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Show FOOD PROFITEERS , ARE DENOUNCED BY PRESIDENT WILSON Comprehensive Extension of the Present Food Control Act Is Recommended. SITUATION CRITICAL AND DIFFICULT DIFFI-CULT AND MUST BE MET WITH COURAGE AND RESOURCE. Calm and Deliberate Consideration Rather Than Hasty Action Is Called For by the Present Situation Situa-tion of the Country. Washington. Extension of the present pres-ent food control act, both as to its period pe-riod of operation and to Include all commodities Indisputably necessaries of life, regulation of cold storage to define the limits within which foodstuffs food-stuffs can be held ; marking of all goods destined for Interstate commerce com-merce with the price at which they left the hands of the producer; federal fed-eral licenses for all corporations and persons engaged In interstate commerce, com-merce, which will provide for com- petltive selling, and passage of the pending bill giving the capital issues committee control of security issues, are the remedies proposed by President Presi-dent Wilson, in his address to congress con-gress to meet the existing high cost of living. The president said In part: Gentlemen of the Congress: I have sought this opportunity to address ad-dress you because it is clearly my duty to call your attention to the present cost of living and to urge upon you with all the persuasive force of which I am capable the legislative measures which would be most effective in controlling it and bringing bring-ing it down. The prices the people of this country are paying for everything that it is necessary for them to use in order to live are not justified by a shortage in supply, either j present or prospective, and are in many ! cases artificially and deliberately created ; by victous practices which ought immediately imme-diately to be checked by law. Profiteers Lawbreakers, 1 Some of the methods by which these prices are produced are already illegal, some of them criminal, and those who ; mploy them will be energetically proceeded pro-ceeded against. But others have not yet been brought under the law, and shouild foa dealt with at once by legislation. With the increase in the prices of the necessaries of life come demands for Increases In-creases in wages demands which are Justified if there be no other rnearfS 'of enabling men to live. Upon the increase of wages there fol- ; lows close an increase in the price of the products whose producers have been accorded ac-corded the increase not a proportionate increase, for the manufacturer does not content himself with that, but an 'increase 'in-crease considerably greater than the added wage cost and for which the added wage cost is oftentimes hardly more than an excuse. The laborers who do not get an increase In pay when they demand it are likely to strike, and the strike only makes matters mat-ters worse. It checks production; 3f It affects the railways It prevents distribution and strips the markets; so that there is presently pres-ently nothing to buy, and there is another excessive addition txprices resulting from the scarcity. Conditions Not "Natural." These are facts and forces with which we have become only too familiar; but we are not justified becauae'Of our familiarity famil-iarity with them or because of any hasty and shallow conclusion that they are "natural" and inevitable, :in sitting inactively inac-tively by and letting them work their fatal fa-tal results if there is anything that we can do to check, correct -or reverse them. We must, I think, frankly admit that there Is no complete immediate remedy to be had from legislation and executive action. The free processes of supply and demand wiH not operate of themselves, and no legislative or executive action can force them into full and natural operation until there is peace. Must Know Terms of iPeace. There can be no confidence in industry, indus-try, no calculable basis for credits, no confident buying of systematic selling, -no certain prospect of employment, no 'normal restoration of business, no hopeful attempt at reconstruction or a ;proper reassembling of tSie dislocated elements of enterprise until peaoe has ben established, and, so far as may be, guaranteed. Our national life has no doubt been less radically disturbed and dismembered than the national life of .other peoples whom the war more directly di-rectly affected, with all its terrible ravaging and destructive tovce, but it has been nevertheless profoundly affected af-fected and disarranged, and our Industries, Indus-tries, our credits, our productive capacity, ca-pacity, our economic processes are inextricably in-extricably Interwoven with those of 1 other nations and peoples most Inti-i Inti-i mutely of all with the nations and peoples peo-ples upon whom the chief burden and confusion of the war fell and who ! are now most dependent upon the co-I co-I operative action of the world. Exports Greatest In History. "We are just now shipping more goods i, out of our port to foreign markets than we ever shipped before not foodstuffs merely, but stuff a and materials of every f, sort; but this is no index of what our s foreign sales will continue to be or of the effect the volume of our exports will have on supplies and prices. It is Impossible yet to predict 'how far or how long foreign purchasers will be able to find the money or the credit to i, pay for or sustain such purchases on such a scale; how soon or to what extent foreign manufacturers can resume their former production, foreign farmers get ,; their accustomed crops from their own , fields; foreign mines resume their former output, foreign merchants set up again ' their old machinery of trade with the i ends of the earth. All these things must ,j remain uncertain until peace is established estab-lished and the nations of the world have concerted the methods by which normal life and industry are to be restored All that we shall do in the meantime mean-time to restrain profiteering and put the life of our people upon a tolerable footing will be makeshift and provisional. provi-sional. There can be no settled condition condi-tion here or slsewhere until the treaty of peace is out of the way and the work -of liquidating the war has become be-come the chief concern of our government govern-ment and of the other governments of the world. "Europe will not. cannot recoup her capital or put her restless, distracted peoples to work until she knows exactly exact-ly where she stands in respect to peace; and what we will do is for her the