In short, the bill gives to the Government a monopolistic power which has never been allowed an individual or corporation, because such probably would be used against the public interest. It is the theory of the bill that the Government, acting upon behalf of the people, will use its monopolistic power for their benefit not for their detriment, as has usually been true when the market has been controlled either by monopoly or by cooperation of private corporations.

THE FOOD-PRODUCTION BILL.

The so-called food-production bill is legally "An act to provide further for the national security and defense by stimulating agriculture and facilitating the distribution of agricultural products."

The bill (H. R. 4188) passed the House of Representatives May 28, 1917, and passed the Senate with amendments June 1. The bill then went to conference, where it was held for a long time because of its close relation to the food-administration bill. The conference report was adopted by the House August 3 and by the Senate August 8, the same days as the food-administration bill, and was signed by the President on August 10.

Section 1 of the food-production bill gives as its purpose to more effectually provide for national security and defense, and to carry on the war by gathering information concerning the food supply, by increasing production, preventing waste, and regulating distribution. Section 2 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture "to investigate and ascertain the demand for, the supply, consumption, costs, and prices of, and the basic facts relating to the ownership, production, transportation, manufacture, storage, and distribution of foods, food materials, feeds, seeds, fertilizers, agricultural implements and machinery, and any article required in connection with the production, or utilization of food."

Section 3 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture, when there may be a special need in any restricted area, to purchase seed for the production of food or feed crops, or to contract with persons to grow such seeds and to sell the same to the farmers for cash at cost, including expense of packing and transportation.

Section 4 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to cooperate with State and local officials and with public and private agencies or persons in carrying out the duties assigned.

Section 5 authorizes the President, by and with the consent of the Senate, to appoint two additional Assistant Secretaries of Agriculture to perform duties in connection with the bill.

Section 6 authorizes the President to direct any agency or organization of the Government to cooperate with the Secretary of Agriculture

in carrying out duties assigned to him under the act, and to coordinate activities so as to avoid preventable loss and duplication.

Section 9 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to allow the importation of tick-infested animals, free from other diseases, under the condition that the animals shall be immediately slaughtered for meat, and under such other regulations as the Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe. Such animals may be imported from Mexico, South and Central America, the islands of the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea.

To carry out the purposes of the act there is appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture a sum aggregating $11,546,000. The different items for which funds are available include the enlargement of live-stock production; the conservation and utilization of meats, poultry, dairy, and other animal products; the purchase of seed; increasing the production and conservation of food by educational and demonstrational methods through county, district, and urban agents, etc.; gathering information concerning the production, supply, distribution, and utilization of food; extending and enlarging the market news service; preventing waste; authority for the Secretary of Agriculture to investigate and certify as to the soundness of fruits, vegetables, and other food products; and other miscellaneous items.

The provisions of the act shall cease not later than the beginning of the next fiscal year after the termination of the national emergency resulting from the existing state of war.

COMMENTS ON THE FOOD-PRODUCTION BILL.

The food-production bill is a companion of the food-administration bill and is supplementary to it. Under the bill the Secretary of Agriculture is to continue the duties such as the department has heretofore performed, and these duties are enlarged along lines analogous to those which have been performed in the past. Information has been collected regularly by the Secretary of Agriculture concerning production. Now he not only may ascertain in detail the food production, but he may make a precise survey of the available food supplies. One of the main purposes of the Department of Agriculture has been to increase the food production. The duty is now specifically placed upon the Secretary to increase this production in every possible way as a national emergency by furnishing seed, by demonstrations, by education, and by using agents throughout the country for encouraging the production and conservation of food. Before the enactment of the law the Secretary of Agriculture, with the funds and powers heretofore given him, as already pointed out, carried on a most effective campaign for increasing food produc

tion, for careful harvesting of crops, and for saving any surplus food by canning and drying.

The powers contained in this bill, however, with the appropriations made, will enable the Secretary of Agriculture to extend vastly and make more effective these lines of work for the crop of 1918.

THE EMBARGO.

The espionage bill (approved June 15, 1917-Public No. 24, 65th Cong.), under Title VII gives the President full power to control exportation. The authority is contained in the first section of the title, which reads as follows:

SECTION 1. Whenever during the present war the President shall find that the public safety shall so require, and shall make proclamation thereof, it shall be unlawful to export from or ship from or take out of the United States to any country named in such proclamation any article or articles mentioned in such proclamation, except at such time or times, and under such regulations and orders, and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President shall prescribe, until otherwise ordered by the President or by Congress: Provided, however, That no preference shall be given to the ports of one State over those of another.

Acting under this law, the President on June 22, 1917, by Executive order vested in the Secretary of Commerce the executive administration of all proclamations issued by him under Title VII; and the Secretary was authorized and directed to take such steps to administer and execute the same and to grant licenses. By the Executive order an export council was created, consisting of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Food Administrator, which council was directed to formulate for the consideration and approval of the President policies necessary to carry out the purposes of the act.

