South Bend News-Times, Volume 36, Number 229, South Bend, St. Joseph County, 17 August 1919 — Page 24

ON LT St'MWY Nnwsr.M'i:!: IN Nur.TI!i:i!N INDIANA. Mailed In Soutä ln ! m -, :d - nittr. G. R. KT'MMKRS. ir'. !"r.t J. M STKI'HK.VkON. PuMlir. JOHN HENRY ZUVri:. Editor.

SOUTH BEND NEWS-TIMES SUNDAY EDITORIAL PAGE Eingl Cop!. Sundiy e!x csti with rr.nr tic as, 13 mtm -ckly or J7 pr yr 1tn, tV2!rr-i J -r rifr; 14 bj mall In flrt anl .v-oa i rn; lö beyond P- o-: i i r.

Uncle Sam and the Hornets'

ft V T ONDER if CoL Ch arles Arthur Carlisle, as local administrator for the government m the matter of price investigation and 1: iL i j c u Vjetting into, which reminds us of a story. It is a story that has been current for years; is o old and "chestnulty" that a let of old men 'laughed so hard that they kicked all the slats put cf the cradle the first time they heard it," 3Ut which gained such currency during the war, Itnd since that, perhaps, centle reader, vou can ' " ' - w Hand it again; particularly sincj it is to be prefented from a different angle. which the artst behind the accompanying ca.toon illustrates. As the story goes, or has been going, particularly recently, sometimes it is a "nigger" and scmctimcs a stage coach driver, but it is always a pica fcr "organization." Everyone who has rpeken at a Red Cross, a War Chest, a Liberty Loan or a Chamber of Commerce meeting in moons, has had it to tell. Whichever it was "cocn" or "coachman" he was always expert with a whip; could pick a leaf off from a tree, a bud from a rosebush, a flea from a mule's ear, and all that sort of thing, but when it came to hornet's nest, with a nice fat hornet perched at the "door of the coop," he always refused to strike. And the reason was obvious. "Them things is organized," the whip-shot would say. II LAUGH pi ease! The host is always supposed to laugh when a guest tells a story no e'fference how ancient, or how poorly executed or employed. It is a mark of hospitality, but right here, beg pardon, for putting a highly rerpcctable citizen, recently deceased, but one who ordinarily could laugh and enjoy a good story as well as the next one, int the category of the inhospitables. Reference is made to the late John F. Nuner, superintendent of the city schools, and it was probably the last meeting of the Chamber of Commerce that he ever attended. The speaker of the day was a more or less bilious gentleman from the Chicago Association of commerce and head cf cne of the "Windy City's" big trust companies; an emissary of "big bus'ness"- quite without doubt. Nothing had been going to suit him. The conduct of the war was all wrong; he was peeved at the government's shipbuilding program; snarled at the food and fuel administrations; saw no virtue in the war industries or war trades boards, or war risk insurance; sneered at the president and recrctary of state as non-essentials at the peace tables; the Sherman anti-trust law was bad enough, but the Clayton amendments were awful; the administration in Washington hsdn't heeded to his satisfaction, the demands of a group of Chicago capitalists for intervention in Mexico and ro he urged upon the Chamber of Commerce a strong organization to combat such evils; so strong that even the government would feel the pressure, and, then he told the "hornet" story as an illustration. And everybody seemed to appreciate it, at least fcc hospitable; everybody except Nuner. When pressed for an explanation of his seriousness, he ventured: "I have been amazed for the last 1001th times that I have heard that yarn, that intelligent men should still persist in misusing it; unable to distinguish between a knock and a boost, between a criticism and a compliment. The trouble is that we have too many just such hornet's nests, defying the government. Who wants to be a hornet? They better illustrate an organized band of highwaymen, bank robbers, automobile thieves, white slavers, political crooks, price boosters and war profiteers, than what a self-respecting Chamber of Commerce ought to be." "The good die young.' John F. Nuner, soon thereafter, went to join the stars in the firmament. Ill AMERICA today the unorganized public, save as the government represents an organization of the people, is up against a galaxy of exactly the type of hornets nest that Mr- Nuner referred to, and, pretty much the same type as was in reality eulogized by the gentleman from Chicago. The problem cf high prices, and war profiteering, organized to the teeth, is directly in point. And the government the unorganized public's only organization, has been dealing with it pretty much as the stcry-tellers say the "coon" and the "coach-driver" did. Quite as Josh Billings would have said, they approached the hornet's nest with tact. "Tact," said he, "is the ability to take a stinger from a bee without getting stung." Organization, capable of great good in its proper sphere, has been converted into a most damnable instrument of evil just as liquor has its uses, but is capable of infinitely greater abuses. Organization is approaching the end of its rope, and is hanging itself by the throat; that is, it will if it keeps up the present pace. The Sherman anti-trust law was a sort of preamble to it, and the Clayton amendments calculated to give it new force, but it is doubtful now if cither will be able to cope with the situation. Victims of organized greed, are, in great mssscs, beginning tc believe that prevention will be better than punishment, and a system of enforced competition or something otherwise drastic, is threatening the eastern horizon. IV TOO much organization; that is pretty much the whole problem. Our nitlcnal pride has degenerated into an inherent vice; a besetting sinCcL Ingerxoll enct said that "Jesus Christ was the only Man that ever lived, pessesj-ed cf real power, without ever abusing it, even unto the cross," ccns;drrablc o a compliment flora a man whom so many ether, professed follower

