Republican farmer., 1919-08-15
TEXT OF PRESIDENTS MESSAGE TO
 CONGRESS ON HIGH COST OF LIVING

: and of textiles nave been materially | affected by forms of concert and CO., | operation among the producers and marketers of these and other univer- sally necessary commodities which it | will be possible to redress.
 No watehful or energetic effort will | be spared to accomplish this necessary | result l trust that there will not be many cases In which prosecution will | be necessary. Public opinion will no i doubt cause many who have perhaps unyittingly adopted illegal methods | to abandon them promptly and of | their own motion.
 1 And publicity can accomplish a great deal. The purchaser can often take care of himself if he knows the facts and influences he is dealing with; and purchasers not dtsin- clined to do anything, either singly collectively, that may be necessary for their self-protectton. The Department of Commerce, the Department of Ag- riculture, the Department of Labor and the Federal Trade Commission can do a great deal toward supplying the public, systematically and at short intervals, with information re- garding the actual supply of pe-ttcu- lar commodities that Is in existence and available, and with regard to sup plies which are in existence but not available because of hoarding, and | with regard to the methods of price fixing which are being used by dealers in certain foodstufrs and other neces- saries
 There can be little doubt that re- | tailers are in part-sometimes in large 1 part - responsible for axorbitant
 prices: and it Is quite practicable for ! the Government, through the asen- cies I have mentioned, to supply the { public with full information as to the prices at which retailers buy and as ! to the costs of transportation they pay, in order that 1t may be known just what margin of profit they are 1 demanding. Opinion and concerted action on the part of purchasers can ! probably do the rest.
 That is, those agencies may per- form this indispensable service pro- vided the Congress will supply them with the necessary funds to prosecute
 their inquiries and keep their price | lists up to date. Hitherto the ap- | proprfadon committees of the houses
 have not always, I fear, seen the full l value. of these inquiries, and the de- | partments and commissi ons have | been very much straitened for mean s | to render this service
 That adequate funds be provided by appropriation for this purpose | and provided promptly as possible
 is one of the means of greatly amel- l iorating the present distressing con- l ditions of livelihood that I have come | to urge, in this attempt to concert 1 with you the best ways to serve the | country in this emergency. It is one
 of the absolutely necessary means,
 underlying many others and can be supplied at once
 There are many other ways Ex- | isting law is Inadequate. There are
 many perfectly legitimate methods by | which the government can exercise i restraint and guidance
 Let me urge, in the first place. that | the present food control act should | be extended both as to the period of 1 time during which it shall remain in
 operation and to the commodities
 to which it shall apply. Its provis-
 ions against hoarding should be made
 to apply not only to food but also to
 foodstuffs, to fuel, to clothing. and to
 many other commodities which are
 1ndisputably necessaries of life.
 As it sands now it is limited in op-
 eration to the period of the war and becomes Imperative upon the formal
 procla nation of peace. But 1 should
 judge that it was clearly within the
 
 to make similar permanent provisions
 and regulations with regard to all goods destined for interstate com
 merce and to exclude them from in
 terstate shipment if the requirements
 of the law are not compiled with. ! Some such regulation is imperative | ly necessary The abuses that have grown up in the manipulation of
 prices by the withholding of food
 stuffs and other necessaries of life
 cannot otherwise be effectively pre- either the necessity or the legitimacy
 of such measures.
 May I not call attention to the fact
 also that although the present act
 prohibits profteering the prohibition , Is accompanied by no penalty It is clearly in the public interest that a : penalty should be provided which , will be persua sive.
 ? To the same end I earnestly rec omm end. in the second place. that the Congress pass a law regulating cold
 storage as it is regulated, for exam pie. by the laws of the State of New
 Jersey, which limit the time during
 which goods may be kept in storage, , prescribe the method of disposing of them if kept beyond the permitted period, and require that goods re- ITOHl storage snail In all eases
 bear the date of their receipt It would materially add to the ser viceability of the law, for the purpose we now have in view, if it were also prescribed that all goods released from storage for interstate shipment should have plainly marked upon
 each package the selling or mark ct price at which they went into storage. } By this means the purchaser would always be able to learn what profits - stood between him and the producer or the wholesale dealer.
 It would serve d useful exam pie , to the other communities of the coun- 5 try, as well as greatly relieve loca distress. if the Congress were to regu-
 late all such matters very fully for the District of Columbia where fits
 legislative authority Is without limit 7 I would also recommend that it be , required that all goods destined for t interstate commerce should. in every , case where their form or package 7 makes it possible, be plainly marked