The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-17
srAB1n1zING BUSINESS.

There is pending in congress a bill
designed to stabilize the coal industry
by providing seasonal railroad rates
and government regulation from the
mine to the furnace. Commenting on
the measure the Mining Congress
Journal says:
1t could we'll be entitled, "A bill to
give US what we want when we want
it," or, as some would prefer to call
it, "a bill to make us want what we
ought to want when we don't want it,
and also to make us like it"
Most of our troubles in life are sea-
sonal troubles due to inability to get
what we want when we want it. In
babyhood we cry for what we want
till we get it. Business men never cry,
altho they sometimes squeal. They
have tried every known method to
have their needs supplied and their
wants met, but every experiment failed
until we resorted to sterilization by
legislative enactment, and that sue
ceeded beautifully. Witness the re-
suits of the Fuel Administration and
the Railroad Administration, both of
which stabilized things in SO eminently
satisfactory fashion during the war
Having learned how to set things
right during the war; it is proper that
we bring over the blessings of stabili
cation to these piping times of peace.
OF course we must have coal Stabiliza-
ton, but we must no: stop there.
Other commodities are just as i'm
portant and equally affected by the
seasons, and in respect to them con-
gress has an equal right to investigate,
legislate and regulate-all of which
are summed up in the one word
stabilize.
Take umbrellas. The public won't
buy umbrellas while the sun shines,
and the rainy season is too late Con-
gress should pass law lifting the
war tax and compelling merchants to
sell umbrellas at half price during the
dry season. Then everybody would
lay in a supply and there ' ould be no
more flu epidemics. Such a law would
also go long way towards solving
the prohibition question. No flu, no
need for flu medicine.
Consider oil. More people use oil
than coal, because nearly everybody
owns a flivver, yet the supply invari-
ably is shortest and prices the highest
just when gasoline is needed most and
the demand is greatest. Freight rates
on oil. should be lowered during the
off-season and distributors should be
compelled to erect additional storage
tanks to provide extra capacity for the
busy season. City fire ordinances for
bidding the keeping of more than fifty
gallons in home garages should be re-
pealed. The oil industry should be
stabilized along with the coal bust
ness, so those who lay in a supply of
coal in summer can stock up on gaso-
line in winter.
Think how prosperous and con-
! tented the country would now be if
steel had only been stabilized a few
years ago. Steel is in general use in
every walk of life ana there is some
what of a demand for it during all
seasons. We can't get along without
it, and can't get it unless we buy it,
| and can't buy it unless we pay freight
| from Pittsburgh, altho 1t is manufac-
| tured in our own home town far away
| from Pennsylvania. This same con-
| dition prevails with respect to shoes
and hats and talcum powder and shay
| ing soap and corn salve. Stabilize
them all. Then we will have no hous-
| ing shortage, no last seasons lids nc
| corns, no shiny noses and nc
whiskers. How perfectly alluring are
the possibilities of stabilizationI