The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-09
Text of Presidents
 Message to Congress
 On High Cost of Living
New Watson Bank Enilding


 just destroyed the arbitrary force of a military Junta- It will live under no other. All that is arbitrary and coer- cive is in the discard. Those who seek to employ it only prepare their own destruction.
 We cannot hastily and over night revolutionize all the processes of our economic life. We shall not attempt to do so. These are days of deep ex- eitement and of extravaSant speech; |. but with us these are things of the surface. Every ono who is in real touch with the silent masses of our great people knows that the old strong fibre and steady self-control are still there, firm against violence or any distempered action that would throw their affairs into confusion.
 I am serenely confident that they will readily find themselves, no mat ter what the circumstances, and that they will address themselves to the tasks of peace with the same devo- ton and the same stalwart preference for what is right that they displayed to the admiration of the whole world in the midst of war.
 And I entertain another confident hope. l have spoken today chiefly of measures of imperative regulation and legal compulsion, of prosecutions and the sharp correction of selfish processes; and these doubt are necessary. But there are other forces that we may count on besides those resident in the Department of Justice.
 We have just fully awakened to what has been going on and to the influences, many of them very selfish and sinister. that have been produc- ing high prices and imposing an in tolerable burden on the mass of our people. To have brought 1t all into the open will accomplish the greater part of the result we seek.
 I appeal with entire confidence to our producers. our middlemen and our merchants to deal fairly with the people. It is their opportunity to show that they comprehend, that they intend to act justly, and that they have the public interest sincerely at heart. And I have no doubt that housckeepers all over the country and every one who buys the things he daily stands in need of will present. ly exercise a greater vigilance, a more thoughtful economy, q more discriminating care as to the mar ket in which he buys or the merchant  hitherto exercised.
 believe. too, that the more ex- tremc leaders of organized labor will presently yield to a sober second thought and, like the great mass of their associates, think and act like true Americans. They will see that strikes undertaken at this critical time are certain to make matters worse. not bettcr-worse for them and for everybody else. The worst thing, the most fatal thing that can be done now is to stop or interrupt the production or to in- trrfcrc with the distribution of goods by the railways and the shipping of the country. We are all involved in the distressing result of the high cost of living and we must unite, not di- vide. to correct 1t. There are many things that ought to be corrected in the relations between capital and la bor in respect of wages and condi- tions of labor and other things even more far reaching. and I for one am ready to go into conference about these matters with any group of my fellow countrymep who know what they arc talking about and are will ling to remedy existing conditions by frank counsel rather than by violent contest.
 
 are fin n temper. and there can be no settlement which does not have as its motive and standard the general in- tcrcst. Threats and undue insistence upon the interest of a single class make settlement impossible.
 believe. as I have hitherto had occasion to say to the Congress- thai the industry and life of our people and of the world will suffer irrepara- ble damage if employers and work men arc to Eo on in n perpetual con test antagonists. They must, on one plan or another, be effectively as- sociated. Have we not steadiness and se1f-possession and business sense enough to work out that result? Un- doubtcdly we have. and we shall work it out. In the meantime-now and in the days of readjustnent and re- cuperatton that are ahead of us-let us resort more and more to frank and intimate counsel and make our solves great and triumphant by mak- ing ourselves a united force in the life of the world. It will not then havo looked to us for leadership in vain.
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