Connecticut western news., 1919-02-13
.::::'o0NoAIC :: EVILS
 U,yST BE CURED
C., .ho.ic Council Points Out De- tectS in Present System and Advocates Cooperative
 Reforms.

Scoring the evils of monopoly by a small minority of privileged capitalists and advocatin" cooperative stores. co. partnership and sufficient incomes for the great majority of wnge.cnrncrs as remedies for postwar economic cundi- tions in this cULntry, the Administra- tive Committee of four bishops repre- senting the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in America in conducting the National Catholic War Council have issued the following as n part of an of- ticial announcement on economic and social reconstruction.
 Reduction in cost of Living.
 "DHrmg the wer the cost of liv'ng has risen at least seventy-tive per cent. above the level of 1913. Some check has been placed upon the upward trend by government fixing of prices in the cnsr of bread and coal and Il few other commodities. Even if We believe II de- Sirahc wc cannot ask that inc govern. mcnt continue this action after tie ar ticlrS of peace have been signed, for
 
 ready for such revolutionary policy. If the eXtortionate practices of monop- Oly were prevented by adequate laws and adequate law enforcement prices would automatically hc kept at as low a level as that to which they might he brought hy direct government detcrmi- nation. Just what laws in addition to those already on the statute books are necessary to abolish monopolistic ex- tortion is a question of detail that need not be considered here. In pass ing, if may he noted that government competition with monopolies that can not be effectively restrained by the or dinary antitrust laws deserves more serious consideration than if has yet received.
 Cooperative Stores.
 More important and more effective than any government regulation of prices would be the establishment of cooperative stores. The enormous toll taken from industry by the various classes of middlemen IS now fully real iZed. The astonishing difference be tween the price received by the pro ducer and that paid by the consumer has become scandal to our industrial system. Thc obvious and direct mean. of reducing this discrepancy and abol- ishing unnecessary middlemen Is the operation of retail and wholesale mer- camille concerns under the ownership and management of the consumers. This Is no Utopian scheme. It has been successfully carried out in Eng land and Scotland through the Koch dale system. Very few serious efforts of this kind have been made in this country because our people have mol felt the need of these cooperative en- terprlses as keenly as the European working classes and because we have been too impatient and too individual istic to make the necessary sacrifices and Co he content with moderate hene- fits and gradual progress. Neverthe- less our superior energy, initiative and commercial capacity will enable us once We set about the task earnestly cvcn [" Surp0Ss what has been done in England and Scotland.
 Train to Habits of Saving.
 "In addition to reducing the cost of living, the cooperative stores would train our working people and con sumers generally in habits of saving, in careful expenditure, in business meth ods and in the capacity for co-opera- tion. When the working classes have learned 10 make the sacrifices and to exercise the patience required by the ownership and operation of co-opera- tive stores they will he equipped to un- dertake Il great variety of tasks and projects which benefit the community immediately and all its constituent members ultimately. They will then realize the folly of excessive selfish ness and senseless indlvidualism. Until they have acquired this knowledge, training and capacity, desirable eXtcn- slons of governmental action in indus try will not be attended by normal amount of success. No machinery of government can operate automatically, and no official and bureaucratic admin istratiOn of such machinery can ever be a substitute for intelligent interest and cooperation by the individuals of the community.
 Ultimate Reforms.
 Despite the practical and immc- diate character of the present state ment. we cannot entirely neglect the question of ultimate aims and II SrS- tpmutic program. for other groups are