American Fork citizen. [volume] (American Fork, Utah) 1912-1979, 1919-08-16
President Addresses Congress on
Cost Of Living and the Pos
sible Remedies.
PACKERS TO Be PROSECUTED
General Campaign 10 Started Against
refiteers--Railway Unions De-
mand More Pay, Urge the
Plumb Plan and Threaten
to Strike.
by EDWARD W. pIckARp.

The open season for profiteers has
come. II there is u bright spot In the
worlds sky, that is It. For the rest
the clouds are black enough to suit
the most confirmed pessimist.
Government officials, investigating
bodies, individual economists-all have
been earnestly seeking for the prime
causes of the high cost Of living. The
c0ld.blooded. greedy profiteer who bat
tens on the misfortunes Of the people
Is the most easily discerned of those
causes and Is going to be the first to
be dealt with. All the sympathy he
gets must come from himself.
| President Wilson appeared before
congress Friday and delivered schol-
arly essay on the subject, which In
| cluded various recommendation for
legislative action, and told what the
| government already Is doing In the
way of curbing the operations of the
| profiteefs. He urged the permanent
extension of the food control act, a
law regulating cold storage, law re-
| quiring that all goods entering inter-
l
| producers price, prompt enactment OF
.the pending capital issues bin. and,
what seems to the writer most impor-
| tant of all, the passage OF law re-
| quiring federal licensing Of all corpor-
atoms engaged in interstate commerce.
The president did not overlook the
opportunity to push the immediate
ratification of the peace treaty and
league covenant. He devoted much OF
his message to assertions, In varied
form, that until peace Is established
| only provisional and makeshlft results
can be accomplished in the way of re-
ducing living costs. There can be no
settled conditions anywhere In the
world he declared, until the treaty Is
out of the way. Such views did not meet
with the approval of most OF the Re
publican congressman. and their indig-
nation was aroused by the fact that
the president used the domestic Issue
as u weapon In the contest over the
League OF Nations.
Most prominent of the alleged profit
GERS are the Chicago packers, the big
Ave" who are reputed to control much
of the worlds food supplies. Some
time ago they we're investigated by the
federal trade commission and that body
made a report that was bitterly at
tackled by the defenders of the pack
ers. Now with that report as n basis
President Wilson has directed the de
partment of justice to institute AT once
civil and criminal proceedings against
the big five. The attorney general stat
ed that he was satisfied the evidence
developed indicated clear violation
of the antitrust laws, and that lsudol
]. Kresel of New York was In charge
Of the prosecution. The packers are
, to be accused of unfairly and Illegal!
using their power To manipulate liv'
. stock markets, to restrict interstate
and international supplies of foods, t
control the prices of dressed meat
and other foods, to defraud both th'
producers and the consumers OF foods
to crush competition, to secure specia
privileges from railroads, stock yard
companies and municipalities, and (
prOfiteer. The department of justic
will proceed against them not only TO
Z violation of the antitrust laws but ais
under the provisions of the food law O
! 1913 against the boarding Of food.
/. As for the heads of the big packin
companies, some of them profess
welcome the legal action as giving thei
a chance to demonstrate to the publ
their innocence, harmlessness and hell
lessness, and all of them repeat the
- oft heard protestatlons that they Al