those things which is so complicated,
ramifies in SO many directions that it
seems to me we cannot do anything in
particular about it without knowing
how the particular will effect the whole.
1t is dangerous to play with & com
plicated piece Of machinery, piece by
piece, unless you know how the pieces
are related to each other; and the cost
of living at present is world condi-
tion. 1t is due to the fact that the
manpower of the world has been sacri-
ficed on the agony of the battlefield and
that all the processes of industry have
either been slackened or diverted.
| Production of foodstuffs, the produc.
tion of clothing, the production Of the
necessaries of life; has either been
slackened or turned into channels that
are Of little use for the general civil
population.
The world is not going to settle down.
lmy fellow citizens, until it knows what
part the United States is going to have
in the peace. (Applause.)
/ imagine it will be several genera
tions before foreign governments eau
finally adjust themselves to carrying
the overwhelming debts which have &C
cumulated in this war.
The United States has accumulated Q
great debt, too, but not in proportion tt
those that other countries have accumu
Hated, when you reckon our wealth 81
compared with theirs And we are the
only nation in the world that is likely
lin the imme ediate future, to have suffi
cient amount of free capital to put thu
industries Of the world up and finally OF
its feet.
Until the industry Of the world is pu
on its feet, you can t finally handle thu
question, Of living cost, because tine cos
lof living is the last analysis, depend
ON the thing we are always talking
! about and don Il know how to- manage
the law of supply and demand. 1t de
pends upon all the normal processes o.
the industrial and commercial world; i
depends upon international credit; it de
Ipends upon transportation facilities, ant
shipping = y y ' Our railroads at thi
moment are not adequate to move th'
commerce of the country.
The problem grows the more yol
think of it, so that what we think ant
put our minds to, is an internGtiona
problem. First Of all, to restore th
commerce of the world and get tn
manufacturing of the world going again
And we have to do that largely.
Then, we sitting in Legislatures lik
this and III the congress of the unite'
States have to see to it. if YOU will Der
NIT a vulgar expression, that nobod.
monkeys with the process. (Applause.)
: / understand that one of the excellen
suggestions made by your governor i
that you look into the matter oil col
storage.
Well, there are other kinds of storage
too, besides cold storage; and there ar
all sorts of ways of governing concen
trated reserve stocks of goods.