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Show THE UNPALATABLE TRUTH I lie people of the United States nave reached a point where tliey must face facts. We have been taught to Ioolc upon our country as a land of inexhaustible resources. We have lived in sort of a dream world created by our own wishful thinking. We have been told by so-called economists econom-ists that wages could, be raised almost indefinitely, on the theory that when government borrowed from the people it was no! really a debt because the people merely owed ths money to themselves. Now we have the Frankenstein we have built. We have found that more wages for less production per man raises prices enormously. We have found that when we loaned money to ourselves in the form of government bonds, interest inter-est on that money -has to be collected in taxes and paid to ourselveslhis in turn adds greatly to the cost of living. General Eisenhower has now told us in plain language lang-uage that with the present condition of the world, it is possible pos-sible we will be in another war within 12 months.' , There is only one way the people of the United States can save themselves. As workers we must learn that an increased income can only be made permanent through increased in-creased production per man; we must learn that only by work and saving and economy can we maintain a solvent government, govern-ment, i. e., save the money we have "Ioaned""to ourselves. It makes no difference whether we allow extravagance in government or extravagance in our familiesr either will destroy de-stroy our savings and capitol. We must all learn that in a world economy largely devoted to a race for military supremacy su-premacy and to the quickest and most efficient means for destroying the. human race, we must be prepared to protect ourselves. Today we are - like a giant who has become soft due to his own excesses. Unless we correct our method of living, we are 'simply inviting trouble. We have had. our warning. warn-ing. We have seen the inevitable results of policies we have pursued. Are we intelligent enough to correct our errors? WHY PRICES STAY HIGH According to the official indexes, the cost of living reached its postwar peak last March. Since then, there has been a slight decline. The widescale price breaks which some forecast for this summer have definitely not materialized. material-ized. We should have learned by this time that the price problem is enormously complex, and there is no pat and easy solution to it. Such well meant schemes as the Newburyport plan failed for the reason that they were economically unsound. un-sound. The average merchant's profit is so small that a ten percent across-the-board cut, if maintained, would ruin him. 1 he stores which followed the Newburyport idea could not replace their stock at wholesale prices which would make the lower retail prices possible. They were forced to re-price their goods at levels which reflect today's costs. 1 he point of this is that it is ridiculous to assume that price control can be effectively exerted at the retail end. Prices are high because the productivity of labor per man is low because many kirids of goods are still in short supplybecause sup-plybecause industry's operating costs have gone up all along the line and because many government policies feed inflation. Prices will remain high so long as this is true. Industry-both manufacturing and retailing knows that prices within the means of the masses of the people are essential to its own welfare and existence. But it can't reduce prices until its costs are reduced. |