The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-08
WILSONIAN PACT



divisions, for it involves the fundamental
question Of whether the government of
laws and not of men, whether it shall be
a free representative government or that
OF a dictatorship resting a plebiscite
carried by repellent methods.
Mr.. Wilson and the autocracy he repre-
doctrines and share his spirit represent,
must be put aside and cOnclusively ex-
Guided from any future control.
Our First Duty Americans.
It is our first duty rs Americans to
reestabllsh certain essential principles
shaken by the shock OF war. invaded by
thoe who had their own selfish purposes
danger
Already a beginning has been made by
kepuDhcan congress. working undef an
a hostile executive. Many vital economic
measures and especially protective tariff
legislation to guard our industries are I'm.
possible with a Democratic Free Trader Of
Socialistic proclivitiPs In the White House
TO accomplish such measures as these
we must have. as we intend to have, Re
publican president in sympathy with
Republican house and senate. Great reduc-
tons in expenditures have been eiected
but we have been met with resistance IN
some OF the departments and also by habits
OF waste backed by neutrality-suspicious. oy
sacrifice of efficiency to political purposes:
never so recklessly INDUCED In before ana
in certain cases by an tncompetency so
marvellous that Il cannot be due TO nature
but must be the result Of art. Yet despite
all these lettering conditions an amount OF
work has been done which IN days or
peace would have been considered remark
able but now passes almost unnoticed be
cause great events have so crowded on each
others heels in the years Of world war
that the comprehension and appreciation Of
legislative accomplishment are well nigh
lost
cratic party are now chirruping away like
inccssant little birds that the Republicans
have done nothing" l should he glad
he W both
parties worked together, to put the record
ed accomplishment Of the five years of com
plete Democratic control beside that OF our
eighteen months hampered by an inimtcal
administration. Let me assure you that we
do not fenr the comparison.
We have made n remarkable beginning,
but fully conscious shat 1t is only
a beginning Much has been done. much
moro remains to do ana We pledge our
selves to exert all our energies to deal
with what Is still undone. The wreck and
confusion OF great war. in business. fl
nance md ali economic conditions cannot
be cleared away and fully readJusted In
year and half nor indeed in twice that
time
Reconstruction must be steady and ener-
getic but 1t also demands care II 1t is to
be or lasting value; The rise or prices,
the high cost Of living which reach daily
into every home. Is the most pressing it
is the most difficult and most essential
problem which confrOnts us. Some OF the
sources of this trouble can be reached by
legislation, althO not ALL but everything
that can be effected by law should be
extortionate and unjustfied prices. which
is stupid as well as unlawful, are subject
now to ample punitive laws.
Those laws should be enforced. others II
necessary added, and the offenders both
great and small should he pursued and
punished. not in the headlines of news
papers after the manner of the present
attorney general but quietly. thoroly and
SsffsntiE in the courts Of the United
can be accomplished by the proper regula-
zion Of cold storage, and bill for that
purpose has passed both houses and is
now Ia conference
Another deep seated cause of the rise
o. prices, more effective In its results al
tho less obvious than profiteerlng. is the
abnormal increase per capita Of the circu-
latinE medium. This has doubled since the
war began aud II in the spnce of few
years the amount of the circulating medium
is doubled 1t has a most profound effect
in stimulating and advancing prices. Dur
ing the war credits have been enormously
inflated and there have been large add
lions to the currency thru the Federal Re
Here it Is possible to check the advance
NJ prices by law. We can provide for
the control OF credits In such manner as to
give preference to the most essential pro
ducts We are also nble TO reduce the
amount of the circulating medium in the
form of Federal Reserve bank notes the au-
thority having been given during the war
10 increase the issue of these notes from
two billions to four billions. 1t should
De one e, Of the first acts OF congress to deal
marked effect in reducing prices by
steadying them and bringing them down to
lower ana more normal level
Remedy Lies In Production.
The most potent remedy of all against
advances in the high cost of living. how
ever; lies in production. which cannot ~
reached directly by statutes. II production
begins to fail and fall off. the cost of
everything will be advanced by the simple
prices upward. The most essential remedy
for high costs is to keep up and increase
production and particularly should every
hn mn 10 10 Iva 81
of the farms.
Just how much the government can do In
this direction is uncertain, but 1t can aid
md support and II anything can be done it
must not be omitted or overlooked At
the same time Il must not he forgotten
that there is vast difference between the
powers of the national government In the
time of war and those which 1t possesses
in time OF peace. The normal limitations
powers OF the general government and in
helping to increase the productivity of the
farms. which must he done thru govern
ment action, the Republican party prom
tses to use every power in this direction
diction.
I have touched upon this matter of prices
and the high cost of living because it is al
together the mot important domestic
question now before the country and one
to which the Republican party should ad-
dress itself without delay in every direc-
tion where help is possible. There are, of
course, as l have said. many other i'm
portant economic questions to be dealt
with. as speedily as may he, but the time
allotted to me makes 1t impossible to touch
upon them ali.
There is however, one measure which
cannot be passed over, single great law
which has been enacted and which in any
period would be sufficient to distinguish
congress as one Of high accomplishment
This is the Railroad Act. This Act de-
clares a national policy and, so far as any
law can do It, establishes that policy az a
rule Of action. The policy embodied in the
bill comedies at the outset that 1t is OF
course impossible to return to the old
system or lack OF system in the manage
be under thoro government supervision and
also the government must have over them
a large measure Of control.
The transportation system of the country
II