The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1919-08-15
WOULD extend
WAR CONTROL
Of ALL FOOD
That, and Provision Of Penalties
tor Profiteering, Advocated
by the President.
TO FORCE SALE OF SURPLUS
In Address 70 Congress the Chief ex.
eeutive Makes Assertion That We
Are Dealing With Very criti.
cal and Difficult Mattera."

Are Dealing With Very criti.
cal and Difficult Matters"
Observation-Disclosures congress
and proposing remedies to check the
high cost Of living. President Wilson
declared existing laws were made
quate and high prices were not justi-
fed ny shortage Of supplies, present
or prospective. but were created in
many cases ''artiticially and deliber.
ately" by vicious practices"
He spoke practically as follows:
Gentlemen Of the Congress:
! have sought this opportunity to ad-
dress you because 1t il clearly my duty
to call your attention to the present cost
OF living and to urge upon you with all
the persuasive force Of which am capable
the legislative measures which would be
most effective In controlling 1t and bring
ing It down.
The prices the people Of this country are
paying for everything that 1t il necessary
Tor them to use In order to live are not
Justified by a shortage in supply. either
present or prospective. and are in many
cases artificially and deliberately created
by vicious practices which ought imme-
dtately to be checked by law.
Profiteers lawbreakers.
Some OF the methods by which these
prices are produced are already illegal,
some Of them criminal and those who
employ them will be energetically pro-
ceeded against. But others have not yet
been brought under the law. and should
DC dealt with at once by legislation.
win the Increase In the prices Of the
necessar!es of life come demands for in
rreas"s In wages-demands which are
justified II there be no other means Of
enabling men to live
Upon the increase Of wages there fol-
lows close an increase in the price Of the
products whose producers have been ac-
corded the increase-not a proportionate
increase. for the manufacturer does not
content himself with that. but an in
crease considerably greater than the
added wage cost and fcr which the added
wage cost is oftentines hardly more than
an excuse.
The laborers who do not get an increase
IN pay when they demand 1t are likely
to strike. and the strike only makes mat
tiers worse.
1t checks production: If it affects the
railways it prevents distribution and
strips the markets: so that there is pres
entity nothing to buy. and there is another
excessive addition to prices resulting from
the scarcity.
Conditions Not "Naturai."
These are facts and forces with which
we have become only too familiar; but
we are not justified because of our famil-
iarity with them or because Of any hasty
and shallow conclusion that they are
natural" and inevitable. in sitting mac
lively by and letting them work their ia
tai results II there is anything that we
can do to check. correct or reverse them
We must. think. frankly admit that
there is no complete immediate remedy
t>A 1,rl
action. The free processes Of supply and
demand will not operate Of themselves,
and no legislative or executive action can
force them into fun and natural operation
until there Is peace.
Must Know Terms Of Peace.
There can be no confidence in indus
try. no calculable basis for credits. no
confident buying Of systematic selling.
no certain prospect OF employment, no
normal restoration Of business. no
hopeful attempt at reconstruction or a
proper reassembling of the dislocat ed
elements Of enterprise until peace has
been established. and so far "a may be-
guaranteed. Our national life has no
doubt been less radically disturbed and
dismemhered than the national life of
other peoples whom the war more d.
rectly affected. with all it's terrible
ravaging and destructive force. but it
mas oee" "eVerthe'eSs protounoIy ar
fected and disarranged. and our indus
tr'ea. our cred'ts. our productive ca
pacity. our economic processes are in
ex'.'cao'y interviewer with those Of
ot"er "auons ana peoptes-most tntt-
",ate.S OF all win the nations ana peo-
pies upon whom the chief burden and
CONFUSION or the war fell and who
.e no" most dependent upon the CO.
operative action OF the world
We are inst nou, shinnnv mora uood.
out of our ports to foreien ma rket. ,han