The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-08-09

washington, AUGUST Sine text OF
the Presidents address follows:
Gentlemen of the Congress:
I have sought this opportunity to
address you because it is clearly my
duty to call your attention to the pres
ent cost of living and to urge upon
YOU with all the persuasive force of
which | am capable the legislative
measures which would be most effec-
tive in controlling it. and bringing it
down.
'srhe prices the people of this
country are paying for every ching
that IL necessary for them to use,
I'm order to live, are mot justified by
"a shortage in supply, either present,
Or prospective. and are i'm many
cases artificiniIy and deliberately
created by vicious practices which
ought Immediately to he checked
by law. They constitute burden
upon us, which IL the more un-
bearabie because we know that II is
wi1fully imposed by those who have
the power and that 1t can by Wig
OrOus public action be greatly
ttghtened and made to square with
the actual conditions of supply and
demand. Some of the methods by
which these prices are produced are
already Illegal some of them crimi-
hh una LnOHf VINO employ kHcm
will he energeticaIiy proceeded
against. but others have not yet
been brought under the law, md
should be dealt with Mt once by
legislation.
\ ~ need IL ot rtrite the sparticulars OF
this critical fiatser;; the piicea demand
ed and paid at the souces of supply at the
factory in the food markets. at the
shops, in the restaurants, and hotels,
al klx4 .tA t. H.
They are familiar to you. They are the
talk of every domestic circle and of
every group OF casual acquaintances
even.
TO GO STILL HIGHER
at In n matter of familiar knowI-
edge also that n process has set in
which Ia likely unlesx something II
done, to push prices and rents and
the whole costs OF living higher
and yet higher, in n vicious cycle,
to which there IL no natural
end. With the increase I'm the
prices OF the necesssri~s of life
como demands for inc Increase in
wages--demunds which are justi-
fled IL there be no other means OF !
enabling men to live.
Upon the increase of wages there
follows close an increase in the price
or the products whose producers have
hSoll dccOTueQ the mere Se--nOt n
proportionate increase, for the manu-
facturer does not content himself with
that, but an increase considerably
greater than the addedswage cost and
for which the added wage received often
times merely is nothing 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
emily makes matters worse. 1t checks
d4t "a
it prevents distribution and strips the
markets, so that there is presently
rcthins to buy and there is another
excessive addition to prices resulting
fl ON the scarcity.
These are facts and forces with
which we have become only too famil-
lar; but we are not justified because OF
our familiarity with them or because OF
any hasty am shallow conclusion that
they are natural and inevitable In
sitting inactively by and letting them
work their fatal results If there is
anything that we can do to check, cor
lrect, or reverse them have sought
this opportunity to inform the Congress
what the executive IS doing by way OF
remedy and N1ntrol, and to suggest
where effective legal remedies are
lacking and may be supplied
NO IMMEDIATE REMEDY
we IHuSt, L lnlnk, frankly ADMIT ina u
there is no complete immediate remedy to
be had from legislation and executive
action The free processes of supply and
demand will not operate of themselves
and no legislative or executive
action can force them into full
and natural operation until there
is peace. There is now neither peace nor
war All the world is waiting. Wit, what
unrerving fears and haunting doubts
Il txJ
when 1t shall have peace and what, kind
of peace it will be when it comes; peace
in which execution shall make shift for
itself as it can, nor a peace buttressed
and supported by the will and concert of
the nations that have the purpose and
the power to do and to enforcf what is
right. Politically. economically, socially
the world is on the operating table, and
it has not been possible to administer
any anesthetic. 1t is conscious. 1t even
watches the capital operation upon which
it knows that it's hope of healthful life
depends. 1t cannot think its business out
Tor make plans or give intelligent and
provident direction to its affairs while
in such a case. Where there is nc
peace of mind there can be no energy in
endeavor. There can be no confidence
in industry. no calculable basis for cred
its, no confident buying or systematic
selling, no certain prospect of employ
ment, no normal restoration of business
no hopeful attempt at reconstruction OF
the proper reassembling of the dislo-
Gated elements of enterprise until peace
has been established. and. so far as may
be, guaranteed.
WHOLE WORLD IN CHAOS
Our national life has no doubt been
less radically disturbed and dismem-
bered than the national life of other peo-
| pie whom the war more directly affect
ed. with all its terrible ravaging and
destructive force, but il has been. new
Iertheless. profoundly affected and dis
ARRANGED. and our industries. our credits
our productive capacity. our economic
processes are inextracAbly interviewer