A Boston woman writes.:
"As a prospective voter, I take the
liberty of writing you regarding a vital
question of the day, which it seems
to me the women should turn their attention to at once, and by concerted action try to relieve a dangerous and difficult situation.
"I should like to ask if the suffrage
organization has made any effort to
lower the cost of living? I believe, if
serious endeavor was made by the
women, something might be accomplished.
"The law-makers are simply wasting
their time calling for investigations,
advertising their views in the press, and
in public speeches denouncing existing
conditions. What is needed is action,
fearless and determined.
"From my own little sphere of observation, I think there are several agencies at the root of high prices of food;
profiteering on the part of the retailer, control by price-fixing agencies, no
limits to the amounts put into cold storage and high rates of transportation.
If we have laws to control any of
these agencies, they should be enforced. If we have no laws, then something should be done along that line. |
I heard a butcher the other day,
in speaking of the fish investigation,
say: 'The men have been jailed, but
prices remain just as high.' Every time
you shop you hear remarks about living expenses, but nothing is done. Nobody makes any move to relieve the
strain, or avert calamity.
"Some months ago I attended a
meeting of the Householders' Alliance,
which was reported as called for the
purpose of dealing with this question.
Most of the afternoon was spent in
reports foreign to the subject. There
were many strangers present, as I
was. Two or three of us tried to
bring about some constructive action, but nothing was accomplished. "We
were told to watch the papers—the
press would be the instrument. I have
watched in vain, while the situation
grows worse.
"It is the middle-class, like myself,
who are suffering. The rich don't nor do
the men in Washington actually feel the
privation that I and my family are experiencing."
