STRAIGHT TALK TO MEN OF BUSINESS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3192, 17 September 1917, Page 6

STRAIGHT TALK TO MEN OF BUSINESS

.'PRESIDENT WILSON on practical PATRIOTISM POWERFUL APPEAL FOR SQUARE DEALING President Wilson recently made'a powerful and eloquent appeal' to the business interests of the country to give their holp to the nation as wholly and fieely as those, who .fight at tho front. "My fellow countrymen," he said, "the Government is about to attempt to determine tho prices at which it will ask you henceforth to furnish various supplies which are necessary for the prosecution of the war and various materials which will bo seeded in the industries by which the war must be sustained. We shall, of course, try to determine them justly and to the best advantage of the nation'as a whole, but jus- ' tice is easier to epeak of than to arrive at, and there are some i nsiderations which I hope we 6hall keep steadily in mind whili this particular problem of justice is "being worked out. I, therefore, take tho liberty of stating very candidly my own view of the situation and of the principles which should guide •both the Government and the mine owners and manufacturers of the country in this difficult matter. A just price must, ■ of course, be paid for everything the 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 fromtima 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 maintenance and development of industry, and the main- , tenance and' development of industry are for the great task we have in •hand. But-1 trust that we shall not surround the matter with a mist cf sen- . timent. Facts are our masters low. We ought not to put the acceptance of such prices on the ground of patriotism. Patriotism hns nothing to do with profits in a case.like this; Patriotism aii'l" profits ought never in the present circumstances be mentioned together. It is perfectly proper to discuss profits as a matter of business, with a view to mainstaining the integrity of capital and the efficiency, of labour in these tragical months when the liberty of free men everywhere and of industry itself trembles in the balance, but it would be abBuid to discuss them as a motive for' . helping to serve and save ouir < quntry. Patriotism and Profits. "Patriotism' leaves profits out of the .question. In these days of our supreme trial, when wo are sending hundreds of thousands of our young men across the seas to serve a great cause, 110 true 'man who stays behind to, work for them and sustain -them by his labour will ask himself what he is personally going to make out''of that labour. No true patriot will permit himself to take toll of their heroism in money or seek to " grow rich by the shedding of their blood. He will give as freely and with as nn- < stinted self-sacrifice as they. When Kiey ere giving their lives will he not give at least his money? I hear it insisted that more than a just price, more than a price that will sustain our industries, must be paid; that it is necessary to pay very liberal and unusual profits in order to 'stimulate production'; that nothing but pecuniary rewards will do—rewards paid in' money, not in the mere liberation of the. world. ; ■ • "I take it for. granted that those who argue thus do not stop to think what that means. Do • they mean that you must be paid, must be bribed, to make •your contribution, a contribution that costs you neither a drop of blood nor n tear, when the whole world is in travail and men everywhere depend upon and call to vou to bring them out of bondage and make the world.a fit place to live in again amidst peace and justice? Do they mean that you will exact a price, drive a bargain with the men who are . endnring the agony of this war on the battlefield, in the trenches, amidst the lurking dangers 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 fpr, the things we have pledged our'fortunes, our t lives, our sacred honour, to vindicate and defend—liberty and justice and fair . dealing and tho ' peace of nations? Of course you will not. It is inconceivable. Tonr patriotism is of the same ■ r - self-denying, stuff' as the patriotism nf ;. the men dead or maimed on the fields '-■"of France, or else it is no patriotism at 'all.' Let us never speak, then, of profits 'and of patriotism in the same sentence, I but face facts and meet them. Let us -.'do sound business, but not in the midst r of a mist. Many a grievous burden of '.'taxation will bo laid on this nation, in 'this generation and in the next, to pay '•'for this war. Let us see to it that for , .every dollar that is taken from the peo- ' pie's pockets it shall be possible to obtain a dollar's worth of the sound stuffs ■■ they need. . Shipping Freights. ''-' "Let me turn lor. a moment to the ship owners of. the -United States and the other ocean 'carriers whose example .• they have .followed and ask them if they C : realise -what "obstacles, what almost in"supera.ble obstacles, "they have been putting in the way. of She successful prosecution of this war by tho ocean freight " rates they have been exacting. They are \ doing every thing*, that -high freight: "charges can do to make the war a fail- j lire', to- make it impossible. I do not say that they realise this or intend it. ! The thing has happened naturally . enough, because thß commercial processes '."which we are content to see operate in '-ordinary times have,-without sufficient , thought, been continued into a period 'where, they, have no proper place. 1 am not questioning"motives. I am merely stating 'a H act, and stating it in.order 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 engaged against Germany. When they realise this, we may—l take it for granted—count upon them to reconsider the whole matter. It is high time. Their extra hazards are. covered by war risk insurance. ;' "I know, and you know, what response to this great challenge of duty and of opportunity tho nation will expect of you; and I know what rosponse you will make. Those who do' not respond, who do not respond' in the spirit of those who have gone to give their lives for us on bloody fields.far away, may . 6afely be left to be dealt with by opinion and the law-for the law must, of course, command these things. I am dealing with the matter thus publicly and frankly, not because I have any doubt or fear as to tho result, but only in "' order that in nil our thinking and in all our dealings with one another we may move in a perfectly clear air of mutual understanding. , "And there is something more that wo must add to our thinking. The public is now as much part of tho Government as are the Army and Navy . themselves; the whole people in ill their activities are now mobilised 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 purchases made by the Government and industrial - purchases made by the managers of individual industries; and it is just as . much our duty to sustain the industries of the country, all tho industries Unit . contribute to its life, as it ia to sustain our forces in the field and on the sea. We mustmake'the prices to tho public the same as the prices to the Govern- ■ ment. , 'Trices mean (he same thing everywhere now. They mean the -fficiency or tho inefficiency of the nation, whether it is the Government that pays them ur ' not They mean victory or defeat. They mean that America will win her place •■■■once for all amonjr.the foremost free nations of the world, or that she will sink to defeat and become a second-rate Power alike in thought nnd in action. ' This iB a day of hor reckoning and every ■ .man among.us must personally face that "'reckoning along with her. Tho case needs. no arguing. I assume that I ,am only

expressing your own thoughts—whit must be in the mind of every tnio man when lie i'nces the tragedy and the solemn glory of the present war, c or the emancipation' of mankind. I summon you to u great duty, a great privilege, a shining dignity and distinction. I shall expect every man who is not a slacker to be at my sido throughout 'his great enterprise. In it.no man can win honour who thinks of himself."