chief question upon which her quietude qui-etude of mind and confidence of purpose pur-pose depends. While there is any pos-aoility pos-aoility that the peace terms may be changed or may be held long in abeyance, abey-ance, or may not be enforced because or divisions of opinion among the powers pow-ers associated against Germany, it is idle to look for permanent relief. Immediate Relief Measures. jy way of Immediate relief, surplus stocks of both food and clothing in the nancls of the government will be sold and of course sold at prices at which there is no profit. And by Tay of a more permanent per-manent correction of prices surplus stocks in private hands will be drawn out or storage and put upon the market Fortunately For-tunately under the terms of the food-con-' trol act the hoarding of foodstuffs can be checked and prevented, and they will be, with the greatest energy. Foodstuffs can be drawn out of storage and sold by legal action which the department of justice will institute wherever necessary but as soon as the situation is systematically systemati-cally dealt with it is not likely that the courts will often have to be resorted to Much of the accumulating of stocks has no doubt been due to the sort of speculation specu-lation which always results from uncertainty. uncer-tainty. Would Have Prices Plainly Marked. I would also recommend that It be required that all goods destined for interstate in-terstate commerce should in every case where their form or package makes it j possible be plainly marked with the price at which they left the hands of the producer. Such a requirement would bear a close analogy to certain provisions of the pure food act, by which it is required that certain detailed information in-formation be given on the labels of packages of foods and drugs. And it does not seem to me that we c. uld confine ourselves to detailed measures of this kind, if it is indeed our purpose to assume national control of the processes of distribution. I take it for granted that that is our purpose and our duty. Nothing less will suffice. We need not hesitate to handle a national question in a national na-tional way. We should go beyond the measures I have suggested. We should formulate a law requiring a federal license of all corporations engaged in interstate commerce and embodying in the license, or in ithe conditions under which it is to be issued, specific regulations regu-lations designed 'to secure competitive selling and prevent unconscionable profits in the method of marketing. Law Would Do Much. Such a law would afford a welcome opportunity op-portunity to effect other much-needed reforms re-forms in the business of interstate shipment ship-ment and in the methods of corporations which are engaged in it; but for the moment mo-ment I confine 'my recommendations to the object immediately in hand, which s to lower the cost of living. We are .dealing, gentlemen of the congress, con-gress, I need hardly say, with very critical and very difficult matters. We should go forward with confidence along the road we see, but -we should also seek to comprehend com-prehend the whole of the scene amidst which we act. There is no ground for some of the fearful forecasts I hear uttered ut-tered about me, but the condition of the world is unquestionably very grave and we should face It comprehendingly. The situation Of our own country is excep-tionately excep-tionately "fortunate. We of all peoples can afford to keep our heads and to determine de-termine upon moderate and sensible courses of action which will insure us against the passions and distempers which are working such deep unhappiness for some of the distressed nations on the other side of the sea. But we may be involved In their distresses dis-tresses unless we help, and help with energy en-ergy and Intelligence. Disregarding the surplus stock In the hands of the government, there was a greater supply of foodstuffs in this country coun-try on June 1 of this year than at the same date last year. In the combined total to-tal of a number of the most important foods in dry and cold storage the excess is quite 19 per cent. And yet prices have risen. Law Department Active. The attorney general has been making a careful study of the situation as a whole and of the laws that can be applied ap-plied to better it and is convinced that, under the stimulation and temptation of exceptional circumstances, combinations of producers and combinations of traders have been formed for the control of supplies sup-plies and of prices which are clearly in restraint of trade, and against these prosecutions pros-ecutions will be promptly instituted and actively pushed which will In all likelihood likeli-hood have a prompt corrective effect. There is reason to believe that the prices of leather, of coal, of lumber and of textiles tex-tiles have been materially affected by forms of concert, and co-operation among the producers and marketers of these and other universally necessary commodities which it will be poi9.'lble to redress. No watchful or energetic effort will be spared to accomplish this necessary result. re-sult. I trust that there will not be many cases in which prosecution will be ncces-sa ncces-sa ry. Public action will no doubt cause many who have perhaps unwittingly adopted illegal methods to abandon them promptly and of their own motion. Retailers in Part to Blame. There can be little doubt that retailers retail-ers are in part sometimes in large part responsible for exorbitant prices; and it is quite practicable for the government gov-ernment through the agencies I have mentioned, to supply the public with full information as to the prices at which retailers buy and as to the costs of transportation they pay in order that it may be known Just what margin mar-gin of profit they are demanding. Opinion Opin-ion and concerted action on the part of purchasers can probably do the rent. Let me urge. In the first ' place, that the present foodstuff control act should be extended both as to the period of time during which it shall remain In operation and as to the commodities to which it shall apply. Its provision against hoarding should be made to apply not only to food but also to feed stuffs, to fuel, to clothing, and to many other commodities which are indisputably in-disputably necessaries of life. As it stands now it is limited in operation to the period of the war aria becomes inoperative in-operative upon the formal proclamation of peace, liut I should judge that it was clearly within the constitutional power of the congress to make similar permanent provisions and regulations with regard to all goods destined for interstate commerce com-merce and to exclude them from interstate inter-state shipment if the requirements of the law are not complied with. Some such regulation is imperatively necessary. 