ADVOCATE AND GUIDE. 87 



of the country. (7) To a very greatly increased production of wheat 

 they have added an increased production of almost every other impor- 

 Wt grain, so that our granaries are likely to overflow, and the anxiety 

 of the nations arrayed against Germany with regard to their food sup- 

 plies has been relieved. The administrative method of agreeing upon 

 a fair price (8) has this very great advantage, which any element of 

 rigidity would in large part destroy, namely, the advantage of flexibility, 

 of rendering possible at every stage and in the view of every change of 

 experience a readjustment which will be fair alike to producer and con- 

 sumer. A fixed minimum price of $2.40 per bushel would, it is estimated, 

 add $2 per barrel (9) to the price of flour ; in other words, raise the price 

 of flour from the present price of $10.50 to $12.50 at the mill, and, inas- 

 much as we are anticipating a crop of approximately 900,000,000 bushels 

 of wheat, this increase would be equivalent to the immense sum of 

 $387,000,000. ^uch an increase of the price of wheat in the United 

 States would force a corresponding increase in the price of Canadian 

 wheat. The allied governments would, of course, be obliged to make all 

 of their purchases at the increased figure and the whole scale of their finan- 

 cial operations in this country, in which the government of the United 

 States is directly assisting, would be thereby correspondingly enlarged. 

 (10) The increase would also add very materially to the cost of living, 

 and there would inevitably ensue an increase in the wages paid in prac- 

 tically every industry in the country. These added financial and eco- 

 nomic difficulties, affecting practically the whole world, cannot, I as- 

 sume, have been in contemplation by the Congress in passing this legis- 

 lation. 



" (Signed) WOODROW WILSON." 



Comments on the President's Veto. 



I shall comment briefly on ten of the President's reasons 

 for vetoing the $2.40 wheat price, as my insert numbers in 

 the message indicate. The reader can refer to them to save 

 repetition : 



(1) As the cost of producing wheat had greatly advanced 

 since the price of $2.20 was set v it most certainly would not 

 have been disadvantageous to the producer to have had that 

 advance added to his product as other classes of producers 

 had. 



(2) Do not scores of labor unions, producers and profiteerers 

 arbitrarily establish higher price levels for their products re- 

 gardless of normal market conditions? 



