Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-08-18

While it is highly improbable that
the third party will carry many
, states Or come anywhere near car
rying the country, it is recognized
thai the state of economic confu-
. sion resulting from the war has
caused distress to many people and
may make some Of them receptive
} +; representation that are untrue.
lAe declarations of the third party
and its candidate are SO fundamen-
tally false and unsound that they
should not be permitted to circulate
unanswered. 49,. .
II is difficult to read these decla-
rations without wondering whether
any considerable number Of people
possibly can take them seriously.
For example, the following: %"
They know that their Government at Wash
ington is now. and has been for a quarter
of century. in the hands OF small but
powerful groups. acting together and con-
trolling it in their own interests.
Each group dictates production and prices
lumber. sugar. meats. clothing--in short.
in mining. manufacturing. transportation
and all important business enterprises.
Through grain exchanges. elevator combine.
tions and packing monopelies the markets
are manipulated and prices fixed on all prod
ucts of the farm.
Within the last twenty-four years Il has
thus come about that these powerful groups.
through the control OF markets and prices.
have doubled and trebled the cost Of sus-
tanning human life--of housing. warming.
clothing and feeding the American people.
The American people are honest. intelli,
gent, patriotic. Industrious and frugal. And
yet. in a land OF untold wealth. dedicated
TO the principles of equal opportunity Tor
NIL. special privileges to none lie has be-
come a desperate struggle for the average
man and woman. The millions who work
en- the farms, in the mines IN transporta-
ton, in the factories and shops and stores.
with all their induatry and saving, find them
.elvea poorer at the end OF the year than
at the beginning.
AS to the first paragraph: OF
course nobody knows anything or
the kind, unless the product OF the
Imagination can pass for knowledge.
The people of the several states are
represented at Washington by men
whom they elect from among them,
selves, and presumably the third
party is not going to change this.
Moreover, as rule the people do
not distrust their own representa-
tives, whom they know; If they dis
trust anybody it is the representa-
tives from other states and districts,
whom they do not know. Occasion
ally, men prove unfaithful in public
life, MS in private life, but it is more
reasonable to believe that the author
Of such sweeping charges is preJu-
diced or mistaken than to believe
that the charges are true.
u It is a well-known fact that the
most powerful influence upon pubic
men is public opinion, and especially
the desire to please their constltu-
ents and retain their positions. For
this reason the labor and farm or
CARNATIONS, and the opinions OF
wage-earners and farmers whether
organized or not, are more lniuen-
tial at Washington than the wishes
or opinions of any other groups
More consideration is shown them
in legislation than to all otner
groups. as for example in preserV-
ING their rights to organize and act
together in forwarding their inter.
ssts by means forbidden to all others.
Within recent weeks announcement
has been made of an arrangement
for the sale to the American Farm
Bureau Federation of the properties
of five leading grain-handiing com
ranies. The chief reason Tor TINS
consolidation is that economies VIII
he effected and that only an organi-
cation of farmers would be permit
ted to make it.
The Facts as to Industries Named
What basis is there for believing
that leach group dictates proouG,,
ton and prices, in its own neio {
In speaking of groups" does the
writer refer only to proprietors or
include the wage-earners as q 1ac-
tor in the making Of prices!
In practically all of the industries
named, the prices of products have
had a smaller advance in the period
named than the wages OF the work
men employed in the industry, al
though their pay is the principal rae
tor in the costs. In each industry
ne competitive efforts of private
enterprise tn reduce costs has Ell
fected ssch Improvement in methods
that part Of the higher wage-costs
| have been saved and eliminated
| from the price Of the product.
The public is familiar with the
Bureau of Labor price tables, in
which the prices Of 404 common
commodities, divided into nine
groups, are averaged monthly ana
compared with the average prices
cf the same commodities for the
year 1918. The table issgiven here
with for the months Of June. 1923,
and June. 1924