Food Control During Forty-six Centuries; M. Lacy

In connection with this control it would seem that every possible expedient and experiment had been tried. One of the most frequent methods of control used has been the limitation of prices by legal enactment. The results have been astonishingly uniform considering the variety of con ditions and circumstances under which the experiments have taken place. They make an interesting record and one which contains food for thought .... 000 0 0 0 0 000 The history of govemment limitation of price seems to teach one clear lesson: That in attempting to ease the bur dens of the people in a time of high prices by artificially [229 ] setting a limit to them, the people are not relieved but only exchange one set of ills for another which is greater. Among these ills are: (1) the withholding of goods from the market, because consumers being in the majority, price fixing is usually in their interest; (2) the dividing of the community into two hostile camps, one only of which con siders that the government acts in its interest; (3) the practical difficulties of enforcing such limitation in prices which in the very nature of the case requires the coopera tion of both producer and consumer to make it effective....

[230 ] ON THAT DAY BEGAN LIES From the day when the first members of councils placed exterior authority higher than interior, that is to say, recognized the decisions of men united in councils as more important and more sacred than rea son and conscience; on that day began lies that caused the ·108s of millions of human beings and which con tinue their unhappy work to the present day. LEO TOLSTOY o Tms is a striking statement. Is it possible that there is something of a wholly destructive nature which has its source in councilmanic, or in group, or in committee-type action? Can this sort of thing generate lies that actually cause the loss of "millions of human beings"? Any reasonable clue to the unhappy state of our affairs merits investigation. Two world wars that settled nothing except adding to the difficulties of avoiding even worse ones; men lacking in good character rising to positions of power over millions of other men; freedom to produce, to trade, to travel, disappearing from the earth; everywhere the fretful talk of security as insecurity daily becomes more evident; suggested solutions to problems made of the stuff that gave rise to the problems; the tragic spectacle, o The Law of Looe .and the Law of Violence (Rudolph Field, N.Y.) p.26.