Show IS STILL UNSOLVED UMED PARTY IN N POWER 18 19 ill ir TROUBLE OVER HIGH COST OF LIVING statistics CAUSE bause A FUSS I 1 price reports of bureau of labor in controversy reau republicans bi leans attack the tariff polley policy of the democrats by GEORGE CLINTON washington WashIng tou the party in power Is having some litsjo trouble through still unsolved problem of the high coot co 0 t of living not long ago a member ct tile the industrial commission report d without supplementary explanations IF that there were une unemployed persons persona in new city chiz tho republicans seized instantly rio is a basta basis for criticism of the democrats tariff policy saying the reductions in the rates were responsible for tho the unemployed the industrial commission Is a government body and the majority of its members are democrats naturally Natu rillY there was some soma democratic resentment that a party commission should say things to hurt the party without giving any explanation as to the reasons for the things said A quick explanation was coming from the commission that the number of unemployed was no greater this winter than in other winters now in the high cost of living matter the democrats again are having some little trouble and a democratic official in a way Is charged with responsibility the bureau of 0 labor statistics gets out retail price reports and in ona one of its recent ones it was shown that the cost of 0 living to ta as as high as ever instantly a new york man said to be an expert in such matters challenged tile statistics bureau and said that its figures were too high hits back at critics now the commissioner of labor statistics royal meeker appointed to the office by woodrow wilson has baa come back at his critics and in a longer answer he gives the manner in which the bureau arrived at its retail price conclusions and virtually challenges anybody successfully to dispute the recently published statistics one thing which will probably be of apeci specific interest to the country Is mr meekers Me ekers explanation of the way that the bureau gathers and compiles re retail tall price statistics lie he says saya in his hie an answer awer to his critics retail prices are secured from stores scattered throughout 40 representative cities of the united states these stores are carefully selected by the agents of the bureau no cut rate or fancy stores aro are taken stores that trade largely with work ingmans Ing mens families are chosen these stores send in to the bureau tho the actual sales prices on the fifteenth of each month of the fifteen food comm commodities commodity odit lea carried by the bureau agents visit the reporting stores annually t to 0 make sure that the reports sent in are correct the 15 food commodities have ha been carefully selected after years of experimenting A larger number of commodities was originally included in the bureaus plans and would be de desirable but it Is impossible to get reliable P prices r ices of fish coffee fresh apples fresh v vegetables eaf canned goods gooda etc because the quality of the same description of an article varies capriciously TS mocha java blend coffee for example does not mean the same thing from s tore store to store or from time to time A difficult problem clearly increases and decreases decrease a in prices cannot be traced from pr prices ices of articles that are one thing at on one e time and something different fit at a another n time or several different things at one and the same time the bureau has long been wrestling with lem of getting quotations of more foodstuffs and of including in its retail price index boots boota and r shoes hoes men mens 13 and clothing and douses rentals this is very desirable but as aa yet it has not been practicable for reasons explained above it would also be very desirable to extend retail price statistics to include a large num number ber of cities and a larger number of stores in those aitt cities es covered this cannot be done at present because of lack of funds democrat progressive and republican leaders still claim or adroit admit w whichever way you want to put it that the party which can present the best plan to bring down the high cost of living will be the one eventually not only to secure control of the government but to keep it tor for a long time it readily can be seen from the importance which Is placed upon this matter by the party men why it was waa that the democrats were perturbed when it a democratic official without any explanation ot of the re reasons afons said that persons were out of work in now new york city and when another democratic official was charged with having put forth statistics tending to show that prices of food and necessaries ar are e higher than they really are the democrats consider that the two criticisms critic ising have been successfully met and charge that they were veto prompted solely by the desire of political opponents to put the dominant party at a disadvantage states rights doctrine the democratic pr party arty always has been a party of states rights and tsay to perhaps curiously enough it ts Is having trouble to stand consistently ay iy its ancient opinions and yet to pass be antitrust bills to in ala form which it desires dris lrea thera them to ake the bill which when it becomes u law Is expected to unlock tile the interlocking dt di orates of industry furnishes a case in which democracy Is having trouble to avoid the charge that it is for rights in some instance and not in others when Nyo woodrow wilson was gove governor r of new jersey the antitrust anti antl trust bills known as tile the seven sisters bisters were made inde in de into state laws As has been told in these dispatches the seven sisters bills form in part the basis of what are arc known as the five brother bills intended to regi regulate dato the trusts and which are now before confess cong Tess for action it to ia in the application of tho the principles of tho the seven bills drawn to meet tho the condition largely existing within one state to tile the five