Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1919-11-14

manufacturing resorces. This demand
will be met by those who have goods
to sell but unless we produce in
GREATER quantities than heretofore,
y ~esult will be seen in higher
prices.
We cannot embargo our ports, or
shipping, or products, but must keep
eur markets open. We must buy
food, clothing, footwear, building
and transport materials in competi-
ton with the necessities of friend
and foe. The pressure for goods will
be almost equal to that of wartime.
Therefore, we must produce far
more than at present, or else expects
to pay more.
"Unless we wish for a continua-
tion of high, and perhaps still higher
prices, there must be more work and
less talk, more production and less
arbitration, more economic power
and less politics. An organization
of fifty thousand housewives in New
York to hunt down profteering re-
tailers will not accomplish half the
good of an organization of fifty
thousand housewives in New York
to hunt down husbands who neither
toll nor spin, but merely agitate.
There is only one way for US out
Of the realm of present high prices,
and that is by increase production
than by getting down to real in
creased production. There is no
other way to work"
Evil Effects of Price Fixing
"We hear it asserted repeatedly
that if the Government were to fix
prices everything would come out
all right. There are still people who
inyap'sle that the Government tan
fix prices at will, de'usion strength
ened by superficial knowledge of
our war experience"
On price fixing the statement
says:
tThe evil effects of price fixing
ought now to be sufficiently clear,
even if they were not so before the
war. When a Government arbitrari-
ly fixes lower price for a com
modify than that prevailing, it nee
essitates less profit for the products
and may even entirely wipe out the
profits Of certain producers. 1t
therefore discourages production.
The lowering of prices, it must be
remembered, does not add a single
item to the nations wealth. 1t does
not add loaf of bread, build a sim
gle new house, nor bring into be-
ing a single extra pair of shoes
On the contrary, by the certain dis
couragement of production, it brings
fewer loaves of bread, fewer houses
and fewer shoes.
The evil of reducing prices is that
if you fix the price of anything al
all, you have to fix prices all along
the line, else the whole burden i:
placed upon small class, forcins
it, possibly, to quit business. If thu
price of shoes were suddenly cut il
half, or to their 1914 level, the re
taiiers of shoes would be crippled be
cause of the high price he must pay
to the manufacturer. If the pric,
charged by the manufacturer wer,
correspondingly cut by the Govern
ment, he in turn would be crippled
because of the high price he mus
pay for labor and for leather. /
the price charged for leather wer
AOASiOiy ISuuCeu, the TANNER WOult
be made to face the high price o
hides. These reduced, the hide deal
er would contend with the high pric
of cattle. The price of cattle re
duced, and what would the cattl
raiser do when corn nd other fod
der cost more than twice as muc
as before the war?
The artificial reduction of prices,
it were attempted on any large seal
would bring whole train of evil.
AS prices are rarely high unles
commodities are scarce, it is essen
tial at such times that the supply
conserved as much as possible. Hig
prices themselves help to insure thi
Whereas artificial reductions, unles
, accompanied by strict rationing, er
courage waste.