Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1918 — PRICE CONTROL NOTHING NEW [ARTICLE]

PRICE CONTROL NOTHING NEW

Oriental raw* Forbade Sellin* Over or Under Standard Fricej Ancient Bankin* and Bnaineaa Method* Same a* Our*

By S. W. STRAUS

(Pnatant New Ywkud CtaoCsßnter)

(Copyright, 1917, We.tern Newspaper Union.) We consider ourselves very much advanced in our control of food prices. It might do us some good to look back 'a littie and. see what the ancient Orientals did in this regard thousands of. ago. The Brahmanlc and Rabbinical laws ifully equal the measures we have (adopted. For example, besides seeing that not too much was charged for food or other articles, the former law [provided a penalty for selling under a standard price. Rabbinical law limited storekeepers’ profits to 16 2-3 per cent.

Economic history —the story of banking and business —Indicates that some of our so-called, “modern tutions” are in reality as old as the 'hills. Some economists claim that the ’“division of labor”—that is, the specializing by one individual in a single operation in manufacturing —is something comparatively new and did not exist.to any extent prior to the eighteenth century. But against this we have the statement made by someone that caste in India is “division of labor gone to seed.” • And the socialist’s dream of an ideal state is also nothing new. Plato once proposed an elaborate plan for a new state. He figured It out very carefully and decided to limit the population to 5,040. If the number of inhabitants ran over that amount colonies were to be established; if below, prizes were to be offered to stimulate its increase. Another suggestion of Plato’s was that the children were tq.be the property of the state and common to all. In' Sparta everyone ate at a copimon table. No payments of money were required and the products of all were shared by everyone. Further, in Greece factories of considerable size existed. Some employed hundreds of workmen. A factory would be devoted to the exclusive production of one article, such as a tunic. Most of the labor was performed by slaves. Even the most humble citizens of Athens had nt least one slave. They were sent to the river to drink

with the horses and were branded on the forehead. ■ Contracts in Athens were bound tn two ways. One method was the informal handshake and the other was the formal contract where something was pledged. At one time men pledgee themselves, but this was, stopped under the laws of Solon. , , Were the Athenians familiar with apartment houses? It seems so. Witness the following statement by a wellknown French economist: “People built for speculation a sort of inn, the apartments of which, were let to whom politics or commerce attracted to Athens, and who had no right of citizenship there.” Rentals In Athens amounted to about per cent of the capital invested in the property.

In the claim of Germany that she has secured control of the seas through the destruction of shipping, by submarines, we ljuve a parallel case in the history .or Rome. The Romans were never fond of going to sea and had a peculiar horror of commerce. In. Carthage they destroyed 500 vessels. Augustus, who brought victory in a naval battle at Actium, greatly feared water. It was through their wholesale destruction of ships that the Romans gained control of the sea. Ancient Rome faced the same problem, we do in the congestion of cities and neglect of agriculture. Virgil lamented this tendency and contrasted the artificialities of city life arid the simple pleasures of rural living.

Rome, too, had “big business.” Tike great bulk of her commercial and financial affairs, were in the hands of . the “Equites,” or Roman knights. The entire industrial fabric was dependent on them. Roman “big business,” just like that of today, was not immune from attack. It was constantly being assailed and accused of graft. The Romans even used checks about the same as we do today.

Today we boast of our world ifalrs. But Europe, during medieval times, was not unfamiliar with fairs fully equal to ours. They were really an economic necessity, as people were attracted from far and near, and exchange of products from every part of the- world was facilitated. The largest fairs were held at in Russia, Leipzig, in Germany, and Stourbridge, England. An English fair at St. z Giles covered, an area of seven miles and lasted sixteen days. Even in this day who has heard of a bank with 9,000 branches? Suob an institution existed in medieval times in the Knights Templar. They conducted a general banking business and maintained 9,000 branches.