Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-08-09

embCdytng Recommendations designed
to reduce the, cost Of living follows:
Gentlemen of~the Congress-:
1 have sought This opportunity to
address you because It 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 1 am capable the legislative
measures which would be most effect
i've in controlling 1t and bringing It
down. The prices the people of this
country are paying for everything
that 1t is necessary for them to use N
order to live are not justified by y
shortage in supply. either present or
prospective, and are in many cases
artificially and deliberately created By
vicious practices which ought immedi-
ately to be checked by Law. They
constitute a burden upon VI which is
the more undesirable because We
know that it is wilfully imposed by
those who have the power. and that 1t
can by vigorous public action be
greatly lightened and made to square
with the actual conditions 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 theoretically proceeded
against: but others have not yet been
I okOA&Aht uiucE GiS law ana NQOutV %
dealt with at once by legislation.
{ Problem Touches All.
I need not recite the particulars Of
this critical matter; the prices de-
manded and paid at the sources Of
supply. at the factory, in. the food
markets at the shops. in h restaur-
and in the village. They are familiar
to you. They are the talk of YER
domestic circle and Of every group Of
casual acquaintaneee even. 1t is 4
matter of familiar knowledge also.
that a progress has set in which is
likely. unless something is done. to
push prices and rents and the whole
cost Of living higher and yet higher.
in . vicious cycle. to which there is
no logical or natural end. With the
increase in h prices of the n~ecessar-
les of life come demands for increases
in wages-demands which are justi-
fed il there be no other means Of en-
abling men to live. Upon the increase
Of wages, there follows close an in
crease in the price Of products whose
producers have been accorded the in
for h manufacturer oes not content
himself with that, but. an increase
considerably greater than the added
wage cost and for which the added
wage cost is often-times hardly more
than an excuse. The laborers who do
not get an increase in pay when they
demand it are likely to strike, and
the strike only makes matters worse.
1t checks production, IL it affects the
railway it prevents distribution and
trips the markets., 50 that there is
presently nothing to buy. and there is
another excessive addition to prices
resulting from the scarcity.
These are facts and forces with
which we have become only o fam
iliar, but we are not justified because
of our familiarity with them or be-
cause Of any hasty and shallow con-
~clusion that they are natural and
letting them work their fatal results
If there is anything that We can do
to check, correct. or reverse them.
have sought this opportunity to in
form the Congress what the execu-
tive is doing by way Of remedy and
control, and to suggest where effect
i've legal remedies are lacking and
may be supplied.
Period Of Waiting.
We must, I think. frankly admit
that there is no complete immediate
remedy to be had from legislation and
executive. action. The three processes
Of supply and demand will not operate
of themselves and no legislative or
executive action can force them into
full and natural operation until there
is peace. There is now neither peace
nor war. All the world is waiting
with what unnerving fears and haunt
ing doubts who can adequately say
waiting to know when it comes. A
peace in which each nation shall make
shift for itself, as it can, or a peace
b~uttressed and supported by the will
and concer Of the nations that have
the purpose and the power to do and
to enforce what is right. Politically
economically. socially the world is on
the operating table, and it las not
been possible to administer any an
watches the capital operation upon
which it knows that its hope of
healthful life depends. 1t cannot
think its business plans put or make
, plans, or give intelligent and provid-
ent direction to its affairs while IL
such case. Where there is no peace
Of mind there can be no energy in
e%ndeavor. There can be no confidence
in industry. no calculable basis fol-
, tematic selling, no certain prospect OF
employment, no normal restoration OF
business, no hopeful attempt at re-
construction or h proper reassembl.
ing Of the dislocated elements Of en-.
{ terprise until eace has been estab.
/, Nshed, and SO far as may be, guaran'
tced.
Our national life has no doubt beer
: less radically disturbed and dismem.
bered han the national life of Other
peoples whom the var more directl!
. affected. with all its terrible ravagins
! and destructive force, but it has been
nevertheless, profoundly affected and
: disarranged. and our industries, oul
, credits, our productive capacity, oul
economic processes. are inextricabl,
e interviewer with those of other nationi
and peoples-most intimately of al
with the nations and peoples upol
! whom the chief burden and, confusion
of the war fell and who are now mos
dependent upon the cooperative &C
ton of the world.
Shipping Moro Than Ever.
We are just now shipping NOR,
goods out of our ports to foretgl
ports than we ever shipped before
not foodstuffs merely, but stuffs an,
materials of every sort, but this is n
index Of what sur foreign sales vii
continue to be or Of the effect tn
volume Of our exports will have Of
supplies and prices. It is impossibl
f1yet to predict how far. or how lon
foreign purchasers will be able t
find money or credit to- pay for o
sustain such purchases on such
scale; how soon or to what extern
foreign manufacturers can resum
their former production. foreigl
farmers get thei. accustomed crou