Under the plans of operation of embargo it will be the policy to license exports for essential commodities; and no article can be exported for which there is not a proper license. A proclamation was issued on July 9 making it unlawful for any ship to export commodities named below from the United States except under such regulations and exceptions as may be prescribed by the President. The list of commodities is as follows: Coal, coke, fuel oils, kerosene and gasoline, food grains, flour and meal therefrom, fodder and feeds, meat and fats, pig iron, steel billets, ship plates and structural shapes, scrap iron and scrap steel, ferromanganese, fertilizers, arms, ammunition, and explosives.

On August 2 the embargo was modified so far as iron and steel are concerned by the following regulation:

First. That all shipments to those nations associated with the United States in the war are, until further instructions, to be licensed freely, without reservation and without restriction, except iron and steel plates, pig iron, iron and steel scrap, and steel billets, for which licenses shall be granted only in case said articles are destined for actual war purposes or will directly contribute thereto.

Second. Licenses which may be properly issued will be granted for shipments of all iron and steel plates and structural shapes, and other articles properly included under these general headings, under the following conditions only:

(1) The application for such license must be received by the Department of Commerce, Division of Export Licenses, Washington, D. C., on or before August 10, 1917. (2) Such articles shall be completely made up and manufactured on or before August 10, 1917.

(3) Such license shall be valid, and shall indicate that it is valid, only in case such shipments are covered by railroad or ocean bill of lading dated on or before August 15, 1917.

It thus appears that after August 10 special licenses will have to be obtained for the shipment of all iron and steel products from this country, and this applies even to Canada.

The general announcements of the President and the Embargo Board indicate that the plan is, first, to hold in this country a sufficient amount of the necessary supplies of all kinds-foods, fuels, iron, and other materials-to meet the needs of our own people; second, it will be the purpose to furnish the necessary supplies to the allies; and, third, it is not proposed to eliminate exportation to neutral countries, but it is the purpose to reduce such exportation to their absolute needs so as to prevent reexportation of commodities received from the United States to the central powers; not only so, but to prevent the use of the commodities received from the United States serving as substitutes for commodities produced by the neutral powers heretofore extensively exported to the central powers. The neutral powers must first utilize completely their own supplies for their own needs, and these are to be supplemented by the minimum amounts necessary from the United States.

The embargo will be one of the most powerful factors in controlling prices. Before the embargo was proclaimed purchases of wheat and other cereals had been made by the neutral powers in large quantities. If purchases from abroad were allowed to continue in indefinite amounts, such purchases would be powerful factors in advancing prices, and thus neutralize one of the chief purposes of the food administration bill--the control of prices. One of the essential steps to reduce the price of essentials is to control exportation.

THE PRIORITY BILL.

The priority bill (S. 2356) became a law on August 10. This bill provides for the preference and priority of shipments under orders given by the President, through such persons as he may designate or through the interstate commerce commission. In order to expedite the priority work in transportation such of the railroads as desire to do so are authorized to maintain an agency in Washington during the period of the war to receive the priority orders.

THE WAR INDUSTRIES BOARD.

Without specific enactment, under his general war powers the President on July 28, by Executive order, created a War Industries Board of seven members. This board consists of Frank A. Scott, chairman of the General Munitions Board of the Council of National Defense; Lieut. Col. Palmer E. Pierce, representing the Army; Rear Admiral Frank F. Fletcher, representing the Navy; Bernard M. Baruch, chairman of the Committee on Raw Materials of the Council of National Defense; Robert S. Brookings, a merchant of St. Louis; Robert S. Lovett, chairman of the executive committee of the Union Pacific Railway System; and Hugh Frayne, chief organizer of the American Federation of Labor.

The board will act as a clearing house for the purchases both for the Government and for the allies. It is the function of the board to consider the creation or extension of the industries demanded by the national emergency and the relative urgency of the different needs, price factors, and the industrial and labor aspects of the problems involved. For the purchase of commodities a special committee will act, consisting of Messrs. Baruch, Brookings, Lovett, and Hoover. This committee will constitute a central purchasing commission, making purchases in accordance with the general policies formulated by the board. On this commission Mr. Baruch will give his attention particularly to raw materials, Mr. Brookings to the finished product, Mr. Lovett to questions of priority, and Mr. Hoover to foods. The board will allow a just price, which is to include a reasonable profit. The definition of a just price as issued by the President July 12 is accepted, reading as follows:

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 expansions of their enterprises which will from time to time become necessary as the stupendous undertakings of this great war develop.

The War Industries Board on August 8 made an official announcement that in the purchase of war materials the allies should be charged no more than the Government of the United States, on the ground that it was obviously unjust to require the allies, who are fighting the same battles as ourselves, to pay more for materials necessary to carry on the war than does the United States Government. It is stated further, however, that this obligation is reciprocal and that the allies will be expected to apply the same principles in dealing in their own products and in selling to one another, and second, that the arrangement is limited to war materials, so that advantage will not be taken of American producers by our foreign competitors. Further, it was announced that the board would see