The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-06-03


-, seems that some
Fair to All of those interests
Interests are DESTROYS of US
ing cheap foreign
labor in preference to American
labor and they are fighting the Pres
ident's bill. 1t is too early to fore
cast what is going to happen but
there is every evidence that Ameri-
can owned sugar companies in some
of these foreign areas are doing
their utmost to kill the legislation
which would substantially reduce
the importations of this refined
sugar.
Now there is a question of foreign
policy that is involved and that part
of the situation in congress con-
Germs the State department. The
home industry, of course, concerns
the Department of Agriculture but
there is the Department of the In
terror also to be considered because
of the insular territories over which
it has supervision. On the surface,
it is made to appear that the sec
retaries of these three executive
departments are at loggerheads
over what shall be done and as far
as l can see none of the three is
paying much attention to protection
of the refining people who have
been caught between the upper and
neither millStones. My conversations
with members of the house COM
mittee who have studied the prob
lem backward and forward con-
vinces me that congress had better
for once do its own reasoning and
pay less attention to the three cab
met members, each of whom is
seeking to push forward the in
terests of his own department.
The whole situation can be
summed up in one statement; if
congress wants to preserve the sug-
ar refining industry in this country
Gan industry that is more than two
hundred years old) it can do so by
providing a low limitation on the
amount of refined sugar that can
be imported and it can protect the
cane and beet growers of the United
States by establishing a quota OF
imports of both raw and refined
sugar small enough to permit the
home market to absorb the COM
plete output of the American cane
and beet growers.
reach that conclusion because I
am an American who believes in
a self-sufficiency of American in
dustry as far as it is possible to go.
I take the position further because
no other leading country in tn e
world fails to protect its home in
dustry in the handling of sugar.
Nearly everyone has realized late
ly that prices are climbing at an
n. alarming rate.
Frlces This has gone on
Climbing over period of
about two years
and there is nothing on the horizon
to indicate that the top has been
reached or that prices are becom-
ing stabilized. You and I feel it,
of course, directly in what we pay
for the things we buy-shoes or
clothing, food, furniture, and es-
sentials for the household.
The situation is bit disturbing
for several reasons. For one thing,
if prices continue to skyrocket, soon
er or later we are going to be con-
fronted with another condition like
that of 1929 and no one can doubt
that if prices get too high, a tall
spin will follow. If there is another
tailspin like that of 1929, am afraid
that this nation as such is likely to
go to pieces.
Numerous factors are at work to
cause the price increases. New
Deal policies were formulated, first
of all, with the idea of raising prices
to bring us out of the depression.
President Roosevelt contended it
had to be that way.
His program to force prices high
er has been eminently successful.
In fact, it has been too successful |
and in that lies one of the grave |
dangers. Effective means of control
are lacking and there is every pos
sibility that the upward movement !
may reach the stage where it will |
fall of its own weight.
Another cause of the price inf1a- |
ton has been the labor movement. |
Throughout the nation, organized Ia
Dor has been demanding higher |
and higher wages. I think there |
can be no doubt but that labor is |
entitled to higher wages than OBJ
40 p,,{
in many cases, according to gov
eminent records, the demands OF |
organized labor have been so great |
as to constitute a burden on indus |
try which it cannot carry. I sus.
pect that agriculture is going to |
get the reaction of this widespread |
demand of labor for more pay in |
two forms. 1t seems to me likely |
that farm labor soon will be de- |
manding higher pay and, of course,
the higher wages that industry pays
will be reflected in the price the |
farmer pays for the manufactured |
products which he must buy.
But, to get back to some of the |
disturbing signs, I should mention |
an undercurrent of rumor that per. |
meates Washington. There is well. |
founded belief that sooner or later
President Roosevelt will propose |
more price control legislation.
I must emphasize that this is only |
a report but if brain trusters have |
such things as this in mind, the |
country ought to be awakened to
the necessity for warding off furth- |
er governmental management OF
private affairs. Any TIME that the
government attempts to control pro-
duction and prices, two things are
going to happen: first of all and
the most dangerous is that no rule