(ÜmW äf r f'6 M , C j

xji ine Minist, wnue enronic with abuse or power, have quite as inconsistently damned. It isn't all national associations of this, state associations of that, nor local boards of trade, or chambers of commerce either, that have wrought the mischief. It is these only as, making common cause of the varied interests of which they are composed, they do exactly what the Chicago gentleman proposed they should do; organize to act as a brake upon the people's government serving the people in preference. to their particular welfares. At the bottom of it all, is organized greed; sometimes the greed of those who have, and at others the greed of those who have net for mind you, the gloated millionaire is but the realization of the hope and desire of the masses; he is just what they would be if they could. The difference is one of native ability; the facizlly on the one hand, of accumulation through manipulation, scheming, organization, and monopolization, driving sharp bargains and on the ether hand, perhaps just as honorably, by perchclimbing, highwaymanship, or organization with monopolization of the mere privilege of honest toil, employing force here, quite as effectively and ruthlessly as the other fellow. It is a differentiation that might be compared as cf the rapier with the bludgeon; between honc:t brutality and Chesterfieldian kleptomania, veritab hornet's nests in both instances, though Letting Doivn Poncrf'vs ha tWorr it a n'vr army biTL rponcrd by tho war department, and prepared under direction f the chi f of st a ft. which would sem to iniliciiic that "me of iht- "pacifist propaganda that his i.ren hurled a.! Scoy of War Baker, had betn slightly exaccpratrd. Whatever he may have been lf-fcr th? war, in addition to putting up a pretty cood f.cht, once into the war, he ?eems toIay something of a militarist. Th army bill ponorel by the war department i not th str-n'Jou nuaurf that l-aa ben contemp'atfd by St.. Harry Netr of Indiana, for int.mc wanted, ;uit apparently more for political than lor defensive purposes. but it is bad enough at that. Instead of a million. th Pfsndinfc army i? to cntlNt of 513.(00 rr.e-n. This i? a pretty big. expensive army, and one to l olerated only with the undertandir.fc that it is intended merely for the present emergency, until generally peaceful conditions are restored throughout the worldL TL mo.t notabV innovation: is tmivvrval military rvu t. Th'.. however, occasions no such surprise a it would hae around a few years aso.. The surprising thine about it is the short period of service required. ATI elipit-l- youn; men. on reaching the art of IS years o'.d, are to undersro training for i :n" m r.t h. Taci vlZ uz absurCj Ebvrt jvrv.i ! Iii

