The Tomahawk., 1919-08-21
WILSON GIVES
A|CA-CoST CURE
President, In Message to Con-
gress, Asks Strict Penalty
For All Profiteering.

WOULD CONTROL FOOD
Extension Of War Act a. Permanen,
Law, Regulation Of Cold Storage,
Federal Licensing and Limit
Ing Of Profits Asked. =.
Washington. Aug. 9.-President VIII
son has proposed to congress the fol
lowing definite program Of legislation
to cope with the high cost Of living:
Extension of the Lever food con
troll act to peacetime and broadening
Of its authorizing provisions to cover
toodstuffs, fuel. clothing and other In
disputable necessaries of life.
Enactment Of law regulating cold
storage.
Federal licensing Of all corporations
engaged in interstate commerce with
specific regulations to prevent "un
eonSc1Onablo pro0tS.
Passage of the bill now pending fol-
control Of security issues.
Provision Of adequate funds for gov
ernment agencies to enable them to
give full publicity to costs and selling
profits.
Definite provision for a penalty TO,
prohteerfng.
Provision for marking on the pack
ago the price paid to the producer OF
all goods to be shipped in interstate
commerce.
The Message.
The President said:
have sought this opportunity to ad
dress you because 1t is clearly my duty
to call your attention to the present
cost of living and to urge upon you
With all the persuasive force Of which
I am capable, the legislative measures
which would be most effective in con
trolling it and bringing 1t down.
The prices the people of this country
are paying for. everything that 1t IL
necessary for them to use in order to
live, are not justified by a shortage in
supply, either present or prospective
and are in many cases artif1cially and
deliberately created by vicious prac
tices which ought Immediately to be
checked by law.
They constitute a burden upon us
which Is the more unbearable because
we know that it is wilfully imposed
by those who have the power and that
It can by vigorous action be greatly
lightened and made to square with the
actual conditions of supply and dc.
mand.
Some of the methods by which these
prices are produced are already illegal.
some of them criminal and those who
employ 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 legis-
lation.
All vltaIIy Interested.
lneed not recite the particulars of
this critical matter, the prices demand.
cd and paid at the sources of supply,
at the factory, in the food markets, at
tho shops, in the restaurants and
hotels, alike in the city and in the vii.
lage. They are familiar to you. They
are the talk of every home circle and
Of every group Of casual acquaintancea
even.
It 10 a matter of familiar knowl-
edge also that process has set in
which 10 likely, unless something ID
done, to push prices and rents and the
whole cost of living higher and yet
higher in vicious cycle to which there
10 no logical or natural end. With the
increase in tho prices of the necessar-
les of life come demands for increases
In wages-demands which are justified
II there be no other means OF enabling
men to live.
The laborers who do not get an in
crease in pay when they demand It
are likely to strike and the strike only
makes matters worse. It checks pro-
duction; If it affects the railways It
prevents distribution and strips the
markets, 50 that there 10 presently
nothing to buy and there is another
excessive addition to prices resulting
from the scarcity.
We must, I think, frankly admit
there Is no complete immediate reme-
dy to be had from legislation and exec
utive action. The free processes of
supply and demand will not operate of
themselves and no legislative or exec
utive action can force them into full
and natural operation until there II
peace.
Other Nations Lock 70 y. ..
Our national life has no doubt been
less radically disturbed and dismsm-
bered than tho national life Of other
peoples whom the war more directly
affected. with all its terrible ravaginG
and destructive force, but 1t has been.
nevertheless, profoundly affected and
disarranged, and our Industries, our
credits, our productive capacity, our
economic processes. are inextricably
Colombian rrsaty Again Held Up.
WashinRtnn Au4 a nrAaidenfial