The Commoner
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VOL. 17, NO. 7
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President Wilson on Profits and
Patriotism
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. 'A Washington dispatch, dated July 11, says:
President Wilson tonight summon6d American
business to the colors.
In an "address to the mino operators and
manufacturers of the United States," he stated
plainly what the government's program of de
termining just prices is. And he looks to every
business man big and little to moet the situ
atidn in a big way. "Prices," ho saye, "mean
' victory or defeat."
The address follows:
My Fellow Countrymen: The government is
about to attempt to determine the prices at
which it will ask you henceforth to furnish va
rious supplies which are necessary for the pros
ecution of the war, and various materials which
will bo needed in the industries by which the
war must bo sustained.
, Wo shall, of course, try to determine them
justly and to the best advantage of the nation
as a whole; but justice is easier to speak of
than to arrive at, and there are some consider
ations which I hope wo shall keep steadily in
mind while this particular problem of justice is
being worked out. Therefore I take the liberty
of stating very candidly my own view of the
situation and of . the principles which should
guide both tho government and the mine own
ers and manufacturers of the country in this
difficult matter.
MEANING OF JUST PRICE
A just price must, of course, be paid for ev
erything tho government buys. By a just price,
I mean a price which will sustain the industries
concerned in a high state of efficiency, provide
a living for those who conduct them, enable
them to pay good wages, and make possible the
expansions of their enterprises which will from
time to time become necessary as the stupend
ous undertakings of this great war develop. We
could not wisely or reasonably do less than pay
such prices. They are necessary for the main
tenance and development of industry and tho
maintenance and development of industry are
necessary for tho great taBk wo have in hand.
But I trust that we shall not surround the
matter with a mist of sentiment. Facts are our
masters now. We ought not to put the accept
ance of such prices on the ground of patriotism.
Patriotism has nothing to do with profits in a
case liko this. Patriotism and profits ought
never in the present circumstances to be -mentioned
together. It is perfectly proper to dis
cuss profits as a matter of business, with a view
to maintaining the integrity of capital and the
efficiency of labor In these tragical months,
when the liberty of free men everywhere and of
industry itself trembles in the balance, but it
would be absurd to discuss them as a motive for
helping to serve and cave our country.
WHAT PATRIOTISM DEMANDS
Patriotism leaves profits out of the question.
In these days of our supreme trial, when we
are sending hundreds of thousands of our
young men across the seas to serve a great
cause, no true man who stays behind to work
for them and sustain them by his labor will
ask himself what he is personally going to make
out of that labor. No true patriot will permit
himself to take toll of their heroism on money
or seek to grow rich by the shedding of their
blood. He will give as freely and with as un
stinted self-sacrifice as they, When they are
giving their Uvea, will he not at least give his
money?
ABOUT EXCESS PROFITS
I hear it insisted that more than a just price j
more than a price that will sustain our indus
! tries, must be paid; that it is necessary to pay
Jyery liberal and unusual profits in order to
"stimulate" production; that nothing but pe
cuniary rewards will do rewards paid in
money, not in the mere liberation of the world.
I take It for granted that those who argue
thuo do not stop to think what that means. Do
J they mean that you must be paid, must bo
I bribed, to make your contribution, a contribu
tion that costs you neither a drop of blood nor
a tear, when the whole world is in travail and
( men everywhere depend upon and call to you to
bring them out of bondage and make the whole
world a fit place to live in again amidst peace
and justice? Do they mean that you will exact
a prico; drive a bargain, with the men who are
enduring the agony of this war oil the battle
field, In the trenches, amidst the lurking dan
gers of the sea, or with the bereaved women and
pitiful children, before you -will come forward to
do your duty and give some part of your life, in
easy, peaceful fashion, for the things we are
fighting for, the things we have pledged our for
tunes, our lives, our sacred honor to vindicate
and dofend liberty and justice and fair deal
ing and tho peace of nations.
Of course you will not. It is Inconceivable.
Your patriotism is of the same selfV-denying
stuff as the patriotism of the men dead or
maimed on the fields of France or else it is not
patriotism at all.
ASSAILS SHIP OWNERS
Let us never speak, then, of profits and of
patriotism In the same sentence, but face facts
and meet them. Le us do "sound business, but
not in tho midst of a mist. Many a grievous
burden of taxation will be laid on this nation,
in this generation arid the next, to pay for this
war; let us see to it' that for every dollar that
is taken from the people's pockets It shall be
possible to obtain a dollar's worth of the sound
stuffs they need.
Let me turn 'for a moment to tho shipowners
of the United States and the other ocean car
riers whose example they have followed, and
ask them if they realize what obstacles, what
almost insuperable obstacles, they have been
putting in the way of the successful prosecution
of this war by the ocean freight rates they have
been exacting.
MOTIVES NOT QUESTIONED
They are doing everything that high freight
charges can do to make the war a failure, to
make it Impossible. I do not say that they real
ize this or intend it. The thing has happened
naturally enough, because tho commercial proc
esses which we are content to see operate in or
dinary times have without sufficient thought
been continued into a period where they have
no proper place. I am not questioning motives.