Nests Or Organization Versus the People

in the case of the latter, perhaps, more nearly resembling those pesky little yaller-jackets. V - HERE you have it; the rising process! Partnerships, corporations, interlocking directorates, mammoth corporations, organizations of particular businesses; manufacturing, distributing, delivering capital and labor both indulging. Everybody is in the swim except Mr. and Mrs. Ultimate Consumer. It may be asserted that the manufacturer, the jobber, the wholesaler, the common carriers, the merchant, and the labor employed throughout, are one and the same with the consumer, but somehow the ends do not always meet with economic equity. The fault lies in the fact that excessive priceboosting started with an economic fiat, was profiteering in nature disregarding cost or value, repealing the law of supply and demsnd, and substituting for it the limit of traffic burdens. Thus when labor was forced by a raise in prices somewhere along the line out of proportion to its income, upon commodities that it had made subject to that income, to demand a wage increase that would enable the workman to buy back what he had made, it would have completed the circle but the profiteers would not let it. Bear in mind that high wages have followed, net preceded, high prices and have followed them far in the rear, based on the scale of per

the "Bars" to the School of Militarists

rank militarist, yet when It Is to be remembered that most of the American lad3 who distinguished themselves In France did not have a much longer period of fundamental training, why train longer, for fundamental purposes? A great deal can be taught intelligent youths in three months of intensive effort. It is held that the finishing touch'-, when necessary, can easily be given afterward. The national guard would participate In th training. and there you have the political machine. Of the 50.0(0 recruits available the first year. It Is expected that 50 A, CO 0 would be able to qualify for military service. This half-million a ye-ar would constitute a reserve tu which. In emergency, the electlvv draft would b applied to expand th? regular army to war strength. Along with it "would g" the hue corps of army offleia'.!. for training purpose and political purpos'- al. The training plan i a modification of the f?w!s-i plan, so generally rom mended as a model fcr ths United State. It rfjutres n 1-- actual sT-'Ke than the Swis plan. This t)h;i of it Is admirab if it will really produce the ;'rult said to hi desired. It will vrivt- every youni; man a taste of discipline and "wholesome" army life without interfering much with hi regular purslt. If It proved insufficient, the training period -M 1- extended, and possibly distributed through two y-ars. as it proubly will be am a.? iut Mjrne rsore strer.uotx mlU-

centage, yet with each increase of wages, prices have soared again; the manufacturer collecting a profit on the increase from the jobber, the jobber an additional profit from the wholesalers, the wholesalers an additional profit from the retailer, and likewise the retailer from the consumer until by the time it reaches the workman again, hb wage increase has actually lost him money. Wage increases, accordingly, do not cure the disease. It only prolongs the agony. A surer cure is to make profiteering unprofitable. A tax collector, speaking figuratively, should follow every article manufactured, both from the farm, the mine and the workshop, all the way to the kitchen, the parlor, the coal bin, the clothes press and the bedroom, with such a limitation placed upon profits all along that line, as to make pyramiding profits too expensive for indulgence-

-VIQUESTION ! Will Uncle Sam rise to his proper stature, emblematic of the American government, organized "by the people, of the people, and for the people," and tackle the hornet's nests, or will he like the proverbial "coon" or traditional "coachman," save his expert whipmanship for the leaves on the trees, the buds on the rosebush, and the fleas on the mules' ears? Is this a government, by, of and for the people, or is it a government by, of and for the special interests? Alreacy the propaganda cf the profiteers is at 1ari-t groap gets in fuller control of government affairs. Ave. there is the dancer in it! It is letting down the bars. The little coterie of army officials that will have to be maintained to train these groups of a half million boys annually, means a military caste cf not le?s than 10, ('00, all of them seeking to hold their jobs, and realizing all the while that expansion, or growth, Is essential to maintenance. They will want their jobs to last the year round. You get a glimpse in this of the political machine: the setting ip of something that is almost cert.. in to ripen inio a military aristocracy. No t:. th ink you, much as wo admire Scc'y Baker in most ir.gs. not in this. We fought Germany to down just that sort of thing, of course, more f Lilly developed, but a glimpse of what it might lead to. r.ivj? us the ratificat.on of the Paris treaty, and the League of Nations to enforce peace, and we will not ne-d the inauguration of such an embryo militarist procram. The English crown prince is on the way to this country. Are you interested because he is a prince cf blood royal, or heraus? he is Just a plain, nice young man? Tteplis will b? regarded aj strictly 3ent:aL Food ,r3Tt haj .iurt as prices cls food extortion. much to do with high

