The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-08-20

| dyce VS.. Jarndyce.
Transportation by canal, twelve to
fifteen times above our normal rates
now.
What was the result? Briefly, "for
the veriest trifies much blood was
she'd"
The scarcity grew much more, un-
til after the death of many persons the
law was repealed from mere necessity.
Thus came to an end this early ef
fort to reduce the high cost of
living"
Economic Law Supreme.
! Professor Abbott says Emperor JUL
ian made a similar attempt sixty
years later. and he like Diocletian.
had to acknowledge his inability to
cope with economic law"
1t would seem that social unrest
balks not at maximum payrolls Of
say, 50 to $40 per day now as against
/ 30 cents per day in A. D. SOL.
! Hon. Andrew D. White, former
President of Cornell University, for
mer Minister to Germany and Russia,
wildly portrays a lamentable failure
of The Law Of the Maximum" in
France in 1898, notwithstanding the
guillotine was freely used to compel
compliance with the edict. Mr.. White
says: There are limitations to the
powers of Government and of peoples
that inhere in the constitution Of
things, and that neither despotisms
nor democracies can overcome" He
!, doubtless referred specifically to reg
ulation of prices. &c.
Permit us to add this testimony Of
, T. R. Nautilus from his Essay on
Population as 1t Affects the Future
/ Improvement of Society,"" (179S) ::
Nautilus declares THE absolute impos-
sibility, from the fixed laws of our
, nature, that the pressure of want can
ever completely be removed from the
} lower classes of society" AS space
forbids, in proof of our contention,
| will quote the substance of Nautilus s
, philosophical conclusions. Listen:
, Suppose, that by subscription OF
2 the rich, the IS pence day men earn
, now, was made shillings. 1t might be
i. imagined that they would then be
. able to live comfortably and have a
t piece of meat every day. But this
= transfer of shillings and 6 pence a
: day to every laborer would not in
4 crease the quantity of meat in the
s country. There is not at present
+ enough for all to have decent share
n What would then be the consequence:
y The competition among the buyers il
the market Of meat would rapidly
l. raise the price from or 7 pence tc
shillings a pound"
d Including abnormal demands for ex
e port abroad that condition clearly ha:
s. resulted here and now with the result
e that the masses suffer most.
Again: Supposing that the same
r quantity of work Is done as before
s it may at first appear strange. but be
lieve it is true, that ! cannot by mean:
of money enable poor man to live
n much better than he did before. If
e turn up a piece of agricultural land
7 and give him the produce, then bene
d fit him. and all the members of SC
ciety," &C.
}, May we not well ask all thoughtful
y men If these simple illustrations d.
r not point out the true diagnosis Of tn
It high cost of living as against the por
!, derous piffle for shorter work hour
" that the powers that be are spreading
r broadcast throughout the land, breed
d ing greater and greater distress an
5, discomfort? Do not these simple i
y Illustrations prove that increased pre-
duction is the only sane remedy?
Present Conditions.
8 Permit us to brief conditions sine
l. the war began, to the end that the tru
s. causes for the high cost of living ma
$, be fairly understood.
q Let US call pre-war prices normal l.
n the United States in 1914. Since the,
1t the productive energies of 30000,0O
e to 100000 Of men, also vast MANI
IS featuring plants have been turne
into destructive instead of construct
J. i've employments. AS some 100000
r, strong men and 100000 tons Q
s. shipping have been ruthlessly destroy
y. ed; as the remaining ships at CON
y mand have been largely used in trans
e, porting armies, munitions, e., acros
r the seas; as war-torn Europe, tina
r could not produce much before to SUI:
4, tain life. has produced less food an
a other necessaries than prevailed bt
q fore 1914; as the Russian supple:
10 which formerly helped to feed Europe
IS were confscated under Lenine an
Trotzky. and that great source of SUI
le ply practically cut off; as shortag
:. of shipping has greatly curtailed tn
neutral world from helping suppl
the war zone: as starving Europe erie
aloud for food, &C, from the Unite
States; as since the armistice wa
signed the demobilizing and chang