Evening star., 1919-12-23
MR PALMER SAYS FOOD PRICES
TO DROP WITH COMING OF 1920

that they may expect a decilne ~.
retail food prices with the aa.ti. .h;s
of the new year. and. coming at TINS
time the announcement VIII aoo
! cheer to the Yuletide celebration.
| Retail food prices ordinarily show
| a downward trend during the nrSt
! two months of a year. Attorney zen
eral Palmer explained. and 1t is pc
lieved that this trend VII ne ac-
ce'erated this year by the campaisn
initiated by the government Mnicm
is Just now getting well under way,
Primary factors involved In the
cost of living. which is already under
control, the Attorney General Sald.
are increased production, the elm
ination of extravagant ouyinG anu
the determined hunting down Oh
: profiteers. ~,
IF every one who produces viii
produce his utmost. if those VINO
buy and consume will save and ennl.
mate e"travagance ana II an nohe
peonle vii join with the Deparss..er'
of Justice in stamping out prohteer
ing and boarding. the cost of living
can be reduced he declared
Preceding iss" ance of the state
ment a conference of all government
agencies engaged in the campaign
against the high cost of living was
held with Mr. Palmer.
Authorized Statement.
The conference authorized the At
| ttorney General to make the following
statement: -
In August in connection with de-
mands for increased wages by 'raii,
road shopmen based on the Increased
| cost of living, the President an
nounced to the public the view tina.
the cost of living would be iowereu
! as soon as there were settled conoi
! ions of production and OF commerce
ias soon as the treaty OF peace "as
ratified and as soon as merchants.
I and miners
had a certain basis of calculation. III
n statement to the shopmen theIi
selves. the President declared the pr
mary step was to increase p!oou.
ton and facilitate transpor tal.on sn
as TO make up for the destruction
wrourht bv the war and the terrible
scarcities it created. The Presloen'
added that the government had taken
ID with all possible vigor the 'asn u
bringing the profiteer to book, ma A.
ing the stocks ,s,7d 0a neceIo st lower prices.
.,,,ris ting production and facilitat-
'ng distribution. th.t
! ."rhe movement inaugurated at that
! -ime to gain control over tne cps, DC
wing has been largely IN ttoa .nt ,a It
| should be helpful to point out VIA wa
ras already been accomplished anu
what further steps are IN is
ION TO assess the situation 10
| necessary to look Dach anu 80, l.,
what the trend of prices mas peeh IA
| past years.
Eight Years Upward Trend.
..ral-inr retail food prices as basis
tho index numbers of the oHIeeu 49,
Sta+es bureau of labor statistics 1ro,,,
1eI1 to 1919 indicate that up 10 -
there has been notlceaole tIe ~.
ward in such prices IN tne ia -; year
year. whereas since August tnls S,t
such retail food prices have been kep'
practically stationary. BY way OF nr
,mstration, during the period Angus
to November. inclusive. 1912 tnele
| was an advance IN retail loou Piahor
rs indicated by the bureau OF 1aope
J statistics. of 13 points: IN 1911. &c
: noints. and in 1918. l6 points. as con.
( nared with no increase whatsoeHet i"
The corresponding period OF lsis; -.
/ sidering the four years from sSnu,
1914. inclusive, retail prices SNOW d
sight inward trend from Septempes
I 10 october !. a greater upWaro uen1
rom October ! to NoVempeI 80,
remained practically stationary nroill
November to December 1. DurinS
he four wears from 1915 to 1918. m
c,usive retail food prices showed
decided inward trend from Ausust i
"a September l and to OCTOBER !, anu
slightly lessened but decided up~aru
END TO November l and to Decem-
Nor This year during September
and october an actual reduction IN
The general level OF retail prices was
Effected as compared with Ausus''
while the fielYe tor no NoVetN of October,
SHOWS no Increase above the August
lreturns. In other words. the omciai
data clearly show the significant fact
that the cost Of living. as lndicateo
by retail prices. was no greater IN
November of this year than it was IN
Avgvst while during former years.
|extending back to 1911, the returns
for November show considerable IN
crease over August returns.
Drop Seen at Years Start.
"The history of retail food prices
indicates that DECIDED oownwaiu u
! trend ordinarily may be expected IN
The part of the year between January
and March. and 1t is to be hoped that
this trend will be accelerated TINS
wear by the campaign initiated py the
! Government which is just now eettlhg
well under way.
| ."Tbc Lever food control act, under
which the food administration operat. =.
| ed and through the enforcement OF
which the Department OF Justlce Is
now trying to reduce high prices, un-
/ fortunately did not provide a penalty
for certain acts declared to be un-
lawful, and therefore the Department
| of Justice was unable to enectivelE
deal with many cases OF prohteerins
which came to its attention. Reaiiz- :
President appeared before the Con-
! gress on August and urged an i'm
mediate amendment of the food con-
troll act. to extend it's scope to all the
necessities of life, and to provide
/ penalty for violation OF section OF
this act, which made profiteering un-
! lawful and to extend the life OF the
act into peace time. The Attorney
General appeared before the Senate
agriculture committee in August ana
urged that amendments asked by the
President be passed Not until Octo-
ments become law, and only since
that time has 1t been possible to deal
| effectively with all cases of proflteer-
ing and boarding.
Convictions Obtained.
while waiting the enactment of
additional legislation, however, the
DeDartment of Justice did not remain
| inactive. Section of the act pro-
vided a penalty for boarding. and sec
tion I authorized the seizure and sale
of boarded necessities. Since the
Lever act was amended to provide a
penalty for profiteering 179 prosecu-
tions have been instituted. Under pro-
visions of that act and in all cases
brought to trial thus far convictions
have been obtained. There have been
ninety-nne cases Of actual seizures
| under section Z of the act, and In
many of these cases prosecutions are
| also contemplated under section b. In
boarding have been called to the at
tention of United States attorneys for
investigation if the facts warrant
These seizures and prosecutions
have covered eighteen states, and the
commodities seized have included
eggs, butter. cheese, pork. poultry,
lard, fish, sugar. potatoes. coffee, flour
Eifty-three