Arizona republican., 1919-04-11
PRICES
 ARE TOO HIGH
 HINES STATES
Director General Will Not Be Governed by Figures of Industrial Board Which Threatens to Appeal to President Wilson.

WASHINGTON, April 10-Accept- { ance by the railroad administration of | the steel prices agreed upon by the | representatives Of the industry and 1 the department of commences indus | trial. board, was definitely and form ally refused today by Director Gen ! eral Hines. The refusal was an- nounced after MT. Hines had 1 conferred with Chairman George 1 x. Peek, of the board.
 The director generals decision an nounced as final. was based upon the grounds that the prices as agreed on are too high; that the industrial board was without power to impose them upon the railroad administration and that the return of all prices to normal will be seriously retarded by the ap- proval by a governmental purchasing agency for prices which it deems ex- cessive'
 Chairman Peek of the industrial board let it be known after his con ference with Director General Hines that he would present the questions involved in the controversy with the railroad administration to President Wilson and would ask the president to sustain the action of the board. After repeated consideration of the steel and iron prices proposed by the industrial board" said a statement by MT. Hines, q am still of the opinion that those prices are too high and therefore that the railroad adminis- tration cannot approve them as being ! reasonable prices.
 ''To the extent that the railroad ad ministration finds it necessary to make purchases, it win continue to 1 make them on the best terms obtain able by fair and just methods. with ] full recognition of the principle that Q government agency with large pur- chasing power must be particularly careful not even to attempt action which would be regarded as oppres- sive.
 "The object of the railroad admin istration throughout has been to ob- tain a fair and reasonable price level. It has never contemplated that it 1 should get a lower price Level than l the general public.
 j If the industrial board can assist in bringing about levels of prices at which the railroad administration will
 feel Justified in buying, it's co-opera-
 ton will be welcomed"
 Accounting the history of the nego-
 tiations, MT. Hines stated that his
 counsellors agreed unanimously that
 the industrial boards steel prices were
 too high.
 Chairman Peek's Statement
 Chairman Peek of the board, tonight
 issued a statement in part as follows;
 The director general of railroads
 today gave to the press a statement
 definitely refusing to accept the prices
 on steel approved by the industrial
 board as representing fair prices for
 public buying. This statement dis
 closes what has already been develop
 ed in repeated conferences with the
 railroad administration that the req
 sons for the director generals refusal are, first that he denies the right o1
 the industrial board to impose price
 upon the railroad administration ant
 second, that he is of the opinion thai { the prices are too high
 The public must be informed of the
 magnitude of the solemn responsibility l dSSu1leu Dy the general II
 this important decision.
 ;. The industrial board was formed tc cary out a perfectly defined industria plan to which the government is rep t resented by the president the cabine , and the director general, was full, | committed , To the complete success of this plan
 however, there was one absolute es
 ort al t1,at hn f1l dar,a 1-t , ments should express the confidenc , of the government in the execution o f these most important policies Els
 pecially is this true in respect of stee rails, in the buying of which the gov
 ernment, through it's control of tn , railroads, consumes a very large per
 centage of the output.
 i At this late date, execution of tn e plan has been denied by the director e general of railroads and by that de @ nial the labor of the industrial boar Y is set at naught and the governmen . is exhibited as setting up an industris
 policy with one hand and destroyin s it with the other.
 = Considering the first of the direct h ors reasons for refusing to accept tn y steel prices-that the industrial boar c has no right to impose price on tn
 railroad administration-the technic; t perogatives of the railroad admins t tration must be and always have bee s cheerfully conceded by the industri; = board. But presuming the governmer n to have been committed to this i'm :, portant industrial policy, the boar r feels that the railroad administratio s is under a powerful if not a compel e ing obligation, either to have the gov e ernmentaI policy abandoned by tf
 same source that announced it and
 assume the fullest responsibility fC
 the inevitable effect of such a step e or to support the policy, or 10 dernor ' strate that the industrial board hs z failed in it's function and that price r announced by the board are not fai e This brings up to the second of u V director generals reasons for h q grave action-that in his opinion u 2 prices are too high The signif IT canoe of this expression cannot l l. overlooked.
 e "A representative of the railroad at e ministration is a member and a pa L. of the board Contrary to Mir. Hine l. impression, this representative did n ,f maintain that the prices of steel ger n orally were too high He finally di
 scented only to the price of rails. Tn;
 is not, however, the circumstances
 greatest significance which is tha
 throughout the, discussion, from i l. earliest word to this latest pronounce l. ment, the, figures representing costs Is production were constantly avaiiab % to the railroad administration repr l. sentatives and the basis upon whit ,f nopc1,iciorS have heap raocbad h.