bills intended to meet a national nal condition that the democrats are having their worries hero here Is tho way that a republican has put this matter of the democratic difficulty the party has used tho the ancient and by it revered doctrine of states rights in tho the past to check what it lias has called republican capacities rapa cities but row now it la is trying to find a way to dispose of the bogy and yet keep it intact for the uses of the future where the rub comes in the matter of tho the measure drawn to do away with interlocking director ates the democrats are confronted by a question as to whether state banks can bo be brought within the provisions pro v ismons of the statutes which it Is proposed to pass the party of course wants the state bank directorates direct orates separated na as it desires those of national banks shall be and the question la Is can the separation bo be accomplished without violating the tha doctrine of states rights the house committee which Is considering si th tafe case has baa had louis D brandeis Bran deia before it as a witness i s and probably as an adviser mr brande Rr andels la is now engaged as special counsel by the interstate commerce mission in the railroad advanced rate case lie he told tho the democrats of the committee that there are three ways waya by which they can pass the states rights obstacle by the flank and yet leave it there intact for further use according to mr Br andela congress years ago established a precedent which can be used this day to justify the forbidding of interlocking directorates direct orates of state banks this precedent was set by tho the national lawmakers when they taxed the currency of state elate banks out of existence As a second method of reaching the states rights matter through the federal power mr brandeis Br andels says that all banking business of necessity partakes of an interstate character or I 1 in other words that it enters into interstate ter state commerce and that this fact ought to brin bring g it well within the realm of the power of congress to art act As a third method lie he says that the matter can be reached through the right of congress to declare what mittel mattei shall be carried in the united states malls mails presumably this means meana that the postal privileges can bo be W withhold from any state bank which declines to comply with the law forbidding the interlocking of directorates direct orates make much of trivial subjects Al members embers of congress con gresa especially when they make speeches in the cap capi tol on oil what may seem to be trivial subjects make maka every effort to show that they are determined this country shall ahall continue to bo be a democracy a place of continued rule by the plain people with no frills on the ruled or the rulers it Is a curious fact that senators and i representatives frequently show allow more alarm lest the dem democracy beracy of the peo pie ale be undermined by some little thing suggestive ot of luxury or of decadence of taste than they do over what appears to be the rapid growth of class conditions in this country and the rapid concentration of wealth in the hands of the few ew the big things which threaten democracy are overlooked but the little things are t taken aken up 0 on n a high plane and pointed to as danger signals or of a coming crash in the affairs affair of the republic they have just been having a tremendous debate in the senate over the use of automobiles by government officials congress of course supplies the working tools of the men in executive official lite life here li lq t the he district of columbia it always has been the custom to vote money to pay tor for horses and vehicles tor for the commissioners of the district of columbia who are compel compelled ked to ride here and there on overs overseeing being duty other officials have been voted horses and carriages or rather ns as is usually the case buggies without a question in these days of automobiles and the tha quicker transportation facilities which they offer naturally enough cor congress gress was asked to change horses and buggies to automobiles and then came the protest and the great debate like nero of rome one would think from what was waa said by more or less eminent senators of tile tho united states from the floor of the senate that wh orides in an automobile Is IB tainted with all the vicious luxuriousness of nero e emperor of the romans on hearing bearing the philippics philip one would think that every otric official ial who uses an all automobile has under andey his seat it a fiddle and a bow which ho be la Is anxiOus anxiously by waiting opportunities tuni tunit ties les to use for the making of music while washington burns these things make maka one laugh and yet they are arc taken tremendous tremendously sly seriously by the congress of the united states and what makes them absolutely absurd Is that all this talk Is for home consumption only for the nature and aim of every senator and representative Is to let the people ot of his ble district think that he be is 1 a plain man who in infinitely fl I 1 bitely prefers to ride in a street car to trust ing himself to one of those devils of modern ian an automobile fable of misunderstood Pl pianist anist A table by strickland W an once upon a time there was a young lady who was downright abusive 6 of the pianoforte when she began to swat 1 if tile tho family first and then the neighbors neat beat it to eoma place where tile tho hearing was less acuto acute one day when tile the young lady was maltreating Mal treating the lv ivories ories a grout great critic who had noticed tho the signals wandered into the danger zone and heard tho the noise lie ho paused and gasped and people watching from a distance expected to see him fall dead instead he rushed to the place whence tho the noise emanated and hired the young lady for a concert tour beginning mr niu Bin galing presents moral haeo haec fabula dopes it that music la Is sometimes far better than it sounds bounds kansas kans city star |