I am merely stating a fact and stating it in or
der that attention may be fixed upon it.
The fact Is that those who have fixed war
freight rates have taken the most effective
means In their power to defeat the armies en
gaged against Germany. When they realize this
we may, I take it for granted, count upon them
to reconsider the whole matter. It is high time.
Their extra hazards are covered by war risk in
surance. FOR CLEAR UNDERSTANDING
I know, and you know,, what response to this
great challenge of duty and of opportunity the
nation will expect of you; and I know what re
sponse you will make. Those who do not re
spond, who do not respond in the spirit of those
who have gone to give their lives for us on
bloody fields far away, may safely be left to be "
dealt with by opinion and the law, for the
law must of course command those.things.
I am dealing with the matter thus publicly
and frankly, not because I have any doubt or
fear as to the result, but only in order that in
all our thinking and in all our dealings with one
another we may move in a perfectly clear air of
mutual understanding. ,
ALL PEOPLE MOBILIZED
And there is something more that we must
add to our thinking. The public is now as much
part of the government as are the army and
navy themselves; the whole people in all their
activities are now mobilized and in service for
the accomplishment of the nation's task in this
war; it is in such circumstances impossible
justly to distinguish between industrial pur
chases made by the government and industrial
purchases made by tho managers of industries,
and it is just as much our duty to sustain the
industries of the country with all the materials
.that minister to its life; as it U to sustain our
forces in. the field and on the sea. vjP , t
make prices to the public the same as the
to the government.- thQ pr,ces
MEANS VICTORY OR DEFEAT
Prices mean the same thing everywhere n
They mean the efficiency or the inTfflcienCy ?
tho nation, whether it is the government tha
pays them or not. They mean victory or fl
feat They mean that America will win her nin
once for all among tho foremost free nation! Tf
tho world, or that she will sink to defeat am
become a second-rate power alike in thoueh
and in action. This is a day of her reckoning
and every man amongst us must personally fa
that reckoning along with her.
The case needs no arguing. I assume I am
only expressing your own thoughts what must
be in the mind of every true man when he faces
the tragedy and the solemn glory of the present
war, for the emancipation of mankind.
I summon you to a great duty, a great privil
ege, a shining dignity and distinction. I shall
expect every man who is not a slacker to he at
my side throughout this great enterprise. In it
no man can win honor who thinks of himself.
KING ALBERT WRITES LETTER TO PRES
IDENT WILSON
A Washington dispatch, dated June 19, says:
The personal letter to President Wilson from
King Albert, delivered yesterday by Baron Mon
cheur, head of the Belgian mission is as follows:
"I command to your excellency's kindly re
ception the mission which bears this letter. This
mission will, express to the President the feeling
of understanding and enthusiastic admiration
with which my government and people have re
ceived the decision reached by him in his wis
dom. The mission will also tell you how greatly
the important and glorious role enacted by the
United States has confirmed the confidence which
the Belgian nation has always had in free Amer
ica's spirit of justice.
"The great American nation was particularly
moved by the unwarranted and violent attacks
made upon Belgium. It has sorrowed over the
distress of my subjects subjected to the yoke of
the, enemy. It has succored them with incom
parable generosity. I am happy to have an op
portunity to express to your excellency the grat
itude which my country owes you and the Arm
hope entertained by Belgium that on the day of
reparation, toward which America will contrib
ute so bountifully, full and entire justice will bo
rendered to my country.
"My government has chosen to express its
sentiments to your excellency through two dis
tinguished men whose services will command
credence for what they have to say, Baron
Moncheur, who for eight years was my repre
sentative at Washington, and Lieut-General
Leclercq, who has earned high appreciation dur
ing a long military career.
"I venture to hone, Mr. President, that you
will accord full faith' and credence to everything
that they say especially when they assure you
of the hopes I entertain for the happiness and
prosperity of the United States of America and
of my faithful and very -sincere friendship.
"ALBERT."
MAKES PJUB3A FOR RED CROSS AID
Washington Star, June 21.
William Jennings Bryan, former secretary of
state and international peace advocate, wno
offered himself to the President in any capacity
for war service, made a stirring appeal tor
generous outpouring of money to meet iw
greatest humanitarian opportunity in Jistory
' a Red Cross rally at the District building at
noon today. This meeting . was arranSe" 7
Commissioner Brownlow and held in the i ou.
room. It represented the District governments
message to the people of the national capita w
give all they can to the cause. Represen a t ve
were present from all the citizens assoc m ions
and from all departments of the city service.
Greater enthusiasm for the Poposod prog jam
of vastly increasing the yield of field ?t
year would be created if it wer? JIe" Eng
known whether any of it was to be sent tow
land to be manufactured into booze. i
tion is tapering off itself, and it has , a .rib ofl
insist that her allies help relieve the strai
her powers of production.
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