1 1 would materially add to the serviceability serv-iceability of the law, for the purpose we now have in view, if it were also prescribed pre-scribed that all goods released from storage stor-age for interstate shipment should have plainly marked upon each package the selling or market price at which they went into storage. By this means the purchaser would always be able to learn what profits stood between him and the producer or the wholesale dealer. The world must pay for the appalling destruction wrought by the great war, and we are part of the world. We must pay our share. For five years now the industry in-dustry of all Europe has been slack and disordered. The normal crops have not been produced; the normal quantity of manufactured goods has not been turned out. . Not until there are the usual crops and the usual production of manufactured goods on the other side of the Atlantic can Europe return to the former conditions; condi-tions; and It was upon the former conditions, condi-tions, not the present, that our economic relations with Europe were built up. We must face the fact that unless we help Europe to get back to her normal life and production a chaos will ensue there which will inevitably be communicated communi-cated to this country. For the present,, it is manifest, we must quicken, not slacken, our own production. U. S. Must Hold World Steady. We, and we almost alone, now hold the I world steady. Upon our steadfastness and self-possession depend the affairs of nations na-tions everywhere. It is In this supreme crisis this crisis for all mankind that American must prove her mettle. In the presence of a world confused, distracted, dis-tracted, she must show herself self-possessed, self-contained, capable of sober and effective action. She saved Europe by her action in arms; she must now save it by her action in peace. In saving Europe she will save hefBelf, as she did upon the battlefields of the war. The calmness and capacity with which she deals with and masters the problems of peace will be the final test and proof of her plao among the peoples of the world. And, If only In our own Interest, we I must help the people overseas. Europe Is our biggest customer. We must keep her ' going or thousands of our shops and scores of our mines must close. There is no such thing as letting her go to ruin without ourselves sharing in the disaster. In such circumstances, face to face with such tests, passion must be discarded. discard-ed. Passion and a disregard for the rights of others have no place in the counsels of a free people. We need light, not heat, in these solemn times of self-examination self-examination and saving action. Everyone who is in real touch with the silent masses of our great people knows that the old strong fiber and steady self- . control are still there, firm against vio- : lence or any distempered action that would throw their affairs into confusion. I am serenely confident that they will readily find themselves, no matter what the circumstances, and 'that they will ad- : dress themselves to the tasks of peace with the same devotion and the same ! stalwart preference for what is right that they displayed to the admiration of the 1 whole world in the midst of war. Sinister Influences at Work. And I enter another confident hope. I have spoken today chiefly of measures of imperative regulation and legal compulsion, com-pulsion, of prosecutions and the sharp correction of selfish processes; and these no doubt are necessary. But there are other forces that we may count on besides those resident in the department of justice. We have just ! fully awakened to what has been going on and to the influences, many of them very selfish and sinister, that have been producing high prices and imposing an intolerable burden on the mass of our people. To have brought it all into the open will accomplish the greater part of the result we seek. I appeal with entire confidence to our producers, our middlemen and our merchants to deal fairly with the people. peo-ple. It is their opportunity to show that they comprehend, that they intend in-tend to act justly, and that they have the public interest sincerely at heart. Labor Must Consider. I believe, too, that the more extreme ex-treme leaders of organized labor will presently yield to a sober second thought, and like the great mass of their associates, think and act like true Americans. They .will see that strikes undertaken at this critical time are certain to make matters worse, not better worse for them and for everybody else. The worst thing, ;the most fatal thing that can be done now is ;to stop or interrupt production, or to Interfere with the distribution of goods by the railways and the -shipping- of the country. Tli ere are many -things that ought to be corrected in-the relations between be-tween capital and labor, in .espect of wages and conditions of labor and other things even more far-reaching, and I. for one, am ready to go into conference about these matter with any group of my fellow countrymen who know what they are -talking about and are willing to remedy existing conditions by frank counsel rather than by violent contest General Interest First. No remedy is possible while men are in a temper, and there can be no settlement set-tlement which does not have as its motive a-nd standard the general interest. in-terest. Must All Work Together. Threats and undue Insistence upon the Interest of a single class, make settlement set-tlement impossible. I believe, as I have hitherto had occasion to say to the congress, that the industry end life of our people and of t lie world will suffer irreparable damage If employers and workmen are to go on in a perpetual perpet-ual contest, as antagonists. They must, on one plan or another, be effectively effec-tively associated. Have we not steadiness stead-iness and self-possession and business sense enough to work out that result? In the meantime-now and in the days of readjustment and recuperation that are ahead of us let us resort more and more to frank and Intimate counsel and make ourselves a great and triumphal nation, making ourselves our-selves a united force in the life of the world. It will not then have looked to us for leadership in vain. |
