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Important Message to Congress By William Howard Important Message to Congress By William Howard Taft

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Important Message to Congress By William Howard Important Message to Congress By William Howard Taft
<B>Important Message to Congress By William Howard Taft as President Concerning Price Increases Advancing More Quickly Than Salary Increases. He Refers to Studies of Foreign Countries who are Experiencing the Same Price Rises As in America. He Proposes a Commission to Study the Problem Which Today is Known as Inflation.</B></I> Typed manuscript signed as President. The original draft of a message which Taft sent to Congress, 2 1/2 pages 4to, the White house, March 13, 1912, to the Senate and the House of Representatives. The message is entitled, <I>"Cooperation and the Cost of Living,"</B></I> in which Taft looks over the problems of price increases advancing more quickly than salary increases. He refers to studies of foreign countries which show the same problems as in in America. The President then proposes a commission to study the problems which today is known as inflation. The text reads: <I>"I transmit herewith a letter from the Acting Secretary of State with accompanying data on cooperation and the cost of living in certain foreign countries. The popular demand for information of this character apparently was based on the belief that some remedy or partial relief might be found for the growing burdens of the high cost of living. The immediate result of the inquiries instituted by the Department of State through the consular officers was to accentuate the fact that the increase in the prices of the common necessities of life is worldwide and that it is an absorbing question with the cooperative associations as well as with the mass of consumers as individuals. Multiplied evidences of the universal restlessness under this condition are given. Intelligence gathered and presented by the cooperative societies shows that even where there has been an advance in wages the percentage haas not kept pace with the rise in the cost of food supplies. This disproportion in many cases is so marked as to be startling. The information collected by the Department of State is comprehensive and is a permanent contribution to the history of the efforts of producers and consumers, but more especially of distribution, and consumption. If the cooperative associations which have been in existence for half a century and more have not been able to determine the fundamental causes of the increased cost of living or to retard the advance, the student of social progress at least may derive instruction for the account of the associations and their influence on the well being of their members. How far the system of cooperative organization which flourishes in various European countries may be adapted to our highly organized and individualistic social organization may perhaps only be determined by experiments and in any case the experiment must be of a voluntary character. The practical information contained in the reports of the consular officers undoubtedly will be of much value to those who are seeking to work out this problem for themselves by means of similar associations. In my message of February 2 I recommend an international commission to look into the cause for the high prices of necessities of life and the possible remedies. Should such a commission be authorized by Congress the relation of the cooperative societies to this subject would be a great interest and the reports of the consular officers would have additional utility. Wm H Taft."</B></I> Fine condition held together with the original red, white, and blue cord. An important manuscript so relevant in the present generation with its high rate of inflation.