, 1919-08-07

pecially well %patronized by the people
of small towns n rural districts, and
1t was predicted that the supplies
would be disposed of within q week.
OF course such n measure as this
is only a drop in the bucket, and it is
being more and more forcibly Impress
ed on the government that it must do
something to make the cost of life'S
necessities square with the incomes
of the people. The advisory board of
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi-
neers too up the matter directly with
the president, presenting to him a
memorandum which he characterized
us an Impressive document" and
ordered made public. The board ap-
pealed to the president and cabinet
for government action to increase the
purchasing power OF the dollar, fail
ing in which, it said. the engineers
would have to ask a further increase
In wages. The memorandum asserted
that the spirit of unrest existing
among all classes, especially wage
earners, was due mainly to the con-
~scIenceless profiteering by the great
interests who have secured control of
all the necessaries of life" The en-
gineers are wise enough to see and
to admit that increasing the wages
is but temporary relief so long as
prices continue to soar.
Just before the engineers visited the
White House Democratic National
Chairman Cummings reported to the
president on his political inspection
trip over the country, telling Mr.. Will
son of the growing Importance of ac-
ton to reduce the cost CT living. What
form that action will take, when II
comes, cannot be conjectured even
from the fact that official investiga-
lions of various kinds of alleged prof.
teering are under way or proposed.
The Immediate result of all this was
a conference of cabinet members and
heads of bureaus called by Attorney
General Palmer for the purpose of
discussing the situation and possible
remedies. The government will seek
to stop and punish protiteering, to de-
termine the contributing cause for
high prices and to devise remedies for
immediate relief for the public.
The administration Is gravely con-
cerned over the manifest discomfort
of the American farmers, which ONE
Just at a time when the official es-
Inmates of the nations wheat crop
have had to be greatly reduced. The
farmers have been dissatisfied with
the system of grading fixed by the bu-
rear of markets of the department of
agriculture. and now, as Chairman
Barnes of the government grain cor
poration told the president, they are
protesting against IN order from the
corporation fixing a schedule of dis
counts for the lower grades of wheat.
This, they assert, deprives them of an
unreasonably large part of the guar
anteed price of S2.26 per bushel, the
amount received being in some in
stances as low as S1.45 per bushel.
The Franco-American defense treaty
was submitted to the senate. and at
once became a subject of debate in
the committee on foreign relations,
along with the peace treaty. President
Wilson, in asking its approval, said
he considered the treaty with Ger
many and the covenant of the League
Of Nations gave France full protec-
ton, but that he had been moved to
the treaty by considerations of friend
ship and gratitude to France. oppo-
sition senators protested that this
pact violated the constitutional right
Of congress to make war, to which the
presidents supporters had the obvious
retort that It created no precedent,
similar action having been taken In
numerous cases in the past.
The foreign relations committee did
an unusual IL not unprecedented thing
in holding public hearings on the peace
treaty. Bernard Baruch was the first