Show i COMMITTEE WilL WilLI I I HEW HE TO THE LINE Strong Address of Senator Lodge on the High Price Problem FACTS AND NOT OPINIONS COUNTRY WILL SOON BE GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO JUDGE Newark N J Feb 23 Facts not opinions are to form the basis on which the Senate committee appointed to inquire into the prices of commodities ties and rates of wages will act This declaration was made tonight by b Sen Senator Senator Senator ator Lodge of Massachusetts chairman of ot the committee in fn an address before the board of trade here The Tho speaker said further that the facts will be collected and given out without any an reference to any preconceived preconceIved preconceived ideas and without any regard as IlIO to what Jr r whom it will help or hurt I We Ve shall hew to the line Une he said saidI I and aDd let the chips fall tall where they will The importance of ot this inquiry can cannot cannot I I not bo be overestimated he continued It is the intention of the committee to tomake tomakE tomake I make the tho inquiry thorough and to lay its results before the country at the thet t possible moment iI i I Difficult Task The task of the Uio committee is going to tobe tobe tobe be a difficult one in the opinion of Senator Sen Senator Senator ator Lodge who said the questions are re and important to the high highest highest est degree I Personally he had given some months to the investigation of the questions i and the one fact of which he had be become bet t 1 come certain was that the questions were extremely difficult and cannot be bei i settled or remedied offhand in five min minutes minutes utes After outlining In a general way wa the method of procedure that the commit committee committee tee will follow he said That combinations to control the sale of certain articles have in some In Instances Instances Instances stances advanced prices artificially I 1 have not personally p the least doubt I I and if I am correct the facts that will I Ibe be gathered by b the committee will demonstrate and show evils and wrong t doing in certain particular cases that we ought to be he able to reach An example ex example example ample of such evils is to be found in inthe Inthe Inthe the case of meat products in the use URe of cold storage to prevent a normal de do decline decline cline of prices which your own grand jury has been investigating But many causes are at work worle affecting prices and we do not want to Jump at conclusions conclusions conclusions or fancy fanc that we can settle those questions by a stroke of the pen Work of the Committee The committee will try to determine whether the rise in prices s was sudden or has extended over a series of years ears whether there has lias been an advance in world prices or whether the advance is confined to the United States whether wages and if possible A whether nether salaries which are most difficult to ascertain have haye risen with prices and to what de degree degree degree gree if any whether the tariff has raised prices whether prices in certain cases have been artificially and an wrong wrongfully wrongfully fully full advanced by combinations seek seeking seeking seeking ing inordinate profits and finally we shall make a comparison between do domestic domestic domestic and foreign wages and prices Whatever the facts allow will ill be stated by the committee said the sen senator senator senator ator without any attempt to blacken whitewash or mislead He said he had received in the last few days one letter blaming the tariff and another the trusts as the cause of high prices If the question were as easy of so solution solution solution lution he ne added as by the writers of a e these two letters then we could deal with it very quickly As an illustration of the difficulties the committee will have to deal with Senator Lodge took three articles of wide consumption raw cotton refined petroleum and sugar and made a com comparison comparison parison of their changes in prices and andin andin nd in their relation to the tariff and trust questions Cotton is on the free list and has been for half a century It is not con controlled controlled trolled by any trust Oil on has been and andis andis andis is practically now on the free list and its sale is almost entirely controlled by bythe bythe bythe the strongest best organized and most relentless trust or combination of ot which we have knowledge Sugar is In the hands of a trust or combination and is highly protected Neither the trusts northe nor northe northe the tariff are present in the ease case Cl e of ot cot cotton cotton cotton ton The trust is present and the tariff absent in the case of oil Both the I tariff and trust control and are present in the case of sugar I Now let us consider the facts in re regard regard regard gard to prices of these articles Taking as the basis In 1899 the advance in I cotton has ranged from 31 to 81 84 points It was 59 points higher in 1908 1808 than In 1899 and it is still higher now Petro Petroleum Petroleum Petroleum I leum starting with as the basis in 1899 has advanced 33 points in ten years sugar In the same time has de declined declined cUned 10 points I make male no comment on these theae facts and offer no opinion I leave it to you OU to point the cause of the movement of prices in fn those three articles which will meet every case This Tails is not a question nor Is it a time for reckless haste or violence But j it Is a time for tor firmness and justice for tor a determination atlon to t extirpate with a re relentless relentless relentless hand the evils borne of greed and unscrupulousness which tamped tamps with the food supply of the people or with the necessaries of at life |