The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-09-30

Mr.. Ford Ia right, as Judge Gary
has intimated, when he protests
asainst conscienceiessi profitesring
in the coAi market. The Adminiitxa- !
tion or Hoover plan is to control
prices through the use Of priorities.
We believe that the employment of
priorities has simply been ammunition
for profiteers' guns. The feelink Of
panic which the government itself has
created is responsible for coal boot
leggers. It Is their most valuable as
set. Indeed, the moment responsible
coal firms began 10 advertise that
there was no need for q painic,. that
coal would be forthcoming and at rea-
sonabie' prices, the. speculative market
began to tumble of it's own weight.
We are not unmindful Of extreme
situations which may call for heroic
remedies. But the employment Of so
drastic a measure as the priority,
which virtually deprives' some citizens
of their property without due process
of law is abhorrent to the American
mind We do not think that such q
thing as a priority order shoull be
permitted to issue until after public
hearings. We are told that when it
was suggested to An Interstate Cont
merce Commissioner that such hear
ing be held before the first priority
order was published, to establish the
fact of whether or not an emergency
warranting it existed, he simply an
swered that anybody who did not
know there was such an emergency
was a fool. There is reason to sus-
pect that some Of his own colleagues,
who emphatically are not fools, came
within his sweeping definition.
Nine out of every ten citizens, say,
will give it as their opinion, if they
have any, that the government bum
fled both strike situations. At times,
indeed, the government made itself ri.
diculous. There was nothing novel
in that. The government always
makes itself ridiculous when it inter-
venes in matters properly outside It's
jurisdiction. The art of governing
and the art of doing business are diff
ferent things. Like oil and water,
they do not mix. Nevertheless, the
virus Of interference is so subtle that
even a man such as President Hard
ing, who went into Office detesting in
reference by rhe government in mat
ters that were not of its business, is
not two years in Office before he is
wheedled into the same old policy of
Intervention.
Half of all the trouble in both the
coal and railroad strikes has been
caused by the government. IF the lat
ter had done the one thing it ought
to have done-respected the law itself
and enforced the same respect from
all others-fewer reputation would be
in their nadir and industrial conditions
would be vastly improved.
We come to the crux of the situa-
tion. The very use Of priorities is an
acknowledgment and confession that
the transport facilities Of the nation
are inadequate:= that tina nation lacks
the capacity to handle normal bus
iness. Preferential diversion Of facil-
tiles is obviously no solution. It IS
merely makeshift, and a mighty
poor one. The answer is not abuse
Of the facilities avail liable, but the Gre
alton Of additional facilities. No pol
itician proposes that cure. Instead,
having seen the railroad industry bled
white by regulation, congress assumes
that the proper thing to do is to have
more regulation. Two hundred thou
sand additional coal cars and full
supply of locomotives would be worth
all the priorities that ever were is
sued. This additional rolling stock
would, in terms of national prosperity,
be worth many times it's cost.
The world has reached the point
where short-visioned and narrow
craftsmanship will not do. Old meth
DDS Of waiting for crises to burst IN
full vigor and then solving them by
emergency policies which inevitably
are destructive Of simplicity and eff
! ficiency in government can no longer
be adhere to. We must plan far ahead
Our craftsmanship, as never before,
must be based ON sound economies, not
on popular quack politicies. We are
trying to build permanent nation,
great empire of prosperity, not only
soul-magnet for struggling human
ity, but structure of prosperity so
sound that it will give q new mean
ing to ideas Of well-being and a new
Interpretation Of what material hap
piness can be on earth. We should
build permanent foundations, where
as the employment Of priorities is our
confession that we have not even
cought up with the present, much less
made any adequate preparation for
the beckoning future.