The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-08-01
HIGH PRICES NOW HOLDF|RST PLACE
 IN INTEREST AT
 NATIONS CAPITAL
President Considering Prob lem, While Congress Passes Several Resolutions to In- vestigate Cause of the
 Present High Prices
sy As,.s,.t,s p~.s,

By Assos,stss Press
 Washington, July 31.-Gov-
 ernmental machinery was set
 in motion today in response to
 demands from the public that
 some official action be taken
 to relieve the high cost of liv-
 ing.
 Prices, as they affect the average
 citizen, assumed first place in inter-
 est in the capital. At the White Mouse
 President Wilson was said to be giv- ing deep and very thoughtful com sideration" to problems presented 70
 him and the railroad administration by
 members of the railroad brotherhoods.
 who represented that prices would have
 to come down or wages go up, if so-'
 cial unrest was not to develop into
 upheayal In the Senate and House
 the situation gave rise to several res
 olutions to investigate the cause of ex
 isting price levels, another to reduce
 the volume of currency in circulation
 as a means of deflatlng prices, me
 to request the attorney general to
 stop speculation in foods on exchanges
 and another to sell this years wheat
 crop at market prices instead of at
 |
 ence to be made up by the govern
 ment
 PALMER CALLS CONFERENCE Late today Attorney General Palmer
 met eight high government officials whom he had summoned to his office for discussion of high costs and the
 best methods to pursue to effect reduction. After a talk lasting nearly three hours. the conference disbanded i to meet again, probably next week, for further counsel based on additional information to be collected in the
 meantime
 Those attending the conference in- ciuded Secretaries Glass, Houston. Rcd- l field and Wilson, Director General I Hines, Chairman Murdock of the fede- 1ral trade commission, Assistant Seefc tarv ef the Treasury Lefffngwell ind | ". E. coIver. of the federal trsie I commission,
 ] It developed today that demands for more wages were pending before the 1 railroad administration from several ] hundred thousand employees. Perhaps l the frankest talk which government of ficials have heard in long time canie in this connection, in the statement of w. G. Lee, president of the trainmen, before the wage adjustment board MT. Lee told the board that an increase in wages was not the proper solution of the present economic hardsAips under which working men are labor ing, because they would be followed by new increases in the cost of every thing which would more than absorb the additional pay. Until all classes get together to stop profiteering, he said. the only thing for every one to do is to get all the wages he can, . course which he declared would result ventually in precipitating the "up- heavef' now staring the country in the face
 As step toward breaking the high
 prices. plans are being made by Secre-
 tary Baker, Postmaster General Bur,e-
 son and Representative Kelly, of Penn
 sylvania. u sell through the parcel
 post surplus army food stocks valuei DECLINE TO TALK Officials who attended the Attorney
 Generals conference declined to discuss what took place. Mir. Palmer stated that the conference was called chiefly for the purpose of making a survey of the
 situation, developing any information on which the head of the nations law en- forcement machinery might act to curb profiteering.
 Tt seems to be a universal pastime. putting this thing up to the Attorney Gen. eral,' Mir. Palmer said smiling. Even | the governors have taken to blaming this l department for existing price levels.'' 1 In response to question: Mir Palmer ad- i mitted that there was n~ law by which prices could be lowered directly, but he declined to say whether rev legislation was needed. to enable the department to punish men who may be guilty of pron- iteering.
 There is great deal of good law on the statute books the Attorney Gem eral declared. When course of ac- ,, ton is decided upon, the federal trade commission is understood to be ready to supply the most extensive collection of industrial information ever gathered to- gether. Construction cost figures have Leen obtained by the committee on indus i tries reaching s30 GOO, ,ooo0oo worth of cap ital. as the result of it's activities during the war in advising the government re- garding prices for the millions of dollars of purchases made by it. For this rea- son, it is believed the commission Is
 ready to urge that further investigations. which seem to be foreshadowed by reso-
 lutions pending in Congress, would only muddie the situation causing the loss of valuable time and the waste of the money involved
 '.The commissions Investigations during the war, all of which dealt only with the
 most authoritative information derived !