Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1919-10-08
FINDINGS BUT LITTLE ACTION.

|STHEY are stronger on findings and
Than any other place in the United
Estates. The latest illustration of this
~ found in the report of the United
States Council of National Defense
which has been giving the high cost
Of living some little thought. Not
that the findings of this very excellent
body are not interesting. Indeed they
lions have not been acted upon and
probably will not be. Congress seems
to have forgotten that there Is such
b domestic problem as unreasonable,
unfair and exorbitant. prices being
enlarged for the necessities Of life. The
counciPs report may jar that body but
we doubt it.
This council finds: That the nations
productive powers have not been fully
utilized since the armistice; that too
few goods, notably, the necessities of
life. have been produced, and that even
some of these goods have been with
held from the market and therefore
living is due in part to unavoidable war
waste and increase Of money and
credit; that there has been and is con-
siderable profiteering, intentional and
unintentional.
There is nothing particularly start
ling about the findings OF the council.
sion lon: ago. But in the recommen-
dations of the council offered rs a
remedy, there is some food for thought
They are: To produce moro goods
and to produce hem in proportion to
the needs of the people; to stamp out
proflteering and stop unnecessary
boarding; to enforce vigorously present
laws and promptly to enact such
further laws as are necessary to pre-
vent and punish profiteering and need
less boarding; to bring about better
60 operation and method in distributing
and marketing goods: to keep both
producer and consumer fully informed
as to what goods are needed and as
to what supplies are available, so that
production may anticipate the coun-
try's demands.
he council might have given Webs
ter's definition Of promptly" and
passed it on to congress at the same
time it forwarded the resolutions. 1T
IL just as essential that we have pa
thence with the economic situation here
ut home" the report states. Quite
people have not had patience? Hardly.
The fact Is they have reached tho limit
Of patience. They want something
done.
We agree with the councils state
ment that team work is imperative. ut
Is Just as essential between retailer,
wholesaler and producer. as 1t is be-
tween employer and employe," says the
report. "One group of producers can
not wait on another group. The manu-
/ facturer. the farmer, the distributor
must each Immediately assume his part
Of the burden and enter upon his task.
| The nation can not afford curtailment
Of goods vital to the people. On Ameri-
can business rests a grave responsible
+ fly for efficient cooperation in bring
Ing about full and proportionate pro-
duction. On American labor rests an
equally grave responsibility to attain
maximum unit production and main
tain uninterrupted distribution of goods
II labor itself is not to suffer from
further rises in the cost of living. The
entire nation-producer. distributor
and consumer alike-should return to
the unity that won the war. Group
interests and undue personal gain must
give way to the good of the whole ma
ton II the situation Is to be squarely
met"
All Of which is very true but until
some of the profiteers are prosecuted
and combinations that are known to
exist are broken either through en-
forcement Of present or passage Of new
laws, the people will have to pay the
high prices for everything they buy,
particularly the necessities Of life.
~>~.roAasen- nxuMwoou,n ~