The Monticellonian., 1919-08-15
WOULD EXTEND
WAR CONTROL
OF ALL FOOD
That, and Provision Of Penalties
for Profiteering. Advocated
by the President.
TO FORCE SALE OF SURPLUS
In Address to Congress the Chief tx
ecutive Makes Assertion That We
Are Dealing With Very Crit
ca and Difficult Matters"

Cal and Dtfficut Matters"
WashInston-Add congress
end proposing remedies 10 check the
high cost Of living, President Wilson
declared existing laws were made
auate and high prices were not juStl-
fed b. shortage Of supplies. present
or prospective, but we're created in
many cases 'a.tifcially and deliber-
ately" by vicious practices
He spoke practically as follows:
Genuemcn Of the Congress:
| have sought this opportunity to ad-
dress YOU because 1t Is clearly my duty
to cell your attention to the present cost
of living and te urge upon You with all
the persuasive force Of which am capable
the legislative measures which would be
most effective in controlling II and bring
ing 1t down
The prices the people Of this country are
paying for everything that II Is necessary
for them to use in order to live are not
justified by a shortage in supply. either
present or prospective. and are in many
cases artlhcially and deliberately created
by vicious practices which ought lmme-
dateiy TO be checked by law.
profiteers lawbreskers.
Some OF the methods by which these
prices are produced are already illegal,
some OF them criminal and those who
employ them Will be eneFgeticaly pro
eeeded against. But others have not yet
been brought under the law. and should
dealt with at once by legislation.
With the increase In the prices OF the
necessares Of life come demands for in
ereases In wages-demands which are
justified IL 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 proportlonate
increase. for the manufacturer does not
content himself with that but an in
crease considerably greater than the
added wage cost and for which the added
wage cost is oftentimes hardly more than
an excuse.
The laborers who de- not get an Increase
In pay when they demand it are likely
to strike. and the strike only makes mat
ters worse.
It checks productions II It affects the
railways It prevents distribution and
strips the markets: so that there is pres
emily nothing to buy. and there is another
excessive addition to prices resulting from
the scarcity
Conditions Not Natural
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
10 be had from legislation and executive
action The free processes Of supply and
demand VIII not operate Of themselves.
and no legislative or executive action can
force them into full 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
proper reassembliug of the dfslocated
elements Of enterprise until peace has
been established, and so lar as may be
guaranteed Our national life has no
doubt been less radically disturbed and
dsmembered than the national life Of
other peoples whom the war more di-
rectly affected. with all its terrible
rayagfng and destructive force but II
has been nevertheless profoundly at
fected and disarranged and our indus
tries our credits. our productive ca
pacity. our economic processes are in
extrieably interviewer with those Of
other nations and peoples-most init
mately of all with the nations and pep-
pies upon whom the chief burden and
confusion Of the war fell and who
are now most dependent upon the co
operative action of the world.