Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-08-09

TIOIu age OilS.J
 scmhling of the dislocated clements o1 enterprises until peace has been es- tabiished and, so far as may be guaranteed.
 Our national life has no doubt been less radically disturbed and usmembered than the national life Il other peoples whom the war more directly affected, with all it's terribS lsvaging and destructive force, but it has been, nevertheless, profoundly affected and disarranged, and our industries, our credits, our productive capacity, our economic processes, ahe ineatricably interwoven with those of other nations and peoples most in- tlmately of all with the nations and peoples upon whom the chief burden and confusion of the war fell and who are now most dependent upon the cooperative action of the world.
 Certainty Factor.
 We are just now shipping more goods out of. our ports to foreign markets than we ever shipped before - noI toodstuffs merely, put stutfs and materials of every sort; but this Is no lnuex o1 what our foreign sales will continue to be or of the effect the volume of our exports will have cn supplies and prices. u is is im- possible yet to predict how far or now long foreign purchasers will be able to ind the money or the credit to pay for or sustain such pur- cnases on such scale; how soon or to what extent foreign manufactur- CTS c;-n resume their former produc- ton, ;orelgn farmers get thelr ac- cuStOmed crops from their own fields: foreign mines resume their former output, torelgn merchants set up agala their old machinery of trade with the ends of the earth.
 All these things must remain un- certain until peace is established and the nations of the world have con- uertec the methods by which normal life and industry are to be restored. All that we shall do, in the meantime, to festlaln proflteerings and put the lite Of our people upon a tolerable footing will be makeshift and pro- vlslonal There can be no settled conditions here or elsewhere until the treaty of peace is out of the way and the work of liquidating the war has become the chief concern of our government and of the other govern ments of the world. Until then busi- ness will inevitably remain specula- tive 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 price so long as our whole financial and economic system is on war basis. Europe will not, cannot recoup her capital or put her restless, distracted peoples to work until she knows exactly where sne stands in respect of peace; and what we shall do is for her the chief gues- tlon upon which her quietude mind and purpose depends. While there IS no possibility that the peace terms may be changed or may be held long Tn abeyance or may not be enforced because of divisions of opinion among the powers associated against Ger many, it is idle to look for perman ent relief.
 Check Storage.
 But what we can do we should do, and should do at once. And there is a great deal that we can do, pro visional though it be. Wheat ship Iaents and, credits to facilitate the purchase of our wheat can and will he limited and controlled in such (. way as not to raise but rather to low IT the price of flour here. Tt.e gov eff.nent has the power, within cc..- tain limits, to regulate that. ...e cannot deny wheat to foreign peoples whc are in dire need of it, and .e da rot wish to do so: but fortunately, though the wheat crop is not what we had hoped it would be, it is abun dant if handled with provident care. The price of wheat is lower in the United States than in Europe and can with proper management 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 correct ion of prices, surplus stocks in pri- vate hands will be drawn out of stor- age and put upon the market. For tunately, under the terms of the food control act the hoarding of food stuffs can be checked and prevented; and they will be, with the greatest energy. Food stuffs can be drawn out of storage and sold by legal action, which the department of justice will 1; institute wherever necessary; but as son as the situation is systematically | dealt with it is not likely that the courts will often have to be. resorted to. Much of the accumulating of stocks has, no doubt, been due to the sort of speculations which always | results from uncertainty. Great | surpluses were accumulated because It was impossible to foresee what the market would disclose and deal- CTS were determined to be ready for whatever might happen, as well as eager to reap the full advantage of rising prices. They will now see the disadvantage of, as we'll as the dan- ger, of holding off from the new pro- :es of distribution.