werk; already their lobbyists are hying: themselves to Washington where the music of their voices, sing sweet sonorous songs of capitalistic altruism into the ears of the people's representatives as they scurry through the corridors of the cap it c I. But is there anyone there to lobby for the people? Hardly! He would be regarded as a fool or a crank who would try it not having a "hornet's nest" back of him to emphasize his "dignity." Meanwhile too, prices are reported as receding a little, proof of profiteering in itself, but to revert to Josh Billings again, tactfully designed to "take the stinger from the bee without getting stung." An execs profits tax cf 100 per cent; of 100 percent of all in excess of a reasonable profit on capital actually invested water not counted, would soon reduce profits to a reasonable return on the cost of production and distribution, and America would be back on a safe and sane economic basis, reenacting the 1 aw of supply and demand, and consigning this, "how much will the traffic bear?" question to a regrettable memory. America has a test case on its hands. Shall the "hornets' nests" rule or is Uncle Sam the master? Will he correct the various abuses with which the country is confronted on the basis of "the greatest good fcr the greatest number' or will he let labor tell him what to do, cr capital tell him what to do, and borrowing his responsiveness from the late Commodore Vanderbilt, assume an attitude cf "to hell with the people?' Are we a government by law, or a government by men? Theoretically, at least, we are a government by law. Nowhere is government by "organizations" or "cliques" of men, contemplated. Such a government would be "sovietish" regardless of the source; capitalistic or laboritc. We are not supposed to be a government dictated to by "hornets nests." VII TOO much, however, must not be expected of Uncle, even at his best. The increased cost of living since, say 1914, has not been all profiteering; not by a considerable. Profiteering must be distinguished from legitimate price increases. Prices based upon value are perfectly right and proper. Aside from pyramiding profits on labor, rents, etc, and boosting prices to offset excess taxes that differentiate in excesses, collecting also a profit in war taxes, prices may increase and not without justice; may, indeed, be a necessity. As the president remarked in his message to congress, insofar as these high prices result from widespread economic conditions, they must b? dealt with according to economic law, the action necessary calling for international as well as national sanction. Peace must come, and with it international accord in matten political, before any economic peace can follow it, war incurred incident to the operations of the former having destroyed the latter. Take the destruction caused by the war as a fundamental. The war is said to have cost $200,000,000,000 in actual expenditure- It directly destroyed uncounted billions of wealth which otherwise might have been turned to creative human use, and it kept tens of millions of men out of productive industry for years. That destruction has to be made up before prices can be expected to- settle down to anywhere near the ante-bellum level, if they ever do. Along with this must be reckoned the multiplication of money and credit. The basic supply of gold has gone on increasing while other commodities have decreased; therefore, naturally, more gold must be paid for the other commodities. This tendency has been greatly accelerated by the issuance of vast quantities of currency, either based on gold or independent of it, and by the enormous flotation of war loans and extension of credits. There are several, times as much "money" of various sorts to buy things with as there were before the war. So, of course, more money has to be paid for things. An additional cause operating powerfu'ly in America at present is the export movement to Europe. Because there is more need of food and other fundamental gcods in Europe than there is here, Europe b driven to pay whatever is necessary to obtain them. The lure of profits draws our goods across the sea, thus reducing the national supply, which otherwise might be adequate. That raises American prices above their natural level. VIII THE remedy for the destruction is, of course, hard, intelligent, productive work, the wcrld over. The remedy for too much money is to stop issuing big loans, pay off existing bond issues as fast as possible and contract credits as far as may safely be done a very complex, difficult business. The remedy for too much exportation is, presumably, to limit experts if the United States wants to do anything so drastic as that. These remedies must all be applied in addition to outwitting the profiteer, and curbing his cussc-d-ness, and it is a man's job, and a job that will take time to execute. ' The profiteer can be handled as fast as he csn be reached, but real ecorwotnic condition have a grip that is natural. Back of them the law of sepply and demand is a controlling force, and with profiteering eliminated, you can't beat it Don't then, expect prices to drop to old levels, this for a considerable timet incident to which there will also need be some reductions in the price of labor, for insofar as labor has contributed to the rise it must also contribute to the fall. It's a man's job that Uncle Sam is tacklLig; not a job that one would expect a "coon" or a "coachman" to ccpe with perhaps but Uncle Sam must and he will