Republican farmer., 1919-08-15

"ASAt AAiS eliuS OL lIle cur All these things must remain un- certain until peace is established and the nations of the world have con- certed the methods by which normal | life and industry are to be restored.
 All that we shall do, in the m neantime, ! to restrain proflteering and put the | life of our people upon & tolerable ! footing will be mak eshift and pro
 visional.
 There can be no settled conditions | here or elsewhere until the treaty of ! peace Is out of the way and the work Of liuuidatIng the war has become ! tho chief concern of our government and of the other governments of the
 world. Until then business will inev-
 itebly remain speculative and sway now this way and again that, with
 heavy losses or heavy gains as it may ! chance. and the consumer must take
 care of both the gains and the losses. | There can be no peace prices so long 1 as our whole financial and economic ! system is on a war basis.
 Europe will not, cannot recoup her l capital put her restless, distra ! peoples to work until she knows ex- | actiy where she stands in respect of ] peace; and what we will do is for her ] the chief question upon which her l quietude of mind and confidence of purpose depend. While there Is any i possio oiltty that the peace terms may [ be changed or may be held long in abeyance or may not be enforced be- | cause of divisions of opinion among | tho Powers associated against Ger many 1t is idle to look for perman ent { relief.
 But what we can do we should do, : and should do at once. And there is
 a great deal that we can do, provis- | ionaI though it be. Wheat shipments | and credits to facilitate the purchase : of our wheat and will be limited ! and controlled in such a way as not . to raise but rather to lower the price ! of flour here. The Government has
 the power. within certain limits. to ' regulate that.
 ' Wo cannot deny wheat to foreign peoples who are in dire need of 1t. | and we do not wish to do so; but for ! tunatsly, though the wheat crop is | not what we hoped it would be, 1t is [ abundant if handled with provid ent ! care. The price of wheat is lower | in the United States than in Europe and can with proper mana cement be | kept so.
 | By way of immediate relief, sur
 plus stocks of both food and cloth ! ing in the hands of the government [ will be sold. and, of course, sold at prices at which there Is no profit. And by way of a more permanent ! correction of prices surplus stocks in private hands will be drawn out of ! stora ge and put upon the market i Fortunately. under the terms Of the i food control act the hoardins of food
 stuns can be checked and prevented; ; ! | energy.
 Foodstuffs can be drawn out of
 storage and sos5I by legal action which ! the Department of Justice will inst1- ' tutc wherever necessary; but so soon
 as the situation is systematically dealt ! with it is not likely that the courts | will often have to be resorted to.
 Much of the accommodating of stocks : has no doubt been due to the sort of [ speculation which always results from | uncertainty. Great surpluses were ! accunl ulated because 1t was impossi- | ble to foresee what the market
 would disclose and dealers were de- | termined to be ready for whatever ! might happen, as well as eager to ] reap the full advantage of rising l prices. They will now see the disad | vantage. as well the danger, of l holding off from the new process of
 distribution.
 Some very interesting and signifi-
 cant facts with regard to stocks on l hand and the rise of prices in the face of abundance have been disclosed by the inquiries of the Department of
 AEriculture the Department of Labor
 and the Federal Trade Commission.
 They seem to justify the statement
 that in the case of many necessary
 commodities effective means have
 been found to prevent the normal
 operation of the law of supply and
 demand.
 Disregarding the surplus stocks in
 the hands of the Government. there
 was q greater supply of foodstuffs in 1 this country on June l of this year than at the same date last year. In the combined total of a number of the most important foods in dry and cold storage the excess is quite 19 pe1 ! cent. And yet prices have risen. ! The supply of fresh eggs on hand 2 in June of this year, for example wus greater by nearly 10 per cent than the supply on hand at the same } time lart year. and yet the wholesale price was 40 cents a dozen as agains ) 90 cents a year ago.
 } The stock of frozen fowls had in- . tcreased more than 29s per cent, and I yet the price had risen also, from 3 F l cents per pound to 371 cents The l supply of creamery butter had in creased 129 per cent. and the price from Al to 53 cents per pound $ The supply of salt beef had beer 7 augmented 3 per cent, and the price
 had gone up from s34 a barrel to $st [ a barrel Cannes corn had increas- ed in stock nearly s2 per cent. and f had remained substantially the same 9 in price. In a few foodstuffs the Q prices had declined. but in nothing [ like the proportion in which the sup ply had increased.
 For example. the stock of canned - tomatoes had increased 1o2 per cent 2 and yet the price had declined only g cents per dozen cans. In some cases there had been rhe usual reeul l of an increase of price following 2 T decrease of supply, but in almost every l instance the increase of price had I been disproportionate to the decrease - in stock.
 g The Attorney-General has beer I mal.ins a careful study of the situa