The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-08-08
EXTENSION OF FOOD CON-
TR0L URGED.
"We Are Dealing With Criti.
cal and Difficult
Matters"
WILSON TELLS CONGRESS
Admonishes Calm Dehbera.
tion, but Declares Produc-

tion Must Be Quickened.
House Chamber, Capitol,
Washington, Aug. 8.-Exten-
sion of the present food control
act, both as to its period of op-
Grafton and to include all COM
modities indisputably neces-
saries of life, regulation of cold
! storage to define the limits
within which foodstuffs can be
held, marking of all goods des-
tined for interstate commerce
with the price at which they left
the hands of the producer, fed
eral licenses for all corporations
and persons engaged in inter-
state commerce which will pro-
vide for competitive selling and
! passage of the pending bill CIV
ing the capital issues commits
sion control of security issues,
are the remedies proposed by
President Wilson today in his
address to congress to meet the
existing high cost Of living.
The president told congress
that 1--WE are dealing with very
critical and very difficult mat
ters." He declared that there
is no ground for some of the
fearful forecasts | hear uttered
about me, but the condition Of
the world is unquestionably very
grave, and we should face il
comprehendingly."
The president appealed for
calm and deliberate considera-
ton of the existing situation. He
declared that the world was
paying for the appalling de-
struction wrought by the great
war. American production must
be quickened, not .slackened, hA
declared, andsAmerica must 'sic
Europe to restore normal condi-
tions.
The president spoke in part as fol-
lows:
Gentlemen OF the Congress-
| have sought this opportunity
to address you because 1t Is
clearly my duty to- call your at
tention to the present cost OF liv-
ing and to urge upon you with,
all the persuasive force of which
/ am capable the legislative
measures which would be most
effective in controlling and bring
ing it down. The prices the
people of this country are paying
for everything that it is neces-
sarY for them to use to live are
not justified by a shortage in
supply. either present or pros
pective, and are in many cases
artificially and deliberately Gre
ated by vicious practices which
ought Immediately to be checked
by law. They constitute bur-
den upon us which is the more
unbearable because we know that
1t is wilfully imposed by those
who have the power. and that it
can by vigorous public action be
square with the actual conditions
greatly lightened and made TO
Of supply and demand Some of
the methods by which these
prices are produced are already
Illegal, some Of them criminal,
and those who employ them will
be energ 6 e lily proceeded
against; but others have not yet
been brought under the law and
should be dealt with at once by
legislation.
Il need not reote the particu-
lars of this critical matter: The
prices demanded and paid at the
sources of supply at the factory,
in the food markets. at the shops,
in the restaurants and hotels,
alike in the city and in ths viii
lage. They are familiar to you.
They are the talk of every demo-
cratic circle and of every group
OF casual acquaintances even. II
is matter of familiar knowl-
edge, Also that a process has set
in which is likely, unless some
thing is done, to push prices and
rents and the whole cost of liv-
ing higher and vet higher in a
vicious cycle to which there is no
logical or natural end.
With the increa ses in the prices
Of the necessaries of life, come
demands which are justified IL
there be no other means OF en-
abling men to live. Upon the
increase OF wages there follows
close an increase in the price OF
the products whose producers
have been accorded the increase
not proportionate increase,
for the manufacturer does not
content himself with that, but
an increase considerably greater
than the added wage cost and for
which the added wage cost is
oftentimes hardly more than
an excuse. The laborers who did
not get an increase in pay when Z
they demand it are likely TO strike
and the strike only makes mat
ters worse. 1t checks produce
tion. II It affects the railways II
prevents distribution and strips
the markets. so that there is
presently nothing to buy, and
there is another excessive ad.