The sun., 1919-08-16
DEMOCRATS FIGHT
TO HAMPER PALMER


believe there Is a shortage Of any partlc-
| ular necessary. everybody will want it
and the price will rise. Convince the
world that presently there will be an
ample supply, and the price will imme-
| diately fall. II the world could be made
sure tomorrow that on the next day
! Its supplies would be ample, there would
be an Instant lowering Of prices
Normally the world uses substan-
TALLY in each year all 1t produces. II all
! crops should fail for a year the world
would starve. For five years the world
has been maintaining millions of men as
consumers and destroyers, not as pro-
! ducers, and has been combed for means
to sustain them. We have robbed the
accumulations of the past to supply the
moment. and the gap between produc-
ton and consumption has grown con-
! stantly.
THE burden of high prices has been
mitigated to an extent for nearly every
body by reason of some increases in
profits, but Europe has drawn on us alb
normally. We have lent Europe, $40 ,00O.-
100000 which she has spent in purchas-
| ing our cereals, cotton. STEEL leather, &C.
| Our stocks are gone. We sold to Europe
ct the highest prices everything except
our grain, which was controlled by the
Government, and the price of the cx-
ported surplus always fixes the prices at
| home.
Real Cause in Heavy Exports.
Seeking the real cause of high prices
| II will be found in the figures represent
| ing our exports of breadstuffs we ex-
ported in the last year before the war
s165, 900. 900 worth. In 1915 that figure
became S573, 600. 900 in 1916, s435, 000,-
| In N n
| o0C, 5000. and in the fiscal year 1919 the
enormous total of 1854, 900. The pre-
war expectation was the natural sur
| plus. so we can see what became OF our
supplies in the later years.
THE amounts of money received for
t-Aur food shipped abroad were in 1913
for wheat and flour S122, 900. 900. and In
1919 for wheat and flour, 1892. 100000.
Then observe these figures you who
marvel at the high prices of meat and
dairy products. In 1918 we exported
| s153. 900. 900 of these, while for the
fiscal year 1919 our expectation reached
the enormous total Of s1,167,S5o,oo0.
THUS we make these totals of the
foodstuffs we have sent abroad In 1913,
$503,1t1. 900; in 1919, $2.504, ,o54.
With such facts staring us in the face
can we squabble profitably about the
number of cucumbers somebody has in
cold storage?'
But the greatest demand is past and
prices should begin falling" suggested
Senator Mcclellan (Tenn.).
THE Senator is wrong replied Mr..
Reed. "In June just past we sent more
| than in whole years of normal times.
The condition is a world one. Tho fig
ures show that of all the staples we are
sending awaytwo, three and four timee
as much as before the war.
Moreover, there was a vast waste in
maintaining our armies abroad, which 1t
is impossible to estimate. The United
States Grain Corporation during its OPP
Grafton has collected and disbursed
$500. 600, 900 bushels of wheat, of which
1t sold overseas 1900. 900. 900. or more
than half"
Here Senator Mcclellan interrupted,
| and discussion about cold storage and
| the efficiency of the food control law
resulted. in which Mr.. Reed. Mr.. Nc
kellar and Senator Smith -(Ga.) took
| part.
Mr.. Mcclellan insisted that cold stor-
age was an important factor and quoted
the Attorney-General as saying that the
food control law provides no penalty that
can be enforced. Senators Smith and
Reed took vigorous exception to this.
ANY man who can't punish monopoly
boarding and conspiracy under this act
needs to read law from the very begin
ming" said Mr.. Reed. 81 have nothing
against Mr.. Palmer, but making him At
torney General does not increase his
legal knowledge"