Show PRICES AS INDEX when times are good wages high and the people prosperous P the price of food shelter and other commodities I 1 are high and when times are hard the prices of these i ne necessities drop so that food prices become more or less an index of economic conditions viewed from this standpoint it becomes apparent that the business repression of which we have been hearing a great deal during the past few months is an actuality and that times are not improving prices of practically all kinds of food stuff have dropped during the past few weeks and appear to still be on the decline butter meat flour coffee canned goods etc are considerably cheaper than they were last fall or even during the winter months of course this does not help the producer on the con arary it decreases the purchasing power of the masses and tends aenas to still further intensify hard times regardless of whether we refer to it as a depression a recession or a plain business slump this condition following so closely on the heels of all athe the government spending to prime the economic pump is quite disheartening androes and goes to prove that we are facing a new and unsolved economic and social problem it is i not hard to point out the main factors which have brought about this changed condition such as the gradual concentration I 1 of wealth into the hands of far too few people the progressive action of the ruinous ruinous operation of the system 1 of usury or interest which once or twice before threatened civilization and had to be banned under penalty of death but has gradually returned to plague us the lack of a prescribed abed limit on incomes and fortunes and the transfer of I 1 our constitutional rights in money to private banking interests r te er f 5 but none of these fundamental wrongs have yet been righted fi the new deal has hag gone the limit we would say in its priming methods small in pump business concerns are re harried with a multitude of taxes and exactions congress js is exploring every avenue for increased revenues to meet f the demands but only by steadily increasing the national debt in peace times can we keep ahead of the wolves of he depression and prevent a revolution tion some people particularly in the field of small business are giddin kidding g themselves that all the government has to do is to fold it its s hands turn business loose as it was under the coolidge and hoover administrations and that business will absorb the unemployment and everything will be jake again they forget how long we waited with mr hoover for the return of those good times just around the corner no gentlemen we cannot turn the hands bands of time backwards we are facing a new problem of production and distribution and none of the sign posts of the past will solve our problem the development of the machine has lifted us out of an economy of scarcity and has sounded d the death knell of unrestricted private enterprise there must be more cooperation and more regulation in the th e future and in some way all the people must be made to share in the advantages of the machine age there must be less of greed and selfishness and more of christianity if we are to move forward into that better society that is waiting for us and made possible by the inventive brains and business acumen of modern times |