The Monroe journal., 1916-12-15
NOTHING TO INVESTIGATES
Noyus Homo Says That IL is All Too
Plain-HOw the Public Suffers.
Correspondence of The Journal.

l noticed, not long ago. news
item in a certin prominent publica-
tion like this: M c. Caudell, a
mail clerk who saved $1,000 in three
years out of a salary of $1,000 a
year. has retired from the service to
manage six blue grass farms near
Louisville. Ky. Caudell invested all
his savings in wheat. pyramided.
Whatever that isl his $1,000 into
$4,000 and then eashed in"
| don't know. neither do | pretend
to say. that this mail clerk is being
held up as an example for others to
,imitate, but there is at least room on
the face of the item for this con-
lecture and | am of the opinion that
la great many young men who are in
their air castle period will think this
guy" in great luck.
IL one young man with only $1,000
invested in wheat has realized on his
small investment s1S0.000 and has
been made able to retire from use
lful employment in a period of only
"a very few months. what would you
think the fortunes of those old ex-
Iperienced operators who had probably
ia thousand times as much invested
in wheat amounted to? And yet we
do not seem to know that this kind
of procedure is what's the matter
with the price OF bread right now.
What's the use to have an investi-
cation. at a cost of thousands of dol
lars to the couptry's tax payers, to
see il there is any reason for bread
being so high when we know in the
outset that men are making $780,
'0G0 on an investment of twelve hun
dred dollars in one or two turnovers
gambling in wheat?
Now Mr.. Caudell is not to blame
seriously for making this money. He
just simply took chance of loosing
$1,000 and made s1s0,000. and the
s1S0.000 that he made some other
necessarily lost. and the other in this
case is the consuming public you for
one. unless you have quit eating
bread.
used to think that men who
made money this way ought to be
sent TO the pen since the program
creates so much misery among the
poorer classes. But | have. upon
more mature reflection, changed my
mind. | think now that govern
meut that allows men 10 make mon
ey this way is more guilty of rob
berry than are the robbers themselves.
And a set of lawmakers who are
wide-awake to the workings Of such
chicanery and will hold up holy
hands and cry let's investigate when
the whole matter is as plain to the
common everyday citizen as is the
nose on a toad's face, are too ny
pocritical to deserve the respect of
Russian peasant,
Investigate the dickens What is
there to investigate. Wouldn't any
body know that if men were allow
ed to make s1S0,000 on stake OF
only $1,000 that the price Of the
commodity on which they made it
would be obliged to carry that high
deal?.
OH. says some one, they don't all
get it in big slugs like that. some
loose. Remember Mr.Leighter. for
instance. Yes remember him,
thank you. But did you ever hear
anyone say that Mr.. Lighters loss
reverted to the public? | hardly
think you did and If you did shall
give you credit for having more sense
than to believe il. What Mr. Leight-
er lost, kind friend, was gained by
the spectators on the opposite side
of the market and the public paid
the bill. One side or the other must
always loose in game of chance.
But the fact stands out clear as the
MONDAY sun that the public is
never on the winning side, but al
ways on the loosing side. In fact,
il there was no public to be gouged.
there would be no gougers. Hence
il the public had the protection that
it has right to expect its lawmak
ers to give 1t, we would not have so
much misery and so many investiga
tons into conditions that investiga-
tons so far, has only served to make
worse.
If we should find a friend lying
beside the railroad tracks with one
or both legs cut off, what kind of a
miserable fool would we be If we in
sisted on postponing relief measures
until we had investigated the direc-
ton the train was moving when the
accident occurred, whether il was
running light or carrying a long
string of loaded cars and whether or
not the engineer blew his whistle OF
rang his bell?
Yet this is about the way relief
comes to the public when ii crys out
against oppression. After the cry
has become so persistent that it APP
pears to be getting serious, we are
promised that there will be an in
vestigation and maybe in six or
twelve months we will learn that no.
body (whoeyer that isl has violated
the Sherman act and the cause of
high prices is not yet located. BY
this time the price of the commodity
under investigation has advanced
about ten per cent further to cover
the extra expense of defending them
selves in the courts and the public
leg Is pulled some more, and the on
ly problem now that seems to be
troubling the perpetrators of this
devilment Is, how much longer. oh
Lord. will long suffering people put