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Show ONE FORM OF NEGLECTED "PR EPA REDNESS " How the United States Is neglecting one phase of "preparedness." while placing great emphasis on the necessity necessi-ty of general volunteers, is brought out In the following from an Ogden writer . rVKl.- Tkn Cl'jnilorft Illct Q aiHl' light on the question of the high cost of living. A few days ago In railroad employee was heard to say, "1 am pretty tired. Been working hard all day. What doing ? O. unloading cars and then loading them again. "Do jou know what I was doing today? to-day? All forenoon I was busy helping help-ing unload a freight car from Salt Lake. It was loaded with flour, hams, sidemeat. canned stuff, coffee and hardware going to stores in Ogden. "Thus, after lunch, wo started in and filled that same car with freight from Ogden firms going to Salt Lako stores and consumers. "And what you think we put into that car? Why, flour, hams, sidemeat, I canned gooda, coffee and hardware. It is a fact. The car on Its return trip to Salt Iake was loaded with almost al-most the same sort of stuff Ss it hrouchl up In the morning "And that isn't all. Tomorrow there will be one, maybe two, cars more set out to unload and fill up again with the same kind of stuff and send right back to Salt lako again. And so it goes on, day after day. But, I should worry, so long as my wages keep coming. 'Of course, no one wants any of the freight, handlers to lose their jobs, but. it Is plain from 'he above, that there is a complete lack of organization in me distribution of food supplies in this country. "Tho cost of shipping food and othor supplies from Salt Lake to Ogden and from Ogden to Salt Lake is. of course, paid linally by the consumer, and what is going on between these two cities is going on all over the i mini States, and the consumer pavs . "We have watched Europe at war for two and a half years and we have learned nothing about food distribution distribu-tion apparently, with the result that we pay more for bread here in America Ameri-ca than the people of Berlin and x U n na do, and they aro supposed to be the victims of a starvation blockade. "What is true of food is also true of another great essentiol coal. With coal mines within forty miles. Ogden and Salt Lake citizens have to literally liter-ally beg for the privilege of buying enough coal to keep from freezing. "We have In our midBt numerous militant gentlemen who talk glibly of "preparedness," and who clamor loud-ly loud-ly for a big army and a big navy. And they pay five cents for a nine-ounce nine-ounce loaf and $6.50 for a ton of coal. "Their only idea of preparedness seems to be to put Uncle Sam's uniform uni-form on more men and teach them to ' rry arms " "Meanwhile, we continue to be a nation owning the sreatest wheat fields In the world that cannot feed lt- that owns the greatest coal tields in the world, but. cannot dig enough to keep Itself warm. "And that in time of peace. What would happen to us If the war the military gentlemen scare us with, should actually come? "They threaten us with the possibility possi-bility of an attack from some mysterl ous lrlental foe that would come 5 f00 wiles across the. Pacific and land 200.U00 soldiers on the California coast. So we prepare pre-pare for foreign invasion and have to close the public schools for lack of coal. 'And yet If the president thought It I necessary 10 rush as small a force as Ji,')UU men through to the coast dur-. dur-. lng the next week, it would so disarrange disar-range our railroad facilities that the ( iiiz. ns of Ogden. Salt lke and other I Utah towns would have to burn their ! barns and fences and the shade trees I In the parks to keep from freezing to ! nh "We are supposed to be preparing for a possible war some time nnd j we do not yet have a railroad with aj double track extending from the Mississippi Mis-sissippi valley lo the Pacific. "Russia lost her war with Japan because it was fought at the end of a "mtie single track railroad "Industrial organisation is the first real "preparedneBB." but that Involves government ownership of railroads. I coal mines and food supplies and that I is not what the military gentlemen want." |
