Milford chronicle., 1920-06-18
CONGRESS DID ITS PART

By its own written record, the VIII
son administration stands convicted
of failure in its attempts to deal with
the problem of high cost Of living.
In its 1912 platform the Democratic
party charged the Republican tariff
with responsibility for the cost of liv-
ing and in the campaign of that year
Woodrow Wilson stood Squarely on
that platform. One Of his first acts
after election was to call a special
session of Congress. controlled by his
own party, for the revision Of the tar
iff. The tariff was revised in man.
ner to suit President Wilson and the
members of his cabinet. The cost of
living continued to increase, and,
what made matters worse, the revised
tariff duties admitted foreign goods at
such low rate of duty that hundreds
of American mills reduced their out
put. cutting down their forces of EN-
ployees. and throwing hundreds of
thousands Of men out of work. The
Wilsonibed Democratic party not only
failed in its promise to reduce the
cost of living, but it reduced the ca
pacity of the people to buy.
But that was only the first failure.
That there should have been an in
crease in prices after the outbreak Of
the war, was to be expected. But the
first failure to reduce the cost occur
red before the outbreak of the war.
Let us see the facts regarding the fail
ure after the outbreak of the war.
The Food Control Act made it un-
lawful to hoard any of the necessaries
of life, and boarding was declared TO
excess of reasonable requirements. A
consist of holding, contracting for, in
penalty of $500 fine or Imprisonment
for two years, or both, was imposed
1t was made a crime to limit facilities
for producing or transporting the nee
essaries of life, under penalty Of $lO,-
600 fine or two years Imprisonment, or
both. 1t was made crime to waste or
destroy any necessaries, under penal
tv of $1,000 fine or two years impris-
Onment, or both. The President was
given almost unlimited power to con-
troll the marketing of the necessaries
of life through a licensing system, and
this power was exercised. An appro-
priation of S16OOOO,OOO was made to
carry out the provisions of the Food
Control Act. So far as Congress could
do so, it gave President Wilson the
power and money to regulate the cost
of living.
Now let President Wilson's own
words be quoted in evidence Of his
failure. On his return from France in
the summer of 1919, where he had
been devoting his attention to the well
/ fare Of Europe, he found the Amer
/ lean people intensely wrought up over
/ the problem of the high cost Of living.
He proceeded to the Capitol and ad-
dressed Congress, saying, among other
things
''The prices the people of this
country are paying for everything
that it is necessary for them to use
i'm order to live are not justified by
a shortage in supply, either present
or prospective We know that ii
(the burden of prices is willfully
imposed ..... Some of the methods
hy which these prices are produced
are already illegal, some of them
criminal. .......
Acting upon the request of the Pres
ident for additional legislation, Con
gress passed an act strengthening the
law against boarding, wasting, specu'
lating. or asking exorbitant prices.
But the sections of the statute cited
above. and the Presidents own decla-
ration that prices were not justified by
shortage but were extorted by meth
DDS that were criminal. serve to dem
onstrate the failure of his administra
tion to cope with the cost Of living
problem when it had adequate power
and adequate funds Nearly three
wears after the enactment Of the Food
Control Act. and ten months after his
address to Congress quoted above, the
Administration had not secured any
considerable or effective number oi
convictions Of the hoarders and specu
lators Of whose acts the President de
elorpd